Do Ethnicity and Caste Cause Problems for Peace Building?

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Developed countries have shown how capacity building of a country can be realized through building industries, improving education and improving the economic condition of the country. Such improvements need constant changes and innovations that require the commitment of the government for its people. The government of Nepal should therefore resort to working with private sectors and with its citizens in bringing development in the country. If the governments resort to such activities as improving the investment procedure of the public and private sector, there are more chances of improving the development of the country.

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namely, the sense of international solidarity with other human beings and the seeking of political power and respecting the nationality of different ethnic groups. In this sense, Nepal urgently requires a political process and transformation of its political dynamics. The

historical links between the Mithila and Kathmandu-Newar cultures of the Terai and the Kirati and Tharu cultures in other geographical locations give an important glimpse of mosaic culture.The political ties among different ethnic groups have connection with the success of the peace process, and if they get political identity through political dialogue or in the legislation of Nepalese constitution, Nepal would certainly be a glorious nation. In addition, the drafting of new constitution and establishing of new government through inclusion policies would allow the Nepalese to work towards democracy and peace building process⁴⁵⁵.

After signing the CPA, Nepali political parties and international stakeholders assumed that no groups could dismantle the current peace process. On the contrary, the peace agreement resulted in unexpected problems in the southern part of the country, and it actually deepened an existing conflict among the people living in Terai region. In addition to this, the people living in that region rose up against the existing authorities and political forces of Nepal.

Regarding the new conflict that erupted in Terai, Jason Miklion⁴⁵⁶ states,

After government of Nepal signed a peace agreement with the CPN (M) in 2006 to end a 10-year civil war, local and international observers were surprised to see new fighting erupt in the Terai region of southern Nepal. The violence, however, was initiated not by either party but by groups targeting both the state and the Maoists, polarizing citizens along ethnic issues largely unaddressed during the civil war. In the course of repeated changes in the political structure, culminating in the overthrow of the monarchy in 2006, political parties raised several issues that required constitutional amendment. The resulting changes in political strata did not help to address the country’s deep-rooted sociopolitical problems, however,

455 Singh,K .`Armed Conflict in Nepal: From Parliament to Seige of Kathmandu’, 152-173.

456 Miklion, Nepal’s Terai, 2.

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which sowed the seeds of ideological conflict.

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal (1990) had declared the country to be a multiethnic, multilingual, democratic, independent, indivisible, sovereign, Hindu, and constitutional monarchical kingdom. Despite the promulgation of the constitution, in 1996 the Maoists began their insurgency against such constitutional provisions as the status of the monarchy and the role of government. The decade-long conflict that followed ultimately shifted the power balance, and the unity between parliamentary parties and the rebel CPN (Maoist) constitutionally ended the traditional monarchy at the first meeting of the Nepalese CA on May 28, 2008.

In the past, Nepali political leaders had blamed the absolute power or the constitutional role of the king for hindering prosperity and development. From time to time, the Nepali monarchy had crossed the limitations of the constitution, and ideologically the Maoist leaders stood completely opposed to the king’s role in politics. Political parties used ethnic, caste, and class issues and fitted them into a political framework, promising to establish

autonomous states on the bases of caste, ethnicity, and language. As a result, ethnic minorities and some castes demanded their own separate states within the federal setup, which became one of the causes of the failure of the Nepali CA. The State Restructuring Commission⁴⁵⁷ also had differences on the issue of ethnic states and the number of states.⁴⁵⁸ During this transitional phase, Nepal developed a complex problem regarding nationalism and identity.

This study began by raising the key elements of ethnicity and caste, and their negative impact on the future of peace and development in Nepal. The political mass movements that have arisen at different times (1991-2006) are characterized by the involvement of an elite

457 State Restructuring Commission (SRC) is provisioned the commission in the Interim Constitution 2007 to recommend on state restructuring, one of the most contentious issues in the process of drafting the new constitution. Its job is to recommend the CA a best model to federate the country.

458 Dhungel, Bidushi, “Same old differences.”

http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/printedition/news/2012-01-31/same-old-differences.html. Accessed on December 20, 2012.

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group rather than the participation of the common people. By addressing dominant class rather than the suppressed classes, they threaten a more severe conflict than that caused by the Maoist insurgency and a move toward political instability, developing discord between people in terms of language, ethnicity, caste, and culture, and inciting new clashes in this beautiful Himalayan country.

The vested interests of the elite, incompetent political leadership and a focus on individual party interests have brought political parties to the situation where they are raising their voices only for ethnically based rights and autonomy. The social structure may vary a great deal in form, but it will always be the key to understanding those societies. At the most basic level, this affects the most fundamental of social factors – the size of the population. If it is distinguished according to ethnicity and caste, any form of state reform will divide the nation.

So far, since the success of the Maoist insurgency and the declaration of the republic, the Nepali people are facing an identity crisis. At present, people are searching for their identities in the form of ethnic, religious, and caste-based communities. This has also affected the national identity.

Table 9 Ethnicity, Language, and Religion of Nepal’s Population in the 2011 Census

Table 9a. Ethnicity/Caste

Ethnicity/Caste (There are 125 caste/ethnic groups reported in the census 2011.)

