Recall Landgren

Karin Landgren’s May 5 briefing to the Security Council on Nepal has once again dragged the UNMIN into a serious controversy— at stake this time is UN’s trust and its principle of neutrality. Having read the text of her briefing, we have reached a conclusion that the grave errors in her reporting to the Security Council (SC) is not just a case of overlooking or missing the facts. Instead, it’s a deliberate distortion of facts, the intention behind which is completely unfathomable. Unprofessional as it is, it also calls into question Landgren’s integrity.



In her briefing to the SC, she suggested that the-then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had secured consent of the largest coalition partner CPN-UML and the main opposition party Nepali Congress before sacking Chief of Army Staff Rookmangud Katawal. Everyone following Nepal’s recent political development knows that NC had openly and vehemently opposed Katawal’s sacking. How could she and the UNMIN have missed that? Did she draw that impression based on her hobnobbing with NC leader Sujata Koirala who publicly supported the removal of the army chief? Is she unaware that the opinion of an individual leader does not prevail over the party’s view?



She has also provided a one-sided interpretation of the Army Act regarding the cabinet’s authority to sack him. Lawyers are deeply divided about the interpretation of the Act. Some opine that this Act empowers the government to sack the army chief if it is not satisfied with his clarification but others point to Clause 4 of Article 11 and argue that it provides a full-term service to the sitting army chief. What is interesting is that this debate has been going on for a while and a number of articles have been written by eminent lawyers making their case. Why did Landgren selectively choose to pitch only one side of this debate at the Security Council? Landgren has also distorted facts regarding the reinstatement of the eight generals by the army headquarters. She has reported the reinstatement of eight retiring brigadier-generals whose service term was not extended by the Ministry of Defense but failed to mention that they were reinstated following a Supreme Court order and not to do so would have been a contempt of court.



If neutrality is the core principle of the UN, Landgren has recklessly violated it and has lost the trust and confidence of major stakeholders of the peace process. The UN headquarters should immediately recall Landgren and send someone else with a higher stature and integrity to redeem UN’s plummeting image in Nepal in the light of the series of recent events, including the recent exposé of Dahal’s video tape that showed how flawed the verification process was.

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