Nepal: Former Army Chief Katawal speaks

Telegraph Weekly, Nepal, Editorial

The otherwise monotonous Nepal’s National Army institution appears to have attained maturity of late. Some even take this institution as an ornament of the country with uniform which is just there because it has to be in place.

Nepali flag was burnt in Sirha in a broad day light and the National Army kept a mysterious silence. Isn’t it then an ornament?

Yet some clever brains now governing this highly venerated institution have tried to kill several birds with a single stone in which they have bagged some success. This is what we presume.

Former Chief of the Army Staff, Rukmangad Katawal pleasingly dared to talk to some mainstream media presumably on behalf of the Nepal Army, presumption only, wherein he has, to the best he could, pushed his own expressions for the public consumption though even a layman could understand that Mr. Katawal is talking to what the Nepal Army intends to ventilate. As a matter of discipline, the Army is not supposed to talk on political issues that have recently plagued the nation and virtually the nation, as it stands today, remains divided into two equal halves on whether the Madhesi youths should have their en masse inclusion in the national army in the name of making the institution an inclusive one as per the government’s fresh decision or not?

The debate is on and may continue for some time more to come.

The timing of Mr. Katwal’s expressions is also significant in that it has come immediately after the present Chief of the Army Staff, Chattra Man Singh Gurung who reportedly met the Nepal President and ventilated his institution’s displeasure over the government’s decision to recruit some three thousand Madhesi youths into the mainstream Nepal Army.

If, for the sake of convenience, the Nepal Army has made Katawal to speak his mind as regards the inclusion of the Madhesi youths into the Army then the manner Mr. Katawal has come heavily down against the government’s decision does somehow or the other speak that both Katawal and the Nepal Army were not in a mood to digest this inclusion of a special community wherein both in an apparent manner hint that such an inclusion, if that does happen at all, may create mess inside the disciplined army which according to Mr. Katawal, is the Army of the people which can’t be made the army of some interested political parties. Or in other words both hint that if the Madhesi plea is awarded due recognition then similar other communities, if begin demanding similar treatment from the State Army, too must be included in the institution which eventually may swell the numerical strength of the existing Army and ultimately create chaos in the military establishment.

Logic is there in what they both indicate through their expressions and the meets. How the Nepal Army finally takes this issue will be no less interesting to observe. Former Army Chief has been made to speak, it is now widely believed.

The second thing which the former CoAS has talked in the interview granted to a popular Kathmandu weekly, December 28, 2011, too is loaded with intrinsic meaning.

Mr. Katawal in a simplified but yet forceful manner claims that he have had little to do while the Nepali Royal institution was being sidelined some years ago. He thus shifts the entire blame on to the heads of those leaders and political parties which then claimed that they were close to the Palace. He says what the hell the Royalist parties were doing then when talks had surfaced of having a Baby King for Nepal? In his opinion, the Baby King theory floated then in the Kathmandu political market should have been tactfully exploited by the declared Royalists for the Royal institution to survive in Nepal. He thus summarily blames those who thrived loitering around the former Palace in not having been able to keep the now sidelined Royal institution intact. Blame game begins.

A close look at what Mr. Katawal makes known to his audience through the Ghatana Ra Bichar weekly interview is that from the very inner core of his heart, he is a staunch Royalist yet he appears to have lamented for his inability in saving the Royal Institution for a variety of domestic and perhaps international reasons to which he refrains to mention. Clever Katawal.

The third thing that comes to the fore upon reading his said interview is that he apparently possesses abundant revulsion for the political parties in the manner they have been steering the state affairs after the 2006 change.

Notably, Mr. Katawal for some mysterious reasons had dubbed the current set of Nepali political leaders as “Useful Idiots”. In the course of the interview Mr. Katawal doesn’t use this special phraseology but yet he gives it to understand the readers that for him the present day rulers were no more than what he had dubbed them while making a lecture in Birgunj to which we at this paper still recall. Yet he strongly believes that the Maoists party is swinging the Nepali politics in its preferred way and that the rest of the political parties were just following the Maoist swings.

This does mean that he has still some sort of abhorrence against the Maoists-the party which had sacked him, May 3, 2009, and fortunately the Nepal President Dr. Yadav came to his rescue the next minute breaking his ceremonial role that he did.

