The peace process has set one milestone after another, and now all roads should be leading to the constituent assembly (CA) polls, the central theme of the Jana Andolan II as the settler of the nation’s political and constitutional disputes. It is the duty of every political force to contribute to holding the CA polls in a free and fair manner. But the incidents of violence that have erupted in parts of the country, particularly in the Terai in recent weeks, as well as bandhs and transport strikes will not render this principal goal easy to reach. Take for example Friday’s incident in Lahan, Siraha, where in a clash between Maoists and the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum, one of the latter was killed when the former reportedly opened fire. The Forum’s leaders and others claiming to work for the Madhesis made an issue of it, staging protests, which included torching a number of commercial vehicles, which, in turn, has led the transport entrepreneurs to organise an indefinite nationwide strike demanding security.

This and some other fresh examples tend to show that minor disputes, not stitched in time, have flared up, resulting in casualties, destruction of property and disruption of normal day-to-day life of the general people, not to mention the damage done to communal harmony. Or unnecessary provocation by one group against another has triggered tragic incidents, such as the recent Nepalgunj riots. Despite good progress on peacemaking, responsible groups, particularly the political parties, should take extra care and ask themselves whether any action or statement of theirs is not going to have unpleasant consequences. The likelihood is there of vested interests — both domestic and foreign keen on disrupting the CA polls — making their last-ditch attempt to torpedo the peace process. Be that as it may, the politicians cannot get out of their share of responsibility just by blaming others for anything untoward happening in the country on account of their action or inaction.

What the parties do to avert such incidents, or to nip them in the bud, counts the most. The country is in a fluid state. The CA polls give all a stake in the making of a New Nepal. While there is such an opportunity — something which even the most vociferous champions of the rights of the Madhesis of today or other groups had not dared demand until recently — to have a say in constitution-making through elected representatives of their choice, the resort to violence, which will only contribute to anarchy, will do no good even to their dear cause. Violent means to push their cause may well be an indirect admission that these groups do not have a mass following. At a time when the parties in the current power structure support federal mode of governance, with major socio-economic reforms ending all forms of discrimination or inequality, all concerned should understand that violence leads to retaliation from the other side. This will be a sure-fire recipe for general disaster, and the pursuers of violence for whatever reasons will be in the end the poorer for it.