The massacre at Nagarkot on Wednesday night drives home the point that continued militarisation can have unintended and tragic consequences. This was not just one drunken soldier running amok, it is symptomatic of a deeper malaise in a military-minded political class that believes everything can be resolved with force.
Nepal has now got to a point where security can no longer be defined in only military terms. Unless citizens are guaranteed a decent life, jobs, health care, education and a future, guns will not quell their anger.
Although the army was quicker than usual in coming out with a detailed explanation of the Nagarkot massacre, there are still some unanswered questions:
. How many other soldiers were with Sgt Basudeb Thapa when he returned to the temple with the assault rifle?
. Why was he carrying a gun while in civvies?
. Doesn't the RNA have a policy on drunkenness of its soldiers while on furlough?
. Not that this makes any difference now, but did Basudeb kill himself or was he shot by a fellow-soldier?
. Why was he allowed to check out a gun at the barracks when everyone could see he was drunk?
. Why was someone with a history of violence-prone drunkenness allowed to keep serving in the army?
The answer to some of these questions could be that we should pose these questions to those right at the top of the army hierarchy too. Given the frequency of such behaviour in the past, it is clear Nagarkot was just waiting to happen.
The investigation commission will come out with its report next week, and we may get some of the answers. But no commission will address the culture of arrogance, violence and hierarchical indiscipline that was tolerated and gave rise to such atrocities. Given the militarisation that the country is going through, however, we doubt if these issues will ever be adequately addressed within the army.
As we write these words, smokes from tyre pyres are once more curling up into the winter morning sky from various parts of Kathmandu Valley. Once more, our myopic political parties frustrated by the lack of public support for their agitation are trying to make hay while the sun shines by trying to jumpstart their anti-king agitation.
This is nothing new, they have been known for political opportunism and irresponsible incitement while in power, they did it on 1 September when they unleashed Nepal's first ever politically-coordinated communal pogrom. And now they are playing with fire again by unleashing terror on the streets that could easily turn ethnic.
We spoke to some onlookers watching the student unions and hired goons burning tyres and stoning cars on the streets on Friday morning. The people are shocked but not surprised by the Nagarkot carnage and they utterly condemn it. But neither do they have any sympathy for those who use that tragedy for their own political ends.
But ultimately, given that all this has happened under direct royal rule and the king has effectively removed a democratic buffer the massacre and its aftermath will all reflect on him.
