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The latest from the CSCenterChild Soldiers: Crime Against HumanityDecember 16, 2009Situation Update: 89 Pawan Bimali and Bishnu Pathak, PhD
Executive Summary The CSCenter in the News: Police Station Visitors Week 2009Nepal among 20 countries for visitors KATHMANDU: ALTUS Alliance is organising Police Station Visitors’ Week (PSVW) from October 26 to November 1. As plans go, small teams of residents, during the event, will visit their local police stations in 20 countries to assess certain aspects of services provided to the public, Conflict Study Centre (CSC) stated here today. The 20 countries that have been selected from all the five continents are Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Uganda from Africa; Brazil, Chile and Peru from Latin America; the United States from North America; Albania, Russia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom from Europe; and Nepal, Malaysia, India, Pakistan and Sri-Lanka from Asia. Altus, the organiser of the event, is a global alliance working to improve public safety and justice. Conflict Study Centre is one among the local partner organisations of the Altus Global Alliance for Police Station Visitors’ Week, which is organising the PSVW, for the first time in Nepal. “The event will incorporate 10 police stations in Kathmandu, namely Balaju, Bouddha, Bhaktapur, Gaushala, Humandhoka, Kalimati, Lalitpur, Maharajgung, New-Baneshwor and Singha Durbar,” read the statement. The visit by small groups of citizens is designed to boost the five dimensions of police service — community orientation, physical condition, equal treatment of the public, detention conditions, transparency and accountability. PSVW helps assess the quality of services delivered in the participating police departments, identify best practices, strengthen accountability of police to local citizens whom they serve and promote human rights standards. The main goal of the programme is said to uplift the quality of local police service in comparison to international standards. This could also be crucial to build trust and cooperation between the police and communities. Police Stations Visitors Week to begin Oct 26 REPUBLICA Altus Global Alliance (AGA), an grouping of six criminal justice reform organizations from Brazil, Chile, India, Nigeria, Russia and the United States, is organizing a Police Stations Visitors Week (PSVW) in Nepal starting October 26.
Conflict Study Center, the local partner of AGA, is organizing the PSWV at 10 various police stations in Kathmandu Valley including Balaju, Boudhha, Bhaktapur, Gaushala, Hanumandhoka, Kalimati, Lalitpur, Maharajgunj, New Baneshwor and Singha Durbar. A small team of residents will visit the police stations to produce comparable scores on five dimensions of police service including community orientation, physical condition of the police stations, equal treatment to the public, condition of detention centers, transparence and accountability. The scores generated by the visitors during PSVW would allow Altus to identify examples of good practices nationally, regionally and globally, while allowing local non-government organizations and citizens to engage police personnel in their areas to improve the latter´s service delivery. According to CSC president Bishnu Pathak, the objective of PSVW is to improve the quality of local police service by identifying some of the good practices of police in various countries of the world. Apart from Nepal, PSVW is being organized in Brazil, Chile, Peru, United States, Albania, Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Malyasia, India, Pakisatan and Sri Lanka. The PSWV aims at assembling a body of comparative criminal justice reform research and practice that can both support local reforms and guide the relationship between domestic criminal justice systems and their international counterparts through collaborative efforts of its members and other international partners. Press Release: October 23rd 2009 Police Station Visitors week (PSVW) is being organized from October 26th to November 1st, 2009 by the ALTUS Global Alliance (www.altus.org). In this event small teams of residents will visit their local police stations in 20 countries to assess certain aspects of the services that they provide to the public.
