Peace is not only the absence of war. It is the sum total of harmony, compassion, justice, law and security. Albert Einstein, the celebrity scientist has stated, “Peace is not merely the absence of war, but the presence of justice, of law, of order in short, of governance.” Real peace cannot be realized in an atmosphere of mistrust and hostilities. Mutual trust, inter dependence; solidarity and collaboration are the building blocks of peace and reconciliation.
Armed conflict in Nepal officially ended in November 2007 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA). Parties to the conflict, Government of Nepal and Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) signed the accord. It was the beginning of a new era of peace, democracy and human rights in Nepal. People of all walks of life had actively participated in the 19-day second people’s movement and expressed their aspirations for change in the quality of their lives through inclusion, identity, participation, democracy and good governance. People in Nepal have waged a long struggle to end all kinds of discrimination. They supported the political parties in the April movement of 2006 to bring back peace and democracy in the country since the parties had vowed not to repeat the past mistakes and work together for democracy and socio-economic transformation. The home grown peace process of Nepal is hailed all across the world for its form and substance.
Nepal got rid of centuries old monarchy and embraced democratic republic to deliver good governance to the people. But the Nepalese people could not find their leaders and their political parties living up to their commitments. The leaders, who had vowed not to repeat the past mistakes, seem to have forgotten their promise and following the same old course which had created people’s disenchantment towards them in the past. They failed to work together for the cause of peace, progress and prosperity rather they concentrated all their efforts to secure or retain power for themselves. Their power game made the Constituent Assembly (CA) a mere crowd of business-less people leading to be failure in drafting the constitution within the given time frame of two years. The peace process also met the same fate. No substantive progress could be made in integration and rehabilitation of Maoist army combatants into security agencies and in the society. All these happened because of the egoistical attitudes of our leaders. They need to understand that their popularity will soar only if they start implementing the past agreements and remain firm on their commitments. Otherwise they are sure to lose their credibility and will be quickly forgotten. As a saying goes, “you can fool people for awhile but not for long.”
Nepalis have arrived at this juncture of history after much struggle and sacrifice. We need to utilize every minute of time and every unit of energy to rebuild the nation. New Nepal can be built only with the values of inclusion, identity, equity, equality and rule of law. In order to ensure that citizens have dignified life, these values must be made integral parts of one’s life. The new constitution has to incorporate all these values. The second task is to bring the peace process to a meaningful conclusion. Leaders have to fulfill their responsibility to finish these two outstanding tasks at the earliest. Efforts need to be accelerated so that the CA can fully utilize the extended term to deliver a functional constitution that can well address the hopes and aspirations of the people. This alone will help the leaders restore their credibility and give an impression to the people that they are aware of their accountability.
Unfortunately, the parties are at loggerheads over the formation of government and least attention is paid to the peace and development issues. They have not been able to manage their differences and reduce the gulf of mistrust. They have failed to read and understand the heartbeats and pulses of the people though they claim that they truly represent the people.
People are still skeptical whether or not the peace process will come to its logical conclusion. There is a fear of relapse of conflict. In this context it would be relevant to quote former secretary General of the United Nations Mr. Kofi Annan: “Roughly half of the countries that emerge from war lapse back into violence within 5 years.” We have to really careful to not let this happen in Nepal. We, in fact, cannot afford the consequences of another violent conflict. It will destroy everything we have and the country will totally collapse if such unfortunate incident happens. It will be a heinous crime against the future generation and they will never forgive us. Therefore we need to wisely use the present opportunity to sustain the hard earned peace without letting it slip off from our hands.
It is high time for the leadership in the parties that they establish and prove their capability and credibility in managing the problems Nepal has been facing over the years. They need to focus on the underlying causes of conflict that produce violence in the society so that we can start treatment of the disease not its symptoms. Nepalese people simply want to see their country peaceful, just, prosperous and inclusive.
Writer is secretary at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction
Related story
Aspirations leads to a better life
-1771291468.webp)
