I think that Hon'ble Ambassador is damn serious, and he'd done good analysis of country (ofcourse, with his own interest in it too).
Nepal will collapse without no reconciliation: Moriarty
By Prateek Pradhan
KATHMANDU, Nov 7 - The Ambassador of the USA to Nepal, James F Moriarty, has warned the king and political parties that if something is not done immediately the whole system will collapse in the country.
"The emergency is only increasing, and if the right decisions are not taken quickly, the country will be in very serious trouble," said Moriarty in an exclusive interview to the Post on Monday.
Moriarty reiterated that the onus is on the King to reconcile, and reach out to political parties. "The gap between the king and the parties is growing. I still think political parties would respond if the King reached out in good faith. But the King has not done that, and he needs to do it. Frankly, I cannot figure out a safe landing for this country, otherwise," Moriarty said.
The US ambassador further said that after February 1st, both the King and political parties have become weaker, and only the Maoists have gained benefit. He said, "I hope, I'm wrong, but the State is very very brittle to me. It feels it could be knocked over very easily."
"The government is getting weaker rather than stronger, that means the state is in more and more trouble. They don't have much popular support. I think the King had lots of support for his move in February, because people hoped the country's problems would be resolved. I think the proportion is a lot lower now."
"If there's no reconciliation, there are probably several different types of futures, none of which looks good to me. One, is repression, the other is more and more confusion in the street, and yet another is resumed insurgency in the country. These are all unpleasant futures."
Trying to clarify his position after he issued a warning to political parties to refrain from collaborating with Maoists, Moriarty said the parties should adhere to their earlier stance that demands Maoists to renounce violence before any sort of reconciliation.
"I was reminding them that as of right now the Maoists had not done anything to indicate that they are abandoning violence."
Moriarty said that he had to issue the statement after Bamdev Gautam said that he had an agreement with Maoists, and that the Maoists would be shortening every candidate in the municipal elections by six inches (beheading them).
When asked for his reaction on Maoists' three-month unilateral ceasefire, which is going to be over soon, Moriarty said that it would be good if the Maoists extended the ceasefire, even though the ceasefire has many problems.
"The extortion is probably outgrown in ceasefire, abductions continue, there's still violence, people are still getting killed by the Maoists. However, the ceasefire has resulted in fewer deaths than before, and that's good. Anything that leads to fewer deaths is good."
Commenting on Nepal's changing foreign policy, which is tilted more towards a country with totalitarian regime, Moriarty said, "Nothing wrong with Nepal trying to develop friendly relations with other countries. But I don't think that relations with other countries will change the basic dynamic inside Nepal."
However, he admitted that a large scale of military support might give a feeling to the government that they could stand the domestic pressure for a while longer, and it might take the urgency of the reconciliation. However, he added, "There is no external option that would change the internal dynamics."
He added that the USA, on its part, has talked to various countries that have interest in Nepal. "We've talked to Pakistan in the past and also to China. If the need be, we will express our concern again," he added.
Talking about the controversial elections, Moriarty said, "Obviously, elections are the only way you are ultimately going to get back to a functioning democracy. Just as obviously, the parties have legitimate concerns whether elections under the current circumstances can be free and fair.
"Here, the combination of the announcement of elections with the announcement of the media ordinance, have been considered by the parties seriously and that is legitimate. The impression given is that there is not going to be a level playing field. So, the parties' concerns are alright.
"Again, it's upon the government to reach out to the parties and ask them what they need to do for the parties to take part in the elections. Though the government is not doing that now, I hope the government will do that," he added.