Countries are included from all five continents; seven from Africa: Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Uganda; three from Latin America: Brazil, Chile and Peru; one from North America: the United States; four from Europe: Albania, Russia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom; and five from Asia: Nepal, Malaysia, India, Pakistan and Sri-Lanka. Altus is a global alliance working across continents and from a multicultural perspective to improve public safety and justice. Conflict Study Center (www.cscenter.org.np), one of the local partner organizations of the Altus Global Alliance for PSVW, is organizing a Police Station Visitors Week for the first time in Nepal. The event will incorporate ten police Stations in the Kathmandu valley: Balaju, Bouddha, Bhaktapur, Gausala, Humandhoka, Kalimati, Lalitpur, Maharajgung, New-Baneswor and Singhadurbar. The visit by small groups of citizens to local police stations is designed to produce comparable scores on five dimensions of police service that include: Community Orientation, Physical Condition, Equal Treatment of the Public, Detention Conditions, and Transparency and Accountability. PSVW is a unique event globally organized by Altus to assess the quality of services delivered in the participating police departments, to identify some of the best practices in use by police, to strengthen the accountability of police to the local citizens whom they serve and to promote human rights standards. The overarching goal of the program is to measurably improve the quality of local police service according to international standards as interpreted by local communities. This helps them identify some of the good practices being used by police, and strengthens the accountability of police to the local citizens. This, in turn, contributes to improving trust and cooperation between police and communities, leading to greater reliance on police by crime victims and improved access to justice. The scores generated by the visitors would allow Altus to identify examples of good practices nationally, regionally and globally, while allowing local based non governmental organizations and local citizens to engage police officers in their own regions to improve services. Devendra Uprety, Project Coordinator Bishnu Pathak, PhD, Altus Country Director and CS Center President Tarai-Madhes: Searching for Identity Based SecurityOctober 14, 2009Situation Update: 88 Bishnu Pathak, PhD and Devendra Uprety
Understanding the Tarai-Madhes Federalism: Risk AssessmentJuly 15, 2009Situation Update: 86 Bishnu Pathak, PhD
Federalism: Lessons from IndiaJune 21, 2009Situation Update: 85 Bishnu Pathak, PhD Indian federalism is the simultaneity of two processes – the unionization process and the regionalization process. Introduction Nepal-India Relations: Open Secret DiplomacyMay 25, 2009Situation Update: 84 Bishnu Pathak, PhD Setting Nepal’s Peace Process at the CrossroadsMay 10, 2009Situation Update: 83 Bishnu Pathak, PhD Setting The Army in Politics and Politics in the ArmyMay 3, 2009Situation Update: 82 Bishnu Pathak, PhD Setting The Culture of Militarization in South AsiaApril 1, 2009Situation Update: 81 Bishnu Pathak, PhD Setting Who we areFounded in 2006, The Conflict Study Center is comprised of a group of preeminent experts and scholars in related fields united with the vision of a peaceful and fully democratic, inclusive Nepal that upholds the rule of law and respects human rights. It is committed to the process of conflict transformation through peaceful means, a concept that stands apart from others such as conflict resolution and conflict management in that it seeks to mitigate the underlying causes of conflict by transforming the societal relationships that support violence. ProjectsPolice Station Visitors Week Police Station Visitors week (PSVW) is being organized from October 26th to November 1st, 2009 by the ALTUS Global Alliance (www.altus.org). In this event small teams of residents will visit their local police stations in 20 countries to assess certain aspects of the services that they provide to the public. Conflict Study Center, one of the local partner organizations of the Altus Global Alliance for PSVW, is organizing a Police Station Visitors Week for the first time in Nepal. The event will incorporate ten police Stations in the Kathmandu valley: Balaju, Bouddha, Bhaktapur, Gausala, Humandhoka, Kalimati, Lalitpur, Maharajgung, New-Baneswor and Singhadurbar. |
Peace, justice and freedom must be major components of any future security in Nepal. However, Nepal’s transition is deepening in crisis due to the growing ranks of rebel forces, particularly in the Tarai-Madhes. While the State fails to deliver security to the ordinary people, particularly in countryside, the peace process of Nepal is endangered, justice is delayed, and freedom is restricted. The migration of hill-and-mountain dwellers out of the Tarai-Madhes has not stopped. The people who remain in such places have had much to fear. The cases of extra-judicial killings, forceful disappearances, torture, extortions, rapes and so forth continue. To understand this unfortunate state of affairs, it is necessary to delve into a brief history of the region.
Today, 40 percent of the world population lives under the rule of a federal state, but 60 percent under unitary. 30 (16% out of 192 UN members) matured, emergent, and micro-federations practice federalism. They are comprised not only of powerful and developed nations, but developing countries as well; namely, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Iraq, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, the USA, etc. Similarly, most of the 162 (84% out of 192 UN-member) nations such as China, France, Denmark, Finland, Indonesia, Israel, Iran, Italy, Japan, Jordon, South and North Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, etc. are unitary states. Federations are found both in advanced industrial nations (European American, or otherwise) to multi-cultural states (Asian nations such as India, Malaysia, and United Arab), to post communist European nations such as Czechoslovakia and former Yugoslavia to Asian Muslim countries like Pakistan. However, former communist countries such as Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia and Pakistan are said to be failed federations due to balkanization or ongoing deep-rooted identity based conflict. Despite the considerable national importance and political exertion over this very issue, research in Nepal comparing federal and unitary state systems has been thus-far severely lacking. Comparison of information advantageous and disadvantageous toward federalism taking into account unitary state alternatives has been given below:
India became independent in 1947. Its parliament, also serving as a Constituent Assembly (CA), drafted the new constitution that came into effect on January 26, 1950, establishing the federal union of India.
