In conversation with Padma Ratna Tuladhar on Nepal's peace process: from rosy past to a disappointing future

Few days back (16 Jan, 2009), we had, at the Hiroshima University, a prominent guest from Nepal, Padma Ratna Tuladhar, to deliver a lecture on the ongoing peace process as well as the issues related with federal restructuring of Nepal. He is one of the most recognized face in the country for more than twenty years - right from the days of Rashtriya Panchayat under the party-less system to present, when nation has become a federal democratic republic. Currently, he is one of the members of the Consultative Committee in the Peace Ministry and one of the co-conveners of the Peace and Conflict Management Committee formed by the government. In post '90 era, he used to present himself as an "Independent communist leader" in the Nepalese politics, something that I never understood. Now he likes to be known as a Human Rights Activist and a Civil Society Leader. Though, the activities of so called 'civil society' in the recent past have greatly been under the scanner.

Better known as Human Rights Activist, Civil Society Leader and Independent Left Politician, Mr. Padma Ratna Tuladhar has been a facilitator and mediator of Nepal's democratic, peace and negotiation processes since the inception of the country's transition to democracy for more than two decades.
- from 'A short blurb' Edited by Mr. Hannes Siebert of South Africa (20 Jun, 2008)

At the beginning, Prof. Keshav Lall Maharjan, a senior academician at the Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC, Hiroshima University, Japan) welcomed the guest. The programme was well attended by the Nepalese students at the Hiroshima University, some international researchers along with a couple of Japanese professors. The programme lasted almost up to two hours.


Dr. Tuladhar talked on several issues including the peace process, federal restructuring of the state, Madheshi movement and alike. He begun the lecture with a history of the series of negotiations that took place during the peace talks between the Maoists and the then various governments. It was indeed interesting to know the story of 'behind the stage' negotiations from a person who was directly involved in the process in various roles (from facilitator to observer). I was surprised by some of the incidents from that story. For example: In an earlier stage of peace talks, that eventually failed though, the government team used to sit-in for the negotiation without any preparation. And, there used to be hand written documents exchanged between the parties. It is hard to believe these stuffs in this 21st century.

One interesting thing that he shared with us was about one of his meetings with the prime minister Prachanda when the later expressed his dilemma "If I go for the allout change, many will accuse me of being radical who is trying to impose a communist rule in the country but, if I don't do any thing then people will be frustrate because they want the change".

During the interaction, he put forth some interesting points. While responding to a query from Prof. Osamu Yoshida of Hiroshima University, he admitted that the armed outfits in Terai have added another complexity to the ongoing peace process. He focused particularly on the separatist remarks made by some of the influential leaders in Madhesh. Integration of Maoist combatants into national army itself remains a controversial thing and now, demand made by Madheshi parties to ensure proportional representation of Madheshi people into the army has complicated the situation further. However, he accepted that the peace process and restructuring of the state may not reach to a logical end without addressing the Terai issue. In response to the question that if the present Maoist headed government of Nepal is capable of deploying national army in order to solve the Terai problem, Dr. Tuladhar emphasized that dialogue and negotiation process still holds the key. Another interesting remark that he made was regarding the economic reforms. He accepted that declaration of a republic was indeed a great milestone in the country's history but, the talks of economic reforms can not be realized without change in the bureaucracy. He was with an opinion that unless there is a change in the country's bureaucracy, the development, economic reform and the slogan of 'New Nepal' is hard to realize. One interesting thing that he shared with us was about one of his meetings with the prime minister Prachanda when the later expressed his dilemma "If I go for the allout change, many will accuse me of being radical who is trying to impose a communist rule in the country but, if I don't do any thing then people will be frustrate because they want the change".

I have admired Dr. Tuladhar for the instrumental role that he played in bringing the Nepalese Maoists to mainstream politics. However, I felt that he was a bit cautious and tentative in expressing his opinions over some of the controversial issues. May be, this is what required from a convener or a peace talks facilitator! It was a long yet interesting programme and I managed to shoot the video of the same. I have uploaded it at Metacafe and hope that many of you might be interested in watching the videos. To watch the videos online, please click the following links: Part #1 / Part #2 / Part #3 / Part #4 / Part #5 / Part #6 / Part #7 /Part #8 /Part #9 /Part #10 /Part #11 / Part #12 /Part #13 / Part #14 (I apologize for the poor audio quality in some sections of the videos).

While listening to the views of the guest, I became a bit frustrated. The past (I am referring to the peace talks that Nepalese leaders managed to conclude on an exceptional note and mesmerized the whole world) was definitely rosy and civil society too had share of it. But now, the civil society seems to have deviated from its previous path as there is no unity in the so called 'society'. The future looks gloomy if not disappointing. I don't know how long we will have to depend on 'Pashupatinath' to rescue us!