NEW DELHI, May 29: As the Government in Nepal prepares to invite the UN into the peace process with the Maoists, India is yet to make up its mind on the timing and the nature of the external involvement in the Himalayan nation. The 25-point code of conduct signed by the Government and the Maoists last Friday agreed to call upon the UN to monitor the ceasefire.

The Indian Government has so far neither endorsed nor opposed Kathmandu’s move to invite the UN. It is also conscious of the fact that it is only when the terms of reference and role have been precisely defined have the UN interventions been successful. India believes that the Government and the civil society in Nepal have enough capabilities of their own to cope with the challenges of the peace process that involves the election of a constituent assembly.

India’s lack of enthusiasm for the involvement of the third parties and the UN in the internal conflicts of the subcontinent is widely known. At the same time India has also been squeamish about being drawn too deeply into the internal conflicts of the region after its troubled intervention in Sri Lanka in the late 1980s. Balancing these competing imperatives, however, has not been easy for New Delhi and the tension between the two is once again manifest in the current debate within the establishment on Nepal.

When the peace process was launched in Sri Lanka a few years ago, India went along with the Norwegian mediation after initial reservations. The experience since then has not been entirely satisfactory. The political equivalence that has come about between Colombo and the LTTE, established by the international mediation, has resulted in a series of problems that now threaten the peace process in Sri Lanka.

Three broad areas of international involvement are now being contemplated in Nepal — monitoring of the ceasefire, facilitation of a dialogue between the two sides, and the management of the arms held by the Royal Nepal Army and the Maoists. India would like to see the civil society in Nepal establish its own commission of neutral and eminent persons to ensure the compliance with the ceasefire.

The UN, according a strong view here, should limit itself to a supportive role. Having seen the political parties and the Maoists successfully construct an alliance against the monarchy and then proceeding to work out the terms of the peace process on their own, India believes there is little need for third party facilitator in the talks between the two sides. On the most sensitive question of arms management, India, with its vast experience in peace-keeping, could itself play an important role.

The Government in Kathmandu, too, hopes to see a substantive Indian role, within the UN framework, in the process of disarmament and decommissioning of arms. The Government, however, might not have the luxury of a do-nothing policy in Nepal and will soon have to come up with decisions on the extent of its own military and political involvement as well as that of the UN in Nepal’s peace process.


Courtesy:Indian Express