Bhandari successfully portrayed herself as a clean politician. She hasn’t earned derision for spending the nation’s money recklessly. Some ministers have approached Imelda Marcos’ vainglory and the consequent greedy use of the country’s treasury. From overseas junkets and at the state’s expense, others have bought expensive gifts for their cronies. Bhandari shines in contrast. She lives a simple but resolute life.
As the defense minister, Bhandari’s loyalty to the Nepal Army (NA) shows. With some reservation, we can take this as a virtue. She’s against the bulk integration of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into NA. She wants the PLA to join the NA through meritocracy and competition. We can sympathize with that, and the Maoists should take part of the responsibility for her stance. With the constant threat through Prachanda’s harangues of state-capture, the NA remains the only bulwark against a totalitarian People’s Republic. Personally, being the son of an army officer and having had a NA retired brother slain by the Maoists, I am biased in favor of the NA. But, not when the state Army violates human rights.
Research (e.g. Politics of People’s War & Human Rights in Nepal by Dr Bishnu Pathak) has shown that during the ten year civil war, the NA and the “security” forces killed, raped, tortured, and mutilated double in comparison to the Maoists. To date, we don’t know of any NA personnel facing real punishment for such atrocity. The supposed “trial” of soldiers in military tribunals for a civilian offense is like asking a mother to spank her child, and lacks credibility. Thus, when Bhandari defends the NA right or wrong, her sentiment has taken the better of her. Her stance has inspired the Maoists to respond similarly. On January 12, UCPN (Maoist) leader Barsha Man Pun said, “Individual soldiers or party cadre shouldn’t be held accountable for activities mandated to them during the insurgency...The political leadership is responsible for those events.” Thus, Pun wouldn’t like the state to punish a single Maoist offender.
Although the Maoists too deserve justice for their many atrocities, the process has to start from the NA. The national army remains a legal body while the Maoists were rebels. Thus, the Maoist atrocities smell; but the NA’s failings stink. Bhandari would’ve won a lot of good will had she courageously sent the military culprits to civilian courts.
Although the Maoists too deserve justice for their many atrocities, the process has to start from the Nepal Army. The national army remains a legal body while the Maoists were rebels. Thus, the Maoist atrocities smell; but the NA’s failings stink.
The NA has an atrocious record on human rights. The Maina Sunar killing in Panchkhal puts our country to shame nationally and internationally. The British government put off the human rights symposium because the NA has refused to hand over Major Niranjan Basnet, the main suspect in the killing, to the police. Senator Patrick Leahy has highlighted Maina’s case in the United States. As a result, the US will support the NA only as the latter cooperates with human rights issues. Our home-born National Human Rights Commission too has stated that Basnet should face a civilian court. The representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Richard Bennett echoed this. The Supreme Court has backed the same but the NA hasn’t taken any notice. Thus, the NA behaves above the law; and seriously undermines an independent judiciary. Though Maina’s mother met Bhandari personally, the latter has just soothed the former with kind words, nothing else.
On February 14, a national daily claimed, “Basnet wants to face a civilian court.” Why not? If Basnet is innocent, it will certainly give a favorable verdict. Why should our “brave” Gorkhali soldiers fear a Nepali civilian court? Yet, the NA has to date kept Basnet under its wings. Till now, neither Bhandari nor the new army chief Chhatra Man Singh Gurung has taken any initiative towards improving NA’s reputation. Thus, as far as human rights are concerned, all three commanders-in-chief, Pyar Jung Thapa, Rookmangud Katawal, and Gurung belong to the same NA-can-do-no-wrong camp.
Contrary to worldwide protests, the NA under Bhandari’s patronage promoted a general whose troops, the Bhairab Nath battalion, caused 49 “Maoists” to disappear. One of the luckier ones, a non-Maoist journalist (Jitman Basnet), has escaped death to relate in a book (258 Dark Days) the torture and cruelty our internationally “peace-keeping” soldiers practiced. Thanks to Bhandari, our next commander-in-chief will be a person with bloodied hands, not one we can take pride in.
To add to NA’s inglorious record, we can also cite the Doramba incident when cowardly soldiers killed unarmed Maoists, the rape and murder of Swapna Gurung in Belbari, the massacre in Nagarkot, and the trigger-happy shooting of three Dalit women in Bardiya. After the last incident, Bhandari immediately towed the NA line that the soldiers killed “poachers” in self-defense! None of the military crooks has ever faced civilian justice. Being related to prominent people, two linked with the Maina Sunuwar killing have fled the country. The Bardiya murderers may do the same. The emboldened NA, which thinks no power can punish it, continues with murders of civilians, like the four killed in Thimure, Palpa.
With Bhandari defending the NA right or wrong and PM Madhav Kumar Nepal watching helplessly, do we expect impunity in our country to end? No! Maoists murdered journalists Birendra Sah, Uma Singh, the businessman Ramhari Shrestha, and almost did away with the female reporter Tika Bista. Governments have just awarded cash “prizes” to the victims’ families, but never punished the offenders. With the military culprits safe and sound, it lacks the moral authority to do so.
Even while the self-proclaiming “democratic” party the Nepali Congress led the government, the human rights situation didn’t improve. The NC couldn’t implement the Rayamajhi Commission’s recommendation. Chief violators of human rights during Jana Andolan II walk around scot-free; and some of them openly advocate for a Hindu state, a constitutional monarchy, and a unitary government. The government spent taxpayers’ money futilely on the Rayamajhi Commission for a report it had no intention of implementing.
Bhandari’s blind loyalty to NA has brought harm to our country’s reputation. Recently, Secretary General of the International Commission of Jurists Wilder Tayler commented, “I have seen a lot of political willingness, but no one has been prosecuted!” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay echoed the same. The Danish Minister for Development Cooperation Soren Pind expressed his country’s concern about impunity in Nepal. Our motherland has earned a reputation internationally as a lawless state. Internally, the state-inspired impunity has bred murders, kidnappings, extortions, and taking the law into one’s hand. Thanks partly to Bhandari’s loyalty, we now have the ever-present impunity.
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