Taking cues from Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who hurled colorful labels at NA in 2006 in his attempt to discredit and weaken the institution, many of our intellectuals made it their mission to portray it demonic to curry favors with the political parties and mushrooming (and unregulated) NGOs and INGOs. For the political situation was changing and as it happens in the transition phase, entire history had to be rewritten and to make the Maoists appear good and true savior of Nepali people, NA had to be demonized. In the new version of history written after the signing of Comprehensive Peace Accord in 2006, political leaders who mobilized the army became peace-loving overnight, and NA become a force of rapists and murderers.
Before questioning NA for its role during the insurgency and its support to the takeover by the then king, one has to understand that army as an institution is apolitical and it has to obey the government’s orders. Not only NA, but any functioning army of the world for that matter, has no authority to defy the state’s orders, and decide for itself whom to support or whom not to because that would be tantamount to mutiny. After the Dang attacks in 2002, NA was mobilized by the state. Let’s not forget, it was the then government that put a bounty on Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s head, not NA. Today, I believe it would make a lot of sense to criticize it if it hadn’t followed the state’s orders then.
Given the fluid situation in the border areas, and rise in secessionist activities there, politicizing and weakening NA are against our national interests.
Likewise, NA has supported the new political system in place after 2006 and has proved that it will stay away from politics as much as possible. It is the political parties that are trying to weaken the institution and make Nepal ‘s strongest defense force as dysfunctional as they have made other security agencies by blatantly politicizing them. Given the fluid situation in the border areas, and rise in secessionist activities there, politicizing and weakening NA are against our national interests. The time has come to ask whether our political parties are doing so unconsciously or they are being manipulated by the forces and interest groups that want to make Nepal chaotic for a long time to come. What is even more saddening is that, usually the defeated army is weakened and robbed of its dignity by the winner in what can be called victor’s justice, just as the Allied forces subjected the Japanese army after its defeat in the Second World War. In Nepal, it’s not the foreigners but our own leaders who are meting out victor’s justice to NA.
It appears that democratizing NA is misinterpreted as weakening it. When the national army has to literally plead with the government to allow it to buy basic arms and ammunitions so that it can train its soldiers, which in other countries is unheard of, it clearly shows how the state and the misplaced priorities of our political parties are putting our national security in jeopardy. The national army that is supposed to project strength is forced to reveal its vulnerability, and that only makes us a laughing stock in the eyes of defense analysts everywhere. At a time when all nations are developing and testing sophisticated missiles, and procuring latest technologies for their armies, we are depriving our army of bullets!
If we were living in an ideal world, then we wouldn’t need to bother about national security but we don’t live in an ideal world, and the international system we live in is cruel to those countries that fail to modernize their defense with time. So, let’s not live under the illusion that we are safe. We may have been safe from our neighbors till now, but that can change too because nothing is certain in international politics—allies become enemies and vice-versa in the blink of an eye. Therefore, from the standpoint of international politics, when it comes to national security, it would be outright foolish to not to have some degree of healthy skepticism and not prepare for the uncertainties. In addition to the traditional/conventional risks—state actors—in today’s world no country is safe from extremist elements within and non-state actors, ie, terrorist organizations, and to fight them, we have to have a strong and well-equipped army. The sooner the political leaders realize this and resolve the differences with the Maoists, and the sooner the Maoists and those on a smear campaign against it realize that their stance is adversely affecting the functioning of the army and Nepal’s foreign relations and international image, the better it is for our national security to guarantee Nepal’s survival as an independent country.
Coming back to the issue of demonization which has led to compromising of our national security by the government and political parties, NA is also partly to be blamed because it failed to evolve with time. It downplayed the impact of media on people’s thinking and as such, instead of being transparent to the maximum extent possible, it became even more secretive. Therefore, as a damage control measure, NA has to become more transparent and start publicizing the trials and verdicts of the military court of its soldiers who have been booked on the charges of human rights violations, and also make public the findings of its courts of inquiry. Similarly, it should hand over the soldiers wanted by the police so that they could be tried in civilian courts. Keeping everything hush-hush will only raise more questions and the demonization will continue, which will further weaken it. NA as a professional army is bound by various international conventions on human rights, so it should show the world that it abides by those, and not compare itself with Maoist’s People’s Liberation Army which being a rebel army is not bound by any conventions and agreements.
I am not implying that we should keep quiet even if NA as an institution violates human rights or engages in activities that go against its professional ethics. However, these days, what we are doing is judging it by the actions of its individual soldiers carried out in their individual capacities. Therefore, the right and “democratic” thing for our Seymour Hershes in making to do would be to investigate and bring out the incidents of human rights violations by individual NA soldiers but refrain from demonizing the whole institution with the intention of weakening it and making us vulnerable to many internal and external risks.
Now that the civil war is over and we are in the peace process, like many Nepalis, I am of the belief that all those who violated human rights and tortured, killed or disappeared people during the insurgency period should be brought to book. We should move forward in a positive direction by strengthening our defense capabilities to guarantee domestic peace, territorial integrity and excellent relations with our neighboring countries.
trailokyaa@yahoo.com
Related story
Biden promotes unity, turns to business of transition
