Editorial
Long awaited
The arrival of United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy must be taken as important for Nepal because the Maoist combatants disqualified by UNMIN on the basis of they being minors may see them moving out of the cantonments wherein they have been lodged. The issue of the UNMIN certified minors should have been taken up earlier, but the focus of the successive governments has been shifting so that no progress has been made to date. Of course, the disqualified lot would want to begin a new lease of life out of the cantonment in the society at large, but what seems to be hindering the fruition of their desire is UCPN (M) which the UN recognizes as the recruiting party. As per the UNMIN schedule, it will require at least 50 days for the task to be completed. Meanwhile, the Maoist sources have declared that the stipulated work can be done within 20 days. Despite all the talk, no actual action has been implemented though the hope has been aired for the discharge to be undertaken while Coomaraswamy is here on her four-day visit.
It augurs well that some thrust on the management of the disqualified minors is now in place. But, the bone of contention at the moment is the prop up that will be provided to those who will be discharged. The Maoists have objected to the package to be offered to those who are to be discharged. It is true that the minor Maoist combatants have to be discharged, but it is not fit for the Maoists to make them a bargaining chip. It has even gone to the extent of suggesting that if their bottom line is not heeded, they would discharge the disqualified personnel unilaterally. If this had been the case, UCPN (M) could have done the needful a long time back instead of being reluctant to do so even now. There may be a point in the Maoists’ argument, but words alone do not weigh much unless the right action balances it out. Those who are to be discharged are as much the citizens of the country as anyone else, and they have received the needful and appropriate assistance while confined to the cantonments. That the government has discriminated in dealing with them holds no water. However, there is some element of dissatisfaction that it is only now that additional pressure is being exerted by the Maoists on the government regarding the benefits that the discharged should receive. It is sheer agony not only for the government and the world body but also for those awaiting honourable discharge. And, as usual, the Maoists come up with last minute hassles that take time sorting out.
The people have to understand that active human resources are lying idle. It is another matter that the lot had participated in the insurgency that has, fortunately, ended three years back. Instead of making the lives of the discharged lot uncertain, the UCPN (M) should come up with reasonable demands for rehabilitation instead of making additional demands one after another. At the moment, revived hopes are there that the task of discharging the disqualified Maoist combatants will begin in earnest, not to take up arms with the Maoists but to be assimilated as independent members of the society.
On their own
Archaic values still pose as obstacles to many inter-caste marriages. In many cases we find when couples marry from other castes particularly if they come from different ones - the so-called upper and lower castes - society frowns on them and even take drastic steps such as issuing threats, and on occasions even chase away from their homes to more secure locations or beat them black and blue. The government is providing 1 lakh rupees to such couples but this is not enough. The newly-weds meet stiff resistance from their families and kin, not to talk about society at large. The government has to play a more constructive role in discouraging this scourge of caste-based discrimination.
Ultimately, the society has to change its values, but this by all accounts is a difficult proposition if we are to go by experiences of many inter-caste couples like Upendra BK and Mina Khadka reported in this daily Tuesday. Legal action is only a partial solution. Besides, the much hyped funds has yet to reach such couples. The story of Upendra and Mina is indeed pathetic for they have been left in the lurch. How cruel can society be on such innocent couples?
