By Rabi Raj Thapa
Since the beginning of the PM Balen Shah administration, there has been a growing expectation that Nepalis would consider the ever-increasing criminalisation of Nepal in all aspects, particularly the link between political, legal, governmental, and social institutions. This time, people may have realised that organised crime is like a wild elephant: it isn’t there if you don’t see it; but if you do, it’s too late. Despite these parallels, it is never too late if PM Balen is sincere and his majority administration wants to put a stop to this threat – now is the perfect moment.
Since the fall of the two-pillar parliamentary system of unitary administration, Nepal has become a haven for both national and internal organised crime. This was suggested far ahead of time by an international specialist in organised crime, Vanda Felbab Brown, who visited Nepal and authored a paper on “the Impact of Organised Crime on Governance in Developing Countries – A Case Study of Nepal (June 2013)”.
Brown’s case study on Nepal focused on governance and political changes since 2008, as well as their connection with organised crime. Her article investigated political crimes, terrorism, and economically motivated crimes, as well as their nature and effect in Nepal. (See the paper at: https://share.google/nuqADhNw4WPDUH0K9).
Velva Brown writes, “Nepal has been mired in a political mess since May 2012. Unresolved constitutional and governance issues, as well as political squabbles between and within parties, have continued. It has now taken almost a decade and a half for us to witness and realise her prognosis with our own eyes.
She had questioned the constitutionality of then Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi’s criticism on the grounds of a breach of the principle of Separation of Powers. Many more Chief Justices of the Supreme Court have followed in his footsteps.
She had already dragonized the deeply ingrained culture of impunity, patronage, and clientelism, as well as rampant corruption, with all official institutions and bureaucratic structures being politicised and dysfunctional. Whatever political party gains power attempts to influence public service appointments and promotions, resulting in substantial deterioration in administrative ability, a widespread absence of a merit-based personnel structure, and poor service delivery.
After fourteen years of her prognosis, Nepal has completely blossomed with white collar crime and corruption, with the most impacting and evident being the disgraceful behaviour of the existing judges and police chiefs.
Otherwise, how can a 30-year-old chameleon kind of Thug call and lecture half a dozen incumbent Supreme Court justices in a hotel room, threatening them with impeachment? This is unique and disgraceful in the annals of the court. That alone should be enough to request their immediate dismissal from their position. How could individuals and attorneys sit and plead in court presided over by such judges. But this is Nepal, so anything is possible.
It is insane that society and politicians are pursuing the police IGP rather than cleaning up the whole criminal justice system, of which the police are simply a minor player in terms of procedure and authority when compared to judicial untouchables.
The government must quickly concentrate on fixing all tentacles of Nepal’s criminal justice system, with the behaviour and character of judges coming first. The attorneys and bar members come next. Then there are the police and other law enforcement agencies.
In this sense, the acquisition of police uniforms and its irregularities would rank last when compared to power brokers and conspirators such as former Chief Justices CholendraSumsher JBR, Deepak Bhatta, and Inam Sapkota. Compared to other perpetrators, the IGP may still be valuable to the government in assisting and investigating as a cooperative leader of the organization and as a person if the government uses him wisely.
Furthermore, there is no assurance that his successor will be less capable than the previous one. Furthermore, police blunders may be addressed with a single stroke of the government. If the government disrupts the police hierarchy, it may erode police morale and cohesion, which is required to introduce more organised white collar criminals in black coats with untouchable vanity of power.
This is the ideal opportunity for the government to dismantle corrupt politicians, public bureaucrats, and commercial empires, including so-called scholarly idols and defenders of law and justice. People still have more hope for Prime Minister Balen Shah than others.
The writer is a former AIGP of the Armed Police Force who also served as a senior officer in the Nepal Police. He is a well-trained and experienced security expert.
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