On May 26, American Embassy in Kathmandu made an unexpected pronouncement which, most probably, has alarmed and alerted many Nepali people. The embassy decided to take tough action against the organizers of bandas (general strike) who use intimidation and violence as weapons to enforce the strikes. Now on, if the embassy really means it, all banda organizers will be put on the visa watch list and their applications for US visas will most likely be spurned. It is too early to judge whether this caution will deter all to go for a banda but, evidently, this strong stand has already ruffled some feathers in political circle. Perhaps cowered by the verdict, two of the political organizations, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPPN) and Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN), which had been very animatedly raucous in disrupting public life through regular demonstrations in the capital on the eve of May 28, made an apologetic rebuttal in breath. “No no no,” they explained, “We did not call for any banda. We are the peaceful protestors.”
The American judgment has not yet been discoursed publicly, but I can tell for sure that it has greatly alerted political outfits like UCPN (Maoists), CPN (UML) and Nepali Congress (NC). All of these political organizations and their sister wings have had considerable share in scheming and enforcing strikes. They made public life miserably unlivable on a number of occasions (even for petty political interests) in the past. If, past actions of these parties are also to be deemed as a benchmark for visa issuance, hardly any political leader in Nepal may qualify for a US visa. So political leaders may be in retrospection and the student leaders may be ruing their past follies. If the embassy really means it, I can vouchsafe, there will almost be no forceful banda henceforth or only those who risk being denied a visa will undertake this anserine adventurism.
American embassy is not a lone actor in embracing this tactic. The UK Department for International Development had suspended a huge grant that was in the pipeline for the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) on the eve of a nationwide banda that the latter had called on May 13. So there is a sour lesson to learn for NGOs and political communities: Unless you act responsibly all grants might be suspended.
Political cynics might call it a bideshi chalkhel, foreign intervention, in the state affairs. They might label it a manifestation of western imperialism and dominance (I am contentedly surprised to not hear any such commentaries by any political establishments this time around) and an attempt to infringe national sovereignty. As for me, I have been fascinated by the novelty of the idea to discipline political leaders and their unruly thugs who disrupt transportation and the daily lives of commoners during forceful general strikes.
This is not the first time that the foreign donors’ and diplomatic missions’ warning gesture has served as a fatwa in Nepal. I am reminded of a February 2010 incident here. Nepal then had Ramchandra Kushwaha as the education minister. Driven by temptation to make hay while the sun was shining, he sold thousands of teachers’ quotas (supposedly in one hundred thousand per quota ratio) to his party cadres. He doled out quotas in the name of schools that did not even exist. Kushwaha’s corruption rumpus reached a phenomenonal height. Media community decried this and demanded his resignation. But Madhav Kumar Nepal(MKN), the then Prime Minister, could not muster up enough courage to sack him. The turning point came when European Union (EU) donors and World Bank intervened. They warned that all donations would be halted and funding for School Reform Plan (SRP) would be cut if the corrupt minister stayed in office. Only then the MKN government had him resign. Kushwaha has not faced any punishment for his rampant bribery (it looks like it will happen if donors raise this concern again) perhaps because he is still enjoying political protection. But the best part of this episode is that he could not further loot the country.
The three episodes I cited unequivocally speak of unfortunate and sorry state of affairs: In Nepal, state agencies are almost dysfunctional to regulate public institutions, maintain law and order, check impunity and curb corruption. But mere gestures of warning by the donor agencies and diplomatic missions hold power enough to right many wrongs. Every institution of the state is almost incurably plagued. Nepali political affair is plummeting in the nexus of criminality and impunity. The nexus runs in this sort of equation: A is an accomplice of B’s crimes and C is the ally of A so neither B is brought into book, nor C takes measures to punish B. Goons and thugs are under the protection of political leaders. The nexus of crime, irregularities and corruption is so firmly rooted that no honest politician is able to dismantle this nexus despite his will.
The continued mess in public sectors, it seems, will invite further immediate chastisement from donors and diplomatic missions. So if European embassies follow the American example it will, in most likelihood, help to discipline unruly professionals as well. Visa denial should also be imposed on medicos who shun their duties in the public hospitals they are officially appointed at, instead run their own private clinics, those that call for strikes at hospitals and deprive the public of basic health services. Examples include mafias, smugglers and tax evaders, politicos who design deadlocks and hold up the system of the entire country.
Donor agencies could agree to fund development programs only conditionally. If they pressurize the government to check impunity, probably impunity will be checked. In my waywardness of imagination a thought once crossed my mind: What if the donors had threatened the Constituent Assembly members of putting an end to funding their perks and allowances? Would they have expedited the peace process and etched the national charter timely? I cannot answer for sure but the idea has impressed me.
Foreign diplomatic missions in Nepal, which stands for major donor nations and agencies, have made a huge financial input in national economy. Considerable portion of Nepali annual budget is supplemented by foreign aids. So it is right on their part to impose some conditions if that ensures some tangible changes in the political affairs. I see nothing wrong in their dictating Nepali state agencies to be accountable towards people, to eliminate corruption and to end the culture of banda for good. Foreign intervention, with the best intentions, will do us more good than harm.
Some caveats still. Donor agencies are guided by their own interests and when their interests begin to clash with that of ours, what seems to be a congratulatory step may well turn into a prelude to potential problems. The ideal would be to keep the house in order and leave no room for anyone to come in between. That would be something to celebrate about with glee.
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