Are civil-military relations nearing a crisis point in post conflict Nepal? This insight piece published by the Institute of South Asian Studies explores this question by considering the recent disagreements between the Maoist government and the nepal army leaders. The Maoist government’s poor handling of their decision to sack defiant Nepal Army leader, General Katawal reveals a weak and politically immature leadership. By allowing the Nepal Army to disregard the mandate of the civilian authority, the major political powers in Nepal risk permanently damaging the peace and democratisation processes.
The current disagreement pits the Maoist government against the Nepal Army. The political turmoil began when the cabinet’s decision to sack General Katawal was dismissed by President Yadav. This resulted in Prime Minister Prachanda’s resignation and confusion among the government leadership as to the state of the civil-military relationship. General Katawal is the iconic leader of the Nepal army which opposed the Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) prior to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended hostilities in 2006.
The cabinet justified General Katawal’s dismissal as the result of three acts of open defiance. First, he commissioned 3,010 new recruitments in October-December 2008 in violation of the CPA. Second, he extended the services of eight Brigadier-Generals without consulting the government. Finally, he led a Nepal army team boycott of the national games on the entry of the PLA teams. These three acts represent a political message that the Nepal Army will not be subordinate to the Maoist Government.The Nepal Army’s resistance to the post-conflict democratisation and reform process signals an unresolved conflict between the old and new forms of government.
These actions are harmful to the peacebuilding and democratisation processes in Nepal. They illustrate how the Nepal Army resists the government’s plan for integration with the PLA and democratic restructuring in order to weaken the Maoist leadership. This plan is part of the peace process and is backed by the international community.
- By denying or delaying integration, the Nepal Army breeds discontent among the PLA, provoking them against the Maoist leadership and weakening their organisation. The Nepal Army has received support from the Nepali congress, UML and old royalist parties who oppose the Maoist government.
- The current situation has stimulated political conflict at the higher levels within the Maoist government and revealed leadership weakness and political immaturity.
- Unresolved conflict between the Maoists and the Nepal Army precipitated the involvement of self-interested international powers like the United Stated and India to the potential detriment of the democratic process.
In the wake of these events, President Yadav called for a formation of a new national government. However, if the peace and democratisation processes are to continue the builders of the new government must consider several issues:
- The formation of the new government must not impede the democratisation process. Creating a non-Maoist government goes against the recent democratic elections where the Maoists held popular support.
- The new government must continue the peace process security sector reforms that were started by the Maoist government. Failure to do so may result in military political dominance.
- The Maoists must be not be excluded as their participation is necessary to the constitution-making process.
