Nepal has become almost a pilgrimage spot for experts in conflict management. The UN took the lead last week with the visit to Kathmandu of a high-powered seven-member team headed by Staffan De Mistura; the week before, a team from the Carter Center headed by ambassador Peter Burleigh was in town. The Norwegian Embassy here has hosted several interactive sessions with Maoists, government, opposition, diplomats, the media and intelligentsia to share their experience in conflict management.

The overriding message is clear: We have the expertise and will and, if the Nepalese so desire, we are ready to assist in resolving the conflict.

In all these exercises, most groups have interacted separately with India, seeking to send out the message that they are aware of Indian sensitivities in this regard, and also a plea that India should not harbour any suspicion about what they are doing there’.

All this seems to have changed India’s rigid and consistent stand, that the UN or any third party’s involvement in conflict management in Nepal will encourage similar practices in the region, and that will be detrimental to Indian interest.

Given that the government and the Maoists have different interpretations on the UN’s role in the peace process, that role will be defined based on an understanding between the two. The Maoists insist that the UN help in the process of managing arms and armies of the state and the rebels while the government’s point is that the army cannot be confined to the barracks, totally immobilised, like the rebels. The government is willing to guarantee that not only will the army not be used against the Maoists, it will remain neutral during elections to the constituent assembly.

... contd.