News, Views From Nepal

Yuba Nath Lamsal Articulating the 19 th century’s British foreign policy in clearer and forceful manner, Hennery John Temple Palmerstone, who served as British prime minister two terms and also served as the foreign secretary under Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, way back in 1948, said, “ We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow”. He made these remarks in the House of Commons in reply to queries of parliamentarians on post World War II British foreign policy. His articulation of foreign policy is so apt that they are not only the bases of British foreign policy but the guidance and inspiration for foreign policy makers of the entire world. It is now more than 64 years since he spoke about British foreign policy. But these remarks are as valid today as they were more than half a century ago. In politics as well as diplomacy, there is, definitely, neither permanent frien

Yuba Nath Lamsal A popular maxim goes: Those who forget history are condemned to repeat. Spain-born American philosopher George Santayana coined this phrase in mid 19 th century which has become so popular that this is, perhaps, the most quoted and repeated maxim in the modern day political lexicon. This saying is so popular in politics because politicians often tend to forget the history. As a result, the same mistakes keep on repeating over and over again. The repetition of mistakes is a common phenomenon in politics. This tendency reigns in politics everywhere in the world but more is in the developing countries, where the level of political consciousness is relatively low.   Nepal is a showcase of this trend as the same old mistakes keep on repeating every time and politicians never learn from history and from their past mistakes. This is not the case of any particular party, leader or ruler but a general tendency that happens in all systems and regimes that Nepal saw

Yuba Nath Lamsal  The politics of fragmentation is underway in Nepal at present, and this process is intensifying. In the last one decade, the major political parties of the country have undergone the process of fragmentation and reunion. The Nepali Congress once saw a vertical split, and the CPN-UML, too, met a similar fate. But both the parties got reunited after years of animosity and mudslinging at one another. Even after their reunion, these parties have still not been able to regain their earlier strength, vigour and image. Latest casualty The latest casualty of this politics of fragmentation is the UCPN-Maoist, out of which a new and the youngest party has been born. Mohan Baidhya Kiran and his team have formed a new party - the Communist Part of Nepal- Maoist, or CPN-Maoist. Only last week, a Madhes-based party split with Sarat Singh Bhandari walking out of the Bijaya Gachchhadar-led Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (Loktantrik). Gachchhadar, too, had created his own party

Yuba Nath Lamsal The question of Nepal’s sovereignty has now been raised more prominently and strongly than ever before. This is because Nepal is now in history’s worst political crisis and its political capability has dwindled to the lowest ebb, which has given rise to foreign meddling and interference. Political instability and vulnerability often impair and weaken diplomatic capability which makes the country unable to defend its national interest abroad. Instead various external powers and interest groups get opportunity to interfere and play against our own interest. This is what exactly has happened in Nepal at present. We have perfectly and successfully proved our inability and incompetence. We have shown the world that we are incompetent to resolve our own problems and have sought help from external forces to settle our differences and solve our internal problems. When we are unable to sort out our problems and seek external help to solve our internal issues