News, Views From Nepal

Yuba Nath Lamsal A nation is akin to a human body. When human body gets weak, bugs and bacteria start attacking and ultimately ruin the body leading to death. So is the life of a nation. When the country is weak, vested interest groups try to take advantage from the frail state and play their ill-motivated games to serve their petty interests. In such a situation, external forces find an ample ground and opportunity to meddle and interfere in the internal affairs. The situation gets further worse when the domestic elements collaborate with the external forces. Its outcome is clear: the country turns into a playground of external powers and internal forces helpless who have to be mute spectators. We have several examples of such cases in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In our own Asian continent, Lebanon was once the victim so of tussle and interference of outside forces. Several countries were fighting proxy wars in Lebanon to control over this tiny state in the Middle East. But things...

Yuba Nath Lamsal The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was founded 25 years ago on December 8, 1985 with the objective of bolstering enhanced and meaningful cooperation among the countries of South Asian region. However, this regional body appears to be far behind in realizing its lofty goals even in 25 years of its life. The SAARC has moved in the snail's pace with little progress in the areas of cooperation, which is attributed mainly to positional differences of some SAARC member countries on certain key issues including the very objective of the body. The SAARC is said to the brainchild of former President of Bangladesh late Ziaur Rahman, who first floated the idea of forming the regional group in the model of the ASEAN and the EU. The idea was backed by other countries including Nepal. Nepalese people, therefore, tend to believe that former king Birendra is one of the founders of the SAARC. While Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives ha...

Yuba Nat Lamasl The international balance of power of the Cold War era no longer exists in South Asia. With the withdrawal of Soviet army from Afghanistan, the United States of America, too, changed its South Asia policy. The American engagement in South Asia diminished so heavily that the security perspective of South Asia has completely taken a U-turn. Previously, the US-Pakistan pact was perceived as a countervailing factor against the military and security alliance of Soviet Union and India. The Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and India\'s expansionist and bullying policy had created a sense of insecurity in South Asia. This fear had been allayed by US presence in South Asia and its strategic partnership with Pakistan.The Russian military adventure in Asia was mainly aimed at encircling China from all sides and check US interest. Soviet Union\'s policy was perceived as a common security threat by China, US and Pakistan. Already suspicious about Russian intention and stra...

Yuba Nath Lamsal Politics is the game of possibilities. All types of possibilities are explored and experimented in politics. It is thus said that there is neither a permanent enemy nor permanent friend in politics. In politics, strangers become bedfellows. Politicians make and change alliances to suit their personal and partisan interest. As politics is being guided more by personal and partisan interest and benefit, the era of principle-based politics seems to be over. Mission for change There were days when politics was a mission to change the society and lift the condition of the people. It was a period when politicians sacrificed their lives for a certain cause. If we are to take the names of such politicians in our own country, the list would be long. Tanka Prasad Acharya, BP Koirala, Ganesh Man Singh, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Pushpa Lal, Manmohan Adhikari and Madan Bhandari are such personalities who championed a certain cause throughout their life and never compromised on thei...

Yuba Nath Lamsal In a communist party, words and phrases and their interpretation and misinterpretation carry special meaning, which often cause trouble and even split in the party. This is exactly what has happened to Nepal’s communist movement. The Communist Party of Nepal was established in 1949 as the youngest communist party of Asia in a fashion similar to other countries. The objective of the Communist Party of Nepal was clear: not only overthrow the then Rana family’s tyranny but also abolish the entire feudal system. The monarchy did not figure prominently in the beginning as the Ranas were the symbol of Nepal’s feudalism, whereas the Shah kings were a mere nominal head of state. It was thus natural for a communist party to direct its attack on the Ranas. However, the monarchy, too, was a part of the entire feudal system in Nepal, which would automatically see its abolition once the feudal political, economic and social orders were dismantled. There should, therefore, be no con...