Unfortunately, Mr. Katawal doesn’t talk of his secret connections with the then Indian establishment which compelled President Yadav to reinstate his sacked position of the Chief of the Army Staff. However, some intelligent brains in Kathmandu still remember his clandestine linkages with the then Indian CoAS, Deepak Kapoor, who in effect put extra pressure on his government and finally forced Nepal President to intervene into the Nepali affairs.

By the way, General Kapoor and Mr. Katawal studied together in Dehradun School of defense. This perhaps explains the rest. A friend in need is a friend indeed. No further explanations needed as to why and how he regained his lost post. Not all brains are stupid in Nepal.

All in all, the interview is worth reading at least once as it brings to light as to how a retired Military man of Katwal’s stature views the prevailing national politics. That’s all.

The Telegraph Weekly editorial dated January 4, 2012.

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Comments

Posted on - 2012-01-07 by Devendra Lekhak
Ma'am/Sir, Is this your standard of Editorial? Your editorial looks very cheap with no substance. Although I am not an ardent lover of the army or the police,nor do I have any resons whatsoever to "hate" them, I have the following observations to make from your "editorial," which until today, I used to find somehow interesting. But I think I may need to stop reading if you keep up with such standards. 1. Firstly, what should the army do? Keep quiet or come guns ablaze? You tell us. Is it the police to go and kick ass when someone is burning the national flag? Or the army? Did anyone put those people behind bars? Or do you want the army to bring them and put them in army barracks, like in prison. YOu blame the army for doing something, and you blame the army for not doing something. You need to decide. The whole country has to decide. And I hope they decide to use the police for such jobs. 2. What is your definition of ceremonial? Do you even know what you are saying? Even the US military and the Chinese military are ceremonial when they are not fighting? Or ceremonial like the Nepali President? What are you trying to get at here? Clarify. 3. Oh yes, all militaries try to kill as many birds with one stone as possbile, not only the Nepal Army. Nepal Army has every right to put its ideas and reservations forward in a democracy. The only thing it should not do is pick up a microphone and give a speech in Khulla Manch,is all. Do you think it is an organization of fools? No, there are plenty of people with brains there, although admittedly many others may just be idling time. If you talking about democratic maturity, then I can agree with you. Otherwise it is the most mature organnization in the whole country, whether anybody agrees or not. 4. You have to thank Mr. Katwal that whatever he did was for the sake of democracy. He could have easily supported the king further. Everybody acts as per the domestic and internationl situation, I do, President Obama does, Queen Elizabeth does, Manmohan Singh does. What is so new about this? What's your point? It should have ceratinly hurt Mr. Katwal in his inability to support the monarchy, as it hurt many political leaders, including GP Koirala, who proposed baby king. It is their right to feel that way. Both could not and so did not. Why even talk about it. Kamal Thapa was and is brave to remain in support. It is democracy, let it be, unless they try to sabotage the CA or the new Constitution. They have rights! 5. Useful Idiots is a phrase used by the Maoists, Mr. Katwal merely is echoing the term. Editorials should know such information. 6. Katwal did not have secret connection with India. It was open. Everybody knew it, you knew it, so everybody printed it. Otherwise how could they print it? He was honorary General of India, trained there. Who does not have relationship with India? None of the political parties. Even the arch-enemy Maoists have relationship with India. Although, political leaders have, what you call, "very secret" relations there. Why does Mr. Katwal need to talk about what he does not want to talk about? Or does not feel it is important. 7. All brains are stupid in Nepal, including the person who wrote this editorial. although I don't mean it in a satirical way, it is the truth, at least for me. Everybody saves his/her job in Nepal with the help of India. I hope your network is not financed by India or has some share. I sure hope not. When someone is so nationalist, I hope that network is very Nepali. History and fate has it that Nepal had to lean on India. Until the political leadership show strength not to do it, people will keep on doing it. There has to be a national resolve not to turn toward India even for small things. 8. I feel sad sometimes when Telegraphnepal sometimes does very weak analysis and has nothing substantive to present and the manner and the language in which it is done looks very lowly and cheap. I hope you do well in the future. My apologies, but that is how I felt. Your bar has been very low this time. By the way Nepal has not been divided into two equal halves. If online papers like yours keep on writing this, it will happen one day, because people will get wrong ideas. And ideas repeated everyday becomes pressing like the republican slogan became so pressing that the NC had to give in to the demands or be swept away into the abyss of time. I hope to see healthier editorials and analyses in the future. Regards.

Posted on - 2012-01-06 by ThArka
Well done Katuwal You are a man of country who want save it. Keep it up