One of the poorest countries in world yet extremely rich in natural beauty, Nepal is currently facing her biggest challenge till date. After a grueling civil war for almost 15 years, Nepal is steadily but continuously heading on a path of peace and reconciliation. The blood spilled during the conflicts has left an incurable scar on common Nepalese hearts, the pain it has caused is inconsolable but still thanks to brave Nepalese hearts, and we are up again to move on.
It was our continuous belief in peace and harmony that prompted us to take this moderate path. People of Nepal want to forget the tyrannical past and this is strong urge and sentiment of our people which has enabled a state of stability but in truer sense we are far behind to achieve our goal.
The current situation has not changed enough to give ourselves a belief to be optimistic, the present state of confusion has arisen due to different reasons. One of them being the issue of “Army Integration”. According to UN sources there are more than 19000 Maoists combatants at barracks while Nepal army has strength of about 75000. For a poor country with a population of 25 million, I do not see any good in having such a lavish security expenses. If a attack is made on national integrity, then obviously all of 25 million people will be available to sacrifice their lives for the motherland but in normal condition, we do not see any relevance in having such a huge army when virtually they are of no use in reconstruction of the state.
There has been a talk of integration of Maoists militia into national army, a step which will definitely not lower down the count of security personnel. I am opposed to this move because of some very fundamental reasons. Firstly, Nepal in no ways needs such a huge army to secure her sovereignty, so the expenses incurred on them will be an unwanted burden on national treasury.
Secondly, the Maoists militia is personnel trained and committed to some ideology which I can bet can create conflicts when there is a clash on political differences. I am not doubting any of Nepalese’s honesty but it is hard but truth, that a politically motivated group cannot assure of being nationalist all the time. So there will always be a question in front of the army? Is there anybody to justify how our future will be secure in hands of a doubtful security agency?
Thirdly, Maoists through their civil war has injected a new thought in common Nepalese mindset that if you can lift a gun, your voice will be heard. The trend is a super-hit formula to fulfill your political ambitions, and in recent time, this trend is replicated by many opportunists creating a state of sheer confusion and chaos. When all of these groups demand tomorrow to be integrated with the national army, what will be the structure of our National Army then?
I would like to make an illustration here with reference of Indian Freedom Fight, the army of Netaji Subhash that is Indian National Army(INA) which fought with British forces and were instrumental in bringing British army to their knees, but still they were not integrated with the army of Independent India(Barring few exceptions). Though personnel of INA were Indians, they fought Britons they weren’t mixed with army of India because of a simple fact that the national army and politically motivated army cannot have similar approach and so there would always be conflicts amongst them which ultimately will hamper national interests. In Nepal, the Maoists have not fought with any foreigner rather they have fought with their own countrymen; they have fought with this present Nepal army, then how can there be unification? If this unification is made forcibly then it will be weakening the security system.
Then question arises “How to Manage Maoists militia”. It is a genuine question and ha to be resolved wisely. There can be rehabilitation programs to consume them in mainstream, they can be given vocational trainings to make them competent to earn their bread and butter, the authority in Nepal should take a bold step in creating job opportunities which will not only lower the burden of Government but also will help in economic revolution. We have many areas where we can improvise and have a huge number of jobs created for example, Tourism, Hydroelectricity, agriculture, Nepalese handicrafts, and garments. Hope the decision making people will take bold and wise decisions in days to come!