Percent of the Total Population

Chhetri 16.6

Brahman-Hill 12.2

Magar 7.1

Tharu 6.6

Tamang 5.1,

Newar 3.2

Kami 4.8

Musalman 4.4

Yadav 4.0

Rai 2.3

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Table 9b. Language Spoken as Mother Tongue

Language Spoken as Mother Tongue

Percent of the Total Population

Nepali 44.6

Maithili 11.7 Bhojpuri 6.0

Tharu 5.8

Tamang 5.1

Newar 3.2

Bajjika 3.0

Magar 3.0

Dotel 3.0

Urdu 2.6

Table 9c. Religion

Religion Percentage of the total population Hinduism 81.3

Buddhism 9.0

Islam 4.4

Kirat 3.1

Christianity 1.4 Prakriti⁴⁵⁹ 0.5 Others (Bon, Jainism Bahai and Sikhism)

0.3

Compiled by the author. Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, 2012.

Table 9 also shows the diversity within the Nepali people in respect to their ethnicity, language, and religion. According to Nancy Levine, ethnic relations in Nepal today can be seen as the outcome of long-term processes of accommodation between local groups and a centralizing state. In the northwest of the country, national economic and political policies

459 The Chepangs who practiced Prakriti (nature).They worship many deities including Bhumi (land), etc.

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that discriminated among groups on the basis of caste and ethnicity have contributed to the perpetuation of small and insular communities divided by persisting ethnic distinctions.

Despite this, there is considerable mobility; individuals and the entire memberships of villages rapidly transfer both their ethnic affiliation and position in the local caste system.

The motivation for this seems less an issue of status and caste rank than of change in economic specialization. Changes in the way a group makes its living in turn affects the socio-cultural system and are accompanied by a renegotiation of affinity relationships in the wider region.⁴⁶⁰

In regards to Levine’s view, I argue that the current political development of Nepali society reflects group-based interests. According to the developmental view, Nepal’s ethnic issues would be solved through social programs such as increasing welfare provisions and decreasing inequality. It should have a particular and positive impact on groups such as children, the aged and indigenous communities. Taking into account all the stakeholders in Nepali communities, a development-based approach should be used for reform in Nepal. The development-based approach is suitable to lead to increased possibilities of education and opening up of a greater variety of economic and social opportunities.

After signing on CPA, Nepal is now in the process of drafting a new constitution and building a new Nepal. There are still several issues of linguistic rights, rights of indigenous people, cultural and religious rights of minority group, and socio-economic security of common people that remained unaddressed for years and which have come to the political forefront. After declaring a secular republic state from a longstanding unitary Hindu kingdom, Nepal plunged into a religious, nationalistic and ethnic debate. Women, backward group, untouchable community, Janajati, Madheshi, and others who felt marginalized in Nepalese political history for centuries wanted to be empowered constitutionally.

460 Levine, “Caste, State, and Ethnic,” 71–88.

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Nepal is a diverse community in which ethnic separation or empowerment through the promotion of ethnic interests is destructive to the nation’s social harmony and state

development. Further, it can lead to religious conflict in the future. The problem of ethnic and linguistic federal territories already existed, and there are also inter-ethnic conflicts. The Madheshi movement is demanding a single Madhesh province running from east to west, covering all Terai districts, whereas the Tharu community wants to divide it into two provinces. But now Madhesis have agreed to two provinces, like the Tharus.

Some NGOs and ethnic organizations are applying pressure, and indigenous nationalities and Madheshi communities have been demanding autonomous provinces. Meanwhile, language presents another problem. In addition, religion has been another issue confronting the state and communities. After the popular movement of 2006, the Maoists promoted the agendas of backward communities, ethnic groups, and minority peoples, creating high expectations among these people. Unless the political leaders succeed in settling these issues by legal means, Nepal could face further conflict.

Surendra Pandey believes that “if we develop the country and we go ahead economically and everyone benefits, it becomes easier to address ethnic demands.”⁴⁶¹ If we take a

developmental view, however, the problem is not so easily addressed. Kul Acharya says that

“federal division on the basis of ethnicity will do no good for the Nepali people. It will be difficult to sustain different federal states, which will lead the country towards ethnic disintegration. The best thing is not to go down the road.”⁴⁶² Finally, if they want to build a stable Nepal through a new constitution and federal set-up, political parties should consider an inclusive state, not in the context of ethnicity, but from a socioeconomic and

developmental perspective that can provide sustainable peace and development. In this connection, Prachanda, the Chairman of the UCPN (M) –– speaking prior to the

461 Surendra Pandey, in answer to a question. See Appendix 5, 308.

462 Kul Acharya, in answer to a question. See Appendix 5, 330-31.

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promulgation of the new constitution –– agreed with the aforementioned views and predicted that for a new Nepal based on socioeconomic and cultural rights of the people, they [the people] would not be involved in any type of conflict, and all sorts of political movements of small groups would disappear. After the promulgation of a new constitution, he believed, once the young people had employment and the country moved ahead in the course of economic development, automatically all issues would be solved.⁴⁶³