 BIKRAM RAI |
On the face of it, there is little new in the agreement that was signed by the main political blocs on Tuesday night at Baluwatar. It was the mother of all agreements that agreed to implement past agreements. The seven-point agreement is just a rehashing and reiteration of some of the four-point, five-point, 12-point and even the 40-point agreements of the past.
But, as Pushpa Kamal Dahal said with only a hint of irony after the deal was done: "This is the beginning of a new beginning."
Indeed, the euphoric tone of some of the reaction nationwide to the deal brokered by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai stemmed more from a sense of desperation that after a slumberous holiday and with another Constituent Assembly deadline looming, the leaders had nothing to show Nepalis. The netas must have had the sense that the public perception of them was at a nadir. Now, they can safely extend the CA deadline again without major public backlash.
This agreement was actually negotiated and brokered during the tenure of Madhav Kumar Nepal, two prime ministers ago. So there was no reason it couldn't have been signed last year. The only argument that could be made was that Pushpa Kamal Dahal hadn't yet seen the light, and perhaps the terms of integration and compensation weren't yet "sold" to the fighters in the camps. So what happened at the Radisson on Tuesday afternoon while the tea party at Baluwatar was going full swing, was just a continuation of the Gokarna lunch with a gap of about 12 months.
We don't yet know what the fine print is on this week's agreement. But there is rumoured to be a power-sharing rider about who gets to lead the next government and when. In fact, despite all the leaks about haggling over the numbers of Maoists to be integrated and the compensation package for those opting for rehabilitations, the really contentious issue seems to have been bargaining over future leadership.
Whatever the case, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that the leaders have for the first time in a long time risen above their selfishness and partisanship to show some accountability to the people who elected them. To call it "statesmanlike", as some commentators have this week, would be hyperbole. They just did what they were supposed to do four years ago. Still, better late than never.
The next step in the mainstreaming of Maoists in Nepali must be for them to abjure violence once and for all. Baburam Bhattarai, the ideological architect of the wasteful 10-year war, made a 180 degree turnaround in New Delhi last month when he wooed the very Indian investors he said should be thrown out in his 40-point demand in 1996.
If he can do that, there is no reason his party leadership can't now say: "Our armed struggle was in response to the structural violence of the state, we have now concluded that as a duly-elected political party we don't see the need anymore to adhere to the ideology of violence."
Baburam Bhattarai and Pushpa Kamal Dahal may find it difficult to publicly admit that a war that killed 16,000 Nepais was unnecessary. But as a party that now believes in the ballot, it's about time they pledged their allegiance to non-violent pluralistic democracy. All the same, it would be nice if they could say sorry.
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