A 5 Point Salute to Brig. Gen. Dilip Rana

(Courtesy: el Zorro)

Round-1: We commend General Rana for his blunt honesty, for saying it the way it is and for venting the frustration, betrayal and humiliation that each and every single serving and retired Nepalese Military personnel has faced at the hands of Nepal's political leadership since 1990 till the present. This includes the dishonour brought upon Nepal's bravest, at the hands of the Royal Palace and the Office of the Principal Military Secretariat, throughout the years.

Round-2: We congratulate General Rana for thoroughly exposing the cowardice and disrepute that clouds the judgement of his own peers who appear more motivated by political (and monetary) concessions than by the true guiding principles of an organization which professes to dedicate its existence to the welfare of its country. General Rana's remarks paint a broad stroke of shame on the faces of the Army's leaders who have been "bought" by the lure of non-merit based career progression. The entire rank and file know the lineage of betrayal in favour of nepotism, position and monetary reward. Neither the individuals nor their selfish acts will be forgotten.

Round-3: A hearty thanks goes out to General Rana for clarifying the hypocrisy that pervades the political leadership in Nepal. The magnitude of uproar when a serving Army General proposes that his men remain "prepared" to be deployed in the event of destabilizing conditions, in support of the government administration draws wide criticism - the original proponent of mobilizing the Army against its own Madhesi population passes with little to no scrutiny. If Subash Nemawang and others think they can fool the Nepali people by focusing on a "consequence" rather than a "cause," they are dumber than they appear. Any Nepali with apolitical views understands how this dog and pony show goes. After all, did any of these "dogs" that are barking at Rana today, find the courage to bark at Pushpa Dahal or Baburam with near the same intensity? CP Gajurel goes to JNU and gives a speech on how the Maoists are ready to "capture" state power, but the news that grabs Nepal's headlines come from a lonely General whose "mistake" was to remind the Nepali people of who brought the country to where it is today. The comment of "mobilization" was a convenient excuse but the source of irritation (for the politicians) lies in comments that ridiculed the political establishment for their past faults. Even Prachanda who seems to have something to say about everything these days, could not find the words to disagree with General Rana in principle.

Round-4: We salute General Rana for his candid love for his men in uniform, for those he has shed blood, sweat and tears with, for those who look to his leadership for their survival, and we commend General Rana for putting his love for his institution before lust for power and political popularity - a feat that shamefully, not even a handful of his peers can lay claim to. The General's speech was much more of a warning to his own people against non-consensus driven, unobjectified, initiative-less deployment, than a call for mobilization as the mindless monkies in the Nepali press portend. There is little that can be expected of individuals who barely understand the ethos of their own profession to pass intelligent commentary on the conduct of those like General Rana whose profession places the livelihood of thousands of people under his direct responsibility, day in and day out.

Round-5: We congratulate General Rana for exposing the insecurities that pervade the Nepali government, even today. Not much can be expected of a group of idiots who first gave sustenance to the Maoist rebellion and now want to take credit for the rebellion's "peaceful" conclusion? What greater farce can there be than a sitting Prime Minister, in his eighties, with hepatitis, surrounded by a bunch of cowards who are all too eager to use excessive force (to have the NHRC claim that Terai protests were "violent"), to justify killing 27 innocent Nepalis - that is, when the protests were not in favour of a particular brand of politics? The guilt of having commissioned the Maoists to assassinate innocent Nepalis who stood for elections during the post-February-1 period is a ghost that will haunt this government come constituent assembly elections. General Rana's comments were just a temporary scapegoat to disguise the guilt and shame that clouds these politicians' heads'.

This episode certainly marks a turning point in General Rana's career. It is possible that he will be reprimanded for disorderly conduct, or conduct unbecoming an officer or some variant of a theme that says he spoke out of line.

Be that as it may, while publicly, the Chief of the Army Staff may claim that General Rana spoke in an individual capacity, it takes no brains to realize that General Rana spoke the mind of the truly professional, non-partisan, non-affiliated Nepalese Military. General Rana's frustrations, his disillusionment and his accusations are all completely legitimate.

General Rana's insinuation that the Army should never again be mobilized without broad political consensus, a strict set of objectives and a mission that has a per-determined end-date is right on the money. Having the initiative stolen is a fresh wound in the minds of many Army professionals who were sent to fight an insurgency, without political cover, without a set mandate and without the bare minimum tools needed to sustain a successful counterinsurgency campaign.

The Nepalese Army was deployed to address a problem that had its roots in politics, but in the complete absence of political support. The Army was used, abused, denigrated and is currently the number one target for a pseudo-political force (the Maoists), who are bent on dominating Nepal. Nobody in their right state of mind can deny any of these facts.

Should General Rana be forced to retire because of his honesty, his bluntness, and his overly candid nature, so be it. With the General's forced retirement, the birth of a new breed of soldiers in the Nepalese Army will occur - a breed that will have even less tolerance for the shenanigans that have characterized the past and unfortunately, are slowing permeating into the current leadership structure.

As for the Nepalese Army's fighting core, they remain orphaned by a political culture that lacks the will to exercise its constitutionally granted powers; they are castigated continually for having carried out orders doled out by those now exercising high morals and 20/20, hindsight vision.

Nepal's politicians would do well to embrace the Army and its fraternal organizations fully, to share the responsibility for past mishaps and to move forward in unison. The idiots in Singha Durbar today should take note that their positions are temporary…. the idea of the Army, the humiliation it has been subjected to at the hands of its political masters and the cumulative resentment today, will easily outlive a few ministers who will eventually get voted out of office tomorrow.

General Rana is the face of the "new" Nepalese Army in a "new" Nepal. Having suffered the consequences of blindly following non-consensus based political orders in the past, the new breed are unlikely to make the same mistake twice - especially now, after the realization sets in that they were sacrificed like lambs, only to be blamed for carrying out their orders, later.

There are thousands of Dilip Ranas' in the Military today. Making an example out of General Rana will embolden them all and Brigadier General Dilip Rana will retire a hero in the eyes of the whole Army's rank and file. He will retire as an icon of ideals for an entire generation of the new warrior breed.