The United Maoist-led Government resigned as of May 4, 2009 and its resignation has been accepted. Almost three weeks back, the senior UML leader, Madhav Kumar Nepal, who failed to win people’s trust in two constituencies he challenged in the last Constituent Assembly (CA) election, was unanimously elected as the second Prime Minister of republican Nepal on May 23, 2009. The largest party with 238 members out of 601, the united Maoists, boycotted the election, protesting against the move of the president. The ceremonial president reinstated the CoAS to let him continue in his office despite the executive decision. India has now become the butt of controversy among all players – political parties, media, civil society, etc. – both in and outside the land. This article attempts to address India’s role in Nepal, its next-door neighbor in the central Himalayas.
The fluid political situation of the country culminated in the Government of Nepal ousting the Chief of Army Staff (CoAS), Rookmangud Katawal, and appointed Lt. General Kul Bdr. Khadka as Acting Head of the Nepal Army (NA) at 11.30 Hrs. on May 3, 2009. Alleging the executive power holder government’s decision unconstitutional, president Dr. Ram Baran Yadav directed Katawal to continue his office later that day at 23.00 hrs in the name of national interest (without quoting any article in the interim constitution (IC) or the army act. The president’s decision to override the elected Prime Minister (PM) finally compelled Puspa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) to resign from the post of Prime Minister at 4.25 hrs the following day on moral ground. He was appointed on August 15, 2008, four months after the CA elections where PM Girija Prasad Koirala was thrown from the government. PM Prachanda worked for 263 days (8.75 months).
The confrontation between the United CPN (Maoist) and the then Royal Nepal Army began when the former first attacked the Army barracks in Ghorahi, Dang on November 24, 2001 and continued up to the initiation of the Popular Movement (Jana Andolan II) in April 2006. When the present Prime Minister (PM), Puspa Kamal Dahal, popularly known as Prachanda, first appeared in the media two years ago, along with Dr. Baburam Bhattarai at Baluwatar, he harshly criticized the Nepal Army (NA). Even his retraction soon after did not untie the knot that had developed in the relationship. The result of Constituent Assembly (CA) widened the gap. This gap intensified more due to the Maoists having their own army, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The anti-Maoists generals felt abandoned, and the national and international forces who were against the Maoists-led government were (are) able to exploit their feelings to serve their interests. Their traumatized psyche aligned them towards politics. They knocked on doors of their near and dear ones, forgetting their structured and disciplined duties and responsibilities. The NA generals, particularly the incumbent Chief of Army Staff, (CoAS) Rookmangud Katawal, started to deliver political lectures as if they were political leaders, against the Interim Constitution, elected government, peace process (integration or formation of a new national army), and so forth. The vested interests of a few generals fomented distrust with the civilian government.
South Asia is facing complexities due to a growing trend of militarization, exceeding that of political or ideological indoctrination. Military culture not only prevails in security forces and mainstream political parties, but is spread in the form of identity politics throughout class, group, community, institution, and so forth. This cultural force exists not only for political and ideological reasons, but also for armed, violent, and criminal means of subsistence. Due to interests of cultures, languages, regions, and religions, the secessionist movement succeeds widely in the complex diversity of South Asia. In the not so distant past, Pakistan seceded from India owing to differences of religion, and Bangladesh from Pakistan, in turn, due to language, with both adopting violent approaches. The British sowed the seeds of the secession of Pakistan before leaving India, but only identity and ego based politics are to blame for Bangladesh’s separation. The Kashmir armed violence is no less a means to weaken India’s footing as a superpower than a genuine fight for freedom. The spokesperson of the Afghan President is no more than a muscle-man who runs the strongest private security company there. Sri Lanka’s secessionist group is not only functioning as a political force there, but leads the world’s most successful suicide bomber campaign to assassinate potential political leaders in the region. Since the Comprehensive Peace Accord held on November 22, 2006, Nepal’s disaffected groups have mushroomed into 69 armed and semi-armed groups with violent and criminal modes. The emergence of such groups exists mostly in the Southern plain, known as the Tarai or Madhes, near the porous border with India. Many of them have no goal beyond a separate Madhes nation. They do not yearn for peace, progress, and a prosperous Nepal, or conflict transformation by peaceful means, but for their vested interest.
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