First, the Maoists are taking a huge risk by gearing up to bring in a substantial number of indoctrinated cadres into the valley to carry out street protests. Just imagine what will happen if forces with no interest whatsoever in the conclusion of the peace process succeed in creating chaos leading to a tussle between the Maoist cadres and the army, which has to be mobilized to support the police to manage such a huge mass. At a time when the law and order situation in the country is at its lowest ebb and small arms are easily available in the market as has been evidenced by many reported instances of shooting, this possibility cannot be brushed aside as just another conspiracy theory.
Second, the UCPN (Maoist) must realize that they are digging their own graves by trying to remove a government, which has the necessary numbers in parliament, through the streets. Are not they giving the Nepali Congress or the CPN-UML or any other party for that matter the license to oust them from power when they are in government tomorrow? One just needs to take a look at Thailand to understand what happens when such a political culture gets institutionalized. Surely, setting such an example is not what the largest party in the parliament should be doing.
In fact, now that it is a foregone conclusion that the statute would not be written by May 28, what the Maoists should get down to doing is to sit with the other parties and jointly explore legal and constitutional ways to extend the tenure of the Constituent Assembly and prepare a blueprint to finish the task in the extended timeframe. Further, it should lend full support to the government to complete the task of rehabilitating and integrating its combatants, who have been wasting the prime of their life in UN-monitored cantonments.
While the Maoists must listen to the ‘doves’ within the party to refrain from opting for such a form of protest, the government on its part cannot just sit down and wait terming the Maoist threats as just another pressure tactic. They must display as much flexibility as possible to reach an agreement with the Maoists. The bottom-line is that in their fight, which at the end of the day is primarily a battle for power irrespective of what they claim, the people must not suffer. They have had enough of this never-ending transition.
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