Spread the love

By Shashi P.B.B. Malla

At the CPN-UML general convention, the still party chairman and former PM, K.P. Sharma Oli claimed that his party was the repository and defender of the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In his tall claims, Oli was strongly supported by leaders of other Communist parties.

NCP leader Dev Gurung went to the extent of declaring:

“History has shown that only Communists are patriotic…

“The power that can protect the sovereignty of the nation is Communist” (TKP/ The Kathmandu Post, Dec. 14).

Netra Bikram Chand, General Secretary of the CPN-Maoist, said his party is in the same front with the UML in the struggle for sovereignty.

Why are the Communists suddenly harping on sovereignty as such?

Sovereignty

This perceived as the enabling concept of international relations whereby states assert not only ultimate authority within a distinct territorial entity but also membership of the international community.

Furthermore, the doctrine of sovereignty implies a double claim: autonomy in foreign policy and exclusive competence in internal affairs.

Internal sovereignty thus refers to a supreme decision-making and enforcement authority regarding a particular territory and population.

External sovereignty on the other hand refers to its antithesis: the absence of supreme international and hence the independence of sovereign states.

However, increasing interdependence in the international state system, the reciprocal nature of international law and membership of international organizations have led to the acceptance of the doctrine of ‘divided sovereignty’ where supremacy is qualified either through consent or auto-limitation.

Communist Defence of ‘Sovereignty’ a Complete Sham

Thus, for all intents and purposes, Oli’s and the other Communists’ so-called defence of Nepali sovereignty is pretence and fraud. It must be relegated to the realm of political propaganda.

Action speak more than words, and Oli and the other Communists have demonstrated repeatedly in the past that they have acted against the nation’s vital national interests and, therefore, endangered the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Take the Maoists’ so-called decade-long ‘People’s War’ which cost the nation more than 17,000 deaths of innocent civilians and conducted at the behest of a foreign power, which even trained the Maoist combatants and financed their armed operations.

The Maoists’ active participation in the Constitution-drafting process, thus taints this basic document.

The Gen Z revolt resulted in the suspension of the House of Representatives. Why is Oli insisting in its restoration?

For the simple renegade reason that he wants to restore the status quo ante and the pre-eminent position of the CPN-UML and the Nepali Congress.

Oli must realize that the previous Himalayan Republic is dead. From its ashes, a new nation is being crafted.

In it, there is no space for Oli’s hare-brained schemes, which in the past were acute dangers to the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The writer can be reached at: shashimalla125@gmail.com