The Maoists continue to possess a private army called the Peoples Liberation Army and continue to bear arms. The Nepal army has complained to President Rambaran Yadav, supreme commander of the Nepal army, that sensitive documents (of the Nepal army) are being leaked to the PLA. The accusations are no doubt directed against Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa Badal who also happens to be the most powerful central committee member of the CPN-M. Appeasing the coalition partners and opposition by making every promise they want to hear is therefore a tactical necessity on the part of Prachanda. But the latest show cause episode has scared every other party.

The Maoist-led government has also succeeded in buying the silence of international donors including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The government has embarked upon subsidy galore, something that country’s economy can not support. There are fears that these subsidies, coming at the time of recession, may lead to collapse of some of the banks . Interestingly, IMF and the World Bank had forced previous regimes to go for banking sector reforms, loan recovery and do away with subsidies in the past. But they are not responding to the situation. Perhaps they know that appeasing Prachanda and the Maoists is the only way of continuing their business in Nepal.

But for the first time, political parties have realised that succumbing to fear will lead to their slow death or political irrelevance as Prachanda will not budge an inch from his doctrine — and that ‘working together’ is only a tactical compromise to conquer.

... contd.