Nepal's Hard Reality - By KESHAB POUDEL

http://www.nepalnews.com/contents/2007/englishweekly/spotlight/sep/sep14/national1.php (Spotlight VOL. 27, NO. 5, September 14, 2007 (Bhadra 28 2064 B.S)

Sandwiched between two great powers of Asia, India and China, Nepal survives as an independent nation in a very small geographical space of Himalayas. For many, Nepal's survival as an independent nation is itself a mystery.

Boasting Nepal's bio-diversity, geographical and cultural diversity, Aban Marker Kabraji, regional director of IUCN, Asia, who came to attend the IUCN's international conference, expressed amazement at how Nepal has survived as an independent nation between Indian and China -two big powers of Asia.

For many friends of Nepal like Kabraji, Nepal's survival as an independent nation for more than two and half centuries in this most volatile zone is really an issue of huge interest. Whether it was in the period of unchallenged British colonial power or the powerful Chinese dynasties or in the modern time, Nepal's strength lied in its position of equilibrium.

King Prithvi Narayan Shah once aptly described his newly conquered Kingdom in the central Himalayas as "a root between two stones. "Even in his day - the mid 18th century - Nepal's most formidable problem in the formulation and implementation of foreign policy was the preservation of the country's independence in the face of the concurrent but separate threats posed by the newly emerging dominant power in northern India, the British East India Company, and a slowly and but steadily expanding Chinese presence in Tibet. Present-day Nepal thus perceives its critical geo-political situation in terms of a long tradition as a buffer state and with some deeply ingrained attitudes towards the policies and tactics required to maintain its political and cultural integrity," writes Leo E. Rose in his book Nepal Strategy for Survival

But, in fact, the presence of equally two big powers on both the sides of Nepal has ensured Nepal's independence. "Bravery of the people in different countries for their struggle for independence has been exemplary in record but that alone had not been able to ensure their independence. Many such countries of brave people have been brutally concurred and colonized. People in Nepal generally express their worries about the prospect of peace and as well as preservation of independence of this country. Except a rational logic, there is none to provide appropriate answer for this question," said an analyst.

Obviously, Nepal has a unique problem. "One has to see the nature of disturbance. If there are more than one sources of creating disturbances that could generally make persons worried. In Nepal's case, till now that is not the case. Whatever might have been the facts, or causes being used to get concessions, center of operation of destabilization till now appears to be the same. And that is now in everybody's knowledge. Though there is no leadership yet to get it exposed and to counter that effectively," said the analyst.

For that also there is a limit determined by the hard realities of the country which remained a safeguard of Nepal's existence and independence. " Nepal has gone through most heinous violent activities under a covert design for the past one decade. People suffered much, Nepal has lost much in terms of opportunities for development but none has been a gainer. The center of covert operation has been slowly and gradually exposed to even a layman in the streets in Kathmandu.”

After all what is that factor which helped Nepal endure so much to survive in its continuity of independence and what is that secret in the character of the people that any outsider is visibly impressed by the contagious innocent smiles in the faces of the people despite the hardships?

It may sound a fanatical expression of one’s national pride but, after all, it is a fact of life in Nepal. Considering all these peculiarities and the character of the people, one can be assured of the fact that Nepal will remain the same as a geo-political unit between two equally powerful neighbors though sometimes one of them may get wild and violent. It is not Nepal itself but its equally competent neighbors on their side to see from its security perspectives and deal with the other promptly and effectively.

"Some unnecessary damage has been done in the pursuit of narrow visions of some strategists, which were much valuable to Nepal from political as well as traditional and cultural viewpoint also. But, the hard core existence of the country can be undone at an unpredictably high price in terms of materials and manpower," said the analyst.

The hard realities of the country have determined the character of the people, too. Whether the King rules or baron rules, some basic qualities of life have always been preserved in a continuity of its independence. Like it was once said by English poet T.S Elliot in different context, whoever rules Nepal whether King's rules or Baron rules, Nepal's strength as well as challenge remains the similar.

I Will add here

(We are closer to seven years after the massacere in the Royal Palace a few lines from the Death in Cathedral by T.S. Elliot are relevant at this movement in Nepal.)