The Maoists insist that what happened to the eight brigadiers is an instance of ‘civilian control over the army’, a principle that the present government will follow. But one person who is not quite convinced about this argument is Dr. Rambaran Yadav, president of the republic of Nepal, who is also the supreme commander of the Nepal army. He has told Prime Minister Dahal that injecting politics in the Nepal army and pushing it to the wall may provoke an unpleasant consequence. The Maoists are using some retired generals to defend the government’s move. But things have not quite settled.

While the Maoists are in an apparently victorious mood, the chance of the Nepal army remaining a rallying point for political parties might bring in a dangerous drift to Nepal’s politics. Secondly, any reversal of the decision on army generals by Prime Minsiter Dahal is bound to provoke Defence Minister Badal with substantial clout in the PLA, to go against the prime minister . After all, even China has a history of the all powerful Mao Tse-Tung firing his defence ministers Peng Dehuai, and then his successor Li Biao, both blue eyed boys of the chairman in the mid Sixties and early Seventies. At the same time, the refusal to correct the ‘aberration’ in the extension-denial case will continue to make every political party and institution of the state vulnerable and suspicious towards Maoists’ move.

yubaraj.ghimire@expressindia.com