KATHMANDU, NEPAL – When I first visited Nepal as a student in 1997, I was struck by the abundant contrasts. Today, those contrasts have metamorphosed into outright contradictions.
One year ago, King Gyanendra dismissed the Prime Minister, citing his inability to control a growing Maoist rebellion, and installed himself as absolute ruler. During the king’s past 12 months of leadership, he has unleashed a barrage of fiats, all justified in the name of “combating terrorism.” The mobile phone network has twice been shut down by the palace. Public gatherings were banned. The internet was turned off nation-wide for two weeks. The latest government order in today’s newspaper forbids motorcyclists from carrying passengers.
When Nepal’s mainstream political parties tried to organize a rally in the capital two weeks ago, the government issued an all day curfew and authorized soldiers to shoot anyone caught outside.
Nepal’s previous crop of rulers from the mainstream parties were not particularly inspiring or stable characters, even when judged by the shabby standards of third world politics. Besides being notoriously corrupt and prone to petty factional rivalries, they had failed to strike any deal with the Maoists during the two previous rounds of peace talks.
During the period of parliamentary democracy, King Gyanendra never hid his distain for the scandal tainted political class, and when he took power, it was with an air of confidence that he would be able to run the country much better. Besides the obvious benefits of direct rule, the king also had the advantage of being Commander-in-Chief of the army as well as being considered a “living god” by much of the deeply religious Hindu population.
But after only a year with the combined powers of politics, armed force and religion all at his command, the country is on the brink of systematic failure. The palace’s policies have ostracized Nepal from its long-term diplomatic allies (India, America and Britain), while the heavy handed treatment of mainstream political parties has actually driven them into a loose alliance with the Maoist rebels that they once detested. The economy that showed moderate growth under the corruption-marred democracy, is now in the red, and foreign donors are cutting back aid to the royal government by over 60 percent.
King Gyanendra’s strategy to win back support is to hold municipal elections on February 8th, but nothing seems to be going to plan. All the mainstream parties are boycotting the election, while the Maoists have started assassinating candidates. The government is now offering hefty life insurance policies for anyone willing to stand for office, and the army has been mobilized to the defend the polling stations — many of which are placed in schools. Civil servants have been issued orders to vote or face disciplinary action.
The parties are attempting to organize an increasing number of street protests against the elections. Last week I visited a campus where students had placed banners on two stray dogs that read “Namaste. I am a candidate for local elections. Vote for me.” When they left the campus grounds, riot police charged them with bamboo canes. They beat one of the dogs even more heavily than the protesters.
[Copyright Tomas van Houtryve. Do not copy, archive or re-post without written permission. All rights reserved.]
