Black Clouds Over Nepal

We have already seen months and months of no-progress in the country. The political parties are busy giving speeches about their care for the people and the government’s ministers are busy doing their domestic and international trips. The country hasn’t budged from the problems it had before the government formation.

Dashain, Tihar, Holi and other festivals will come and go in the country but it seems the people would never see the light that they have been hoping for years. They laid their hopes on the political parties during the people’s revolution, then on Maoists during the elections and now they have no more options. They watch the government juggling its issues and the people fighting with same old problems like poverty and unemployment. The next agenda of the government is to work on drafting the constitution, but issues like army integration are bogging down the progress. The Maoists wants their men to be integrated in the national army while the NC (the main opposition party) and most of other parties maintains that national army should have men by qualification not by preference.

Last month, Prime Minister’s foreign affairs advisor Hira Bahadur Thapa told that the US government has initiated the process to take the Maoists off their terror watchlist, which is a good sign for Maoists. But if they do not initiate for a consensus for a new federal constitution, efforts for conflict victims, disbanding of different youth leagues, talk with the Terai armed outfits, clarify the fate of those who disappeared, compensate victims, enable the retun of displaced persons to their homes and acknowledge human rights, the tag would remain.

At a time when the country is looking for donations from different countries for an economic development in the nation, the need is for a political consensus among parties, a consensus that would work together for the new constitution as soon as possible and create appropriate environment for proceeding ahead united. For that consensus, the Maoists have to be lenient toward other parties as other parties had been towards them in the past when they were not in the government and other parties would have to show care for the country.

The new generation has not been able to gain trust of the government and the parties due to their reputation in the past. Thousands of Nepali youths in foreign countries watch the country’s news every day in hope of something new. But they see the parties tussling over the issues, throwing mud at each other and never caring for them. It’s high time to think about all this and work for a better tomorrow. May the black clouds over the country go away.

- Written by Maal !