| This is just a sophisticated, nuanced call for appeasement. |
India on Monday urged Nepal to invite insurgent Maoists for peace talks ahead of a visit by head of state King Gyandendra expected later this month and suggested "aggressive" border patrols to cut rebel supply lines. "They have a programme which, I have to admit, has some very progressive elements and I do not think there should be any difficulty in the establishment accepting them," Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said of the Maoists in New Delhi.
| "Cutting off heads is a little extreme, yes, but many other parts of their program are very, ah, progressive!" |
"And they have to be convinced that they cannot win an armed struggle and that their bargaining power would diminish if they continued with their agitation for long," Saran told a seminar on Nepal, which adjoins India. Saran said Kathmandu will have to offer assurances in a bid to appease a bunch of Maoists win the confidence of the rebels.
| Or, you could just kill them. |
"Certain assurances such as a level-playing field have to be given to them and some parts of their programme accepted to convince the Maoists to come to the political mainstream and participate in elections," he said. Nepalese political parties and the monarchy, between whom there was a "lack of trust and confidence" seemed to be thinking that by striking deals with the Maoists, they could marginalise the other side, he said. "The Maoists have been playing off one institution against the other to advance their own interests," Saran said. "The Maoists are seeing a fractured polity in Nepal. The political parties, in their rivalry, do not seem to understand that the need now is to rise above their differences to ensure that the multi-party system survives," he said.
| And by giving the Maoists power, you'll guarantee the survival of a multi-party system, right? |
The foreign secretary called for "aggressive and proactive" border patrolling by Nepalese security forces and said India will have to match the exercise on its side of the frontier "so that pressure is mounted on Maoists to return to peace talks." "The Maoist insurgency in Nepal poses a challenge to both countries as it is not limited to geographic boundaries but has linkages to similar movements in (Indian states of) Bihar and Andhra Pradesh," Saran said. Saran also said India believed the monarchy had a constructive role to play in Nepal, which is sandwiched between India and China. "But it is necessary that the monarchy look upon its interests as convergent with the interests of the political parties," he added.
| Less talk, fix the problems in the country, and rub out the Maoists. |
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