Democracy at Gunpoint

Iraq carried out its elections amidst tight security. The Iraqis placed their ballots under a tight curfew, airports were closed, the countries borders sealed and traffic blocked.

In the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal, similar events unfolded that received less media attention.

King Gyanendra took over executive power of the country last Tuesday. Telephone lines and the airport were closed down for five days. Security was tightened. The press has been censored, the people forbidden to speak against him or his chosen team of leaders. Two hours of communication is allowed everyday and that too heavily monitored by the Ministry of Truth

At present, anyone who speaks against the King and his officials will disappear, be tortured or killed. Political figures, journalists and activists have gone underground in fear of their lives. Vice Chairman of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists and editor of the newspaper Drishantar weekly went underground yesterday after publishing a blank editorial page in silent protest. Security forces are in search of him.

Journalist friends tell of army personnel reading through each and every word they write before it gets printed in the media. Some have been sacked because people are no longer buying the newspapers. The media has been classified into three types; S (satisfactory), A (alternet) and H (high altert). The ‘bulldog’ as the King is commonly known amongst the people is the Big Brother, keeping track of everything.

The claim by the Nepalese king to restore democracy by imprisoning its very essence has brought an important question on its fundamentals. Is it justifiable for an executive body to decide to take matters into their own hands in the name of democracy?. While countries like Pakistan, Iraq continue to be an experiment ground for this, the question is left unanswered.

Sure Nepal does have problems. Democracy was restored in 1991 after a long feudal system, that too by the late King Birendra – brother of King Gyanendra - who was killed in a bloody massacre in 2001. The people fought and suffered hardships in the long road to receive this glorious gift, democracy. But, it has only taken less than 15 years for it to crumble.

It is true that the politicians were no good. Corruption was rife with bitter disagreements between the parties both in opposition and within each other. At one stage there were up to 44 political parties in the country.

Sick of this, in 1996, the Maoists declared a people’s war to oust the royal family and create a socialist state. Now in control of much of rural Nepal, nearly 11,000 lives have been claimed.

It was after the 2001 massacre that things took a turn for the worse. In 2002, King Gyanendra sacked the then elected Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba dubbing him ‘incapable’ – ironically the same man he re-instated a few months ago then sacked last week. For the last two years, the King has been appointing his own hand picked Prime Ministers. One after the other each failed its tasks. The Maoist problem has intensified leaving traces of a shattered economy.

The king is backed by a 70,000 military force under his control. This is his weapon to solve the Maoists problem. With outdated equipment, the army personnel have failed to succeed in areas heavily controlled by the Maoist rebels. A year ago, an army helicopter went missing in the harsh Nepalese terrain. Security posts have been abandoned. Villages disserted as people flee their homes or are recruited by the Maoists

The Maoists want a republic. The King won’t agree to their demands. He has called the Maoists to the table only if they agree for unconditional talks. Peaceful dialogue is out of the question.

The rebels won’t give up. King Gyanendra has been influenced by advisors who give the example of General Pervez Mussarif and his ignorance to democracy in Pakistan. But, this is not Pakistan. And – if the King were to recall; the Maoists are fighting against him.

King Gyanendra at the moment needs to fear the possibility of the political parties and Maoists teaming together. A few parties have already joined the Maoists and more could follow. This could bring disastrous results.

The present move by the king is a terrible stint to gain power in today’s world under the disguise of democracy. He has acted in self-interest. Interestingly this draws striking parallels to that of George Bush with his bid to give democracy to the people in Iraq.

Its the people that are suffering

The King of Nepal took over power in a dictatorship regime on Tuesday. King Gyanendra sacked the government. He stopped all communication, arrested the politicians, and threw out the right to freedom of speech. By imprisoning its very essence claimed he would restore democracy.

Our life is in threat and an eerie silence is ruling every corner of Nepal. Speaking anything against the monarch or the rulers is directly inviting an end, or being behind the bars, not less.

This is a first hand account of an e-mail a journalistic friend of mine sent through a diplomatic channel late Friday. My friend because of the present situation in the country has requested to remain anonymous.

For journalists, Tuesday marked the end of freedom. Army personnel who hover around the media houses in Nepal are scanning each and every word written.

I hope my friends outside Nepal help us in this hour of difficulty. Please circulate this email among your friends’ circle, and please please please please please try to exert pressure on your government to bail my country out of the trouble and hardships we are going through.

The message voices a desperate plea for help to the international community. One can only hope and pray that this message is heard.

This brings a shiver down my spine.

I was there in Nepal. I was about eight when the late King Birendra –brother of King Gyanendra - restored democracy after an agitating struggle by the people. As the celebrations were carried out on the streets my family went out to welcome this new sea of change.

This marked a new era for Nepal. Although I did not understand the meaning of democracy surely it would be something great.

However, 15 years later, the King has turned back time. The Nepalese have been taken back to the 1990s. All that effort has gone to waste. ‘Peace’ is now such a foreign word for the people.

I was in a state of shock when I watched the long procession of Late King Birendra (brother of King Gyanendra) and his family in 2000 – a monarch that was supposed to live on forever – travel through the city. In one night they were all wiped out. For the Nepalese, it is still unbelievable.

The people’s war declared by the Maoists in 1996 took a devastating turn after the Royal Massacre. The rebels want to oust the royal family and create a socialist state. Now they have control in most of rural Nepal.

More than 10,500 people have died in the insurgency. With thousands more disappeared by both the security personnel and Maoists. In fact, Amnesty International recently published a report stating that Nepal accounted for the highest number of disappearances last year.

Emergency rule was imposed in 2002. It was a bid by the then Sher Bahadur government – the same government that was sacked by the King Gyanendra – to tackle the growing Maoist problem. It was at that time I started to work as a journalist in the leading English newspaper in the capital Kathmandu.

During the two years I worked as a journalist I wrote a lot of news reports on the insurgency, politicians and king. The most chilling were those I witnessed. I was helpless during the emergency when the army raided our house twice. The mental trauma of experiencing green clothes men storm into our house with rifles and looking through each and every item we owned was so intense.

I will never forget the tears on my fathers face after he saw the torture the army personnel carried out on one of the tenants in our house. The old man, who lived in a small room in our old house was a labourer who could barely make ends meet. He was brutally tortured with electric shots. His crime was that he was poor. And – there was nothing we could do.

I wrote stories on children that feared footsteps outside their door after their father, brother or sister were taken by a Maoist or Army - never to be seen again. I listened to a soldier explaining the desperation of not being able to give water to his dying friend when there was blood shattered every where during clashes between the Maoists and army. More than 100 people died during that clash.

Perhaps the hardest story for me was to write my own. I survived a bomb blast – one of thousands that go off in the country – while on my way home from work. I was injured but I was alive.

The experience of coming so close the death was enough to leave me questioning the very purpose of all this. Why? Is the only question that comes to mind. But no one can give me an answer.

The innocent Nepalese are caught in the middle of this battle of power between the political parties that brought democracy, the Maoists with their people’s war and the King with his latest bid to restore democracy. They have no choice but to watch as the country is turned into a tug of war game. The tragedy though is that no party will accept defeat and without even taking part the people are losing.