In these highly polarized times when the country is in the middle of a wrenching transition, it would have been unrealistic to expect zero violence in the lead up to November 19. And there have indeed been some clashes.
In the latest incident, Nepali Congress and UCPN (Maoist) cadres are reported to have come to blows in Rukum on Monday. A day earlier, UCPN (Maoist) cadres traded blows with their CPN-UML counterparts in Kavre. [break]
Most troublingly, CPN-Maoist FPTP contestant from Bara constituency number 2 Mohammad Alam was gunned down in Bara on October 4, just a day after his poll candidacy was announced. With the number of such violent incidents expected to mount in the days ahead, the government is deploying Nepal Army for poll security starting Sunday. The 62,000 army personnel will patrol all the 240 constituencies, in various formations, right till the election date.
The government has also started training 45,000 temporary police personnel (Myadi Prahari) who have been recruited to ensure security for the November 19 election. There have been apprehensions about both the decisions. In case of the army, the fear is that if there is an untoward incident on the poll date (or before), the army could retaliate disproportionally.
Crucially, the control of the army will remain with its high command rather than with government officials throughout their deployment for election. Since the army is not a part of the usual security apparatus, such a response, it is feared, could invite big controversy and irreparably spoil poll atmosphere. The skepticism about temporary police personnel concerns their lack of professionalism and their likely affiliation with different political parties. In fact, the High Level Political Mechanism had, a few months ago, decided against deployment of temporary police for the same reason.
We don’t see much problem with either arrangement, if the right precautions can be taken. Both the army and temporary police will serve as back-up forces, to be called into action only if the regular police and APF are overwhelmed due to unexpected security challenge.
The temporary police personnel will be completely unarmed, and it is hard to foresee a situation where the army would have to resort to the extreme measure of opening fire. They are more of a deterrent force for the would-be spoilsports. We support the decision to deploy the army and temporary police, because more than anything else, it sends a message to the electorate that should something go wrong, there is adequate backup.
For an event as important as the vote of the Constituent Assembly, it will always be wise to err on the side of caution, even if it entails a little more burden on the treasury. Since most of the recent violence have involved only the cadres of the parties contesting the election, the role of these parties will be extremely important in helping security personnel get the situation under control.
The election security arrangement is primarily aimed at deterring likely violence by poll-opposing forces. Unless those who are actually taking part in the election are committed to minimizing violence, no security arrangement would suffice.