In democratic countries, the prospect of the national army coming out on the streets makes people nervous. So does its involvement in any business, even in the import of vital kits and equipment to deal with a potentially deadly pandemic.
Article 267 of the Constitution of Nepal 2015 says the role of Nepal Army is to safeguard the country’s independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national unity. Additionally, Article 267(4) says, “The Government of Nepal may also mobilize the Nepal Army in other works including development, construction and disaster management works, as provided for in the federal law.”
Further, “The President shall, on recommendation of the National Security Council and pursuant to a decision of the Government of Nepal, Council of Ministers, declare the mobilization of the Nepal Army in cases where a grave emergency arises in regard to the sovereignty or territorial integrity of Nepal or the security of any part thereof, by war, external aggression, armed rebellion or extreme economic disarray.” A declaration of the mobilization of the Nepal Army must be ratified by the parliament within a month.
Yet there is nothing in the constitution about the role of the national force in the kind of government-to-government procurement of Covid-19 kits that has recently landed it in controversy. “The army could have told the government that it does not want to be involved in such business deals,” says military expert Deepak Prakash Bhatta, who is also a leader of the ruling Nepal Communist Party.
The national army has already taken up several development projects, including Kathmandu-Tarai fast track. Similarly, army personnel have been deployed in disaster management works. In a recent example, the Nepal Army built 869 houses in Bara and Parsa districts that had been ravaged by a tornado in March last year. During floods and landslides, too, army personnel are in the frontline of rescue and rehabilitation works.
Experimental stage
But the army has had no experience of dealing with a pandemic. Security experts say the government can mobilize the national army to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, but only if its role can be clearly defined within constitutional limits. In other countries, too, the national armies have been mobilized to assist the civilian government. For example, the US government instructed its army to build hospitals. In Spain, it was out in force enforcing the national lockdown.
“Army personnel can, for instance, be mobilized to regulate the Nepal-India border and check the movement of people during the pandemic, which is not happening,” says Bhatta. “After the lockdown, hundreds of Nepali workers have been coming home from India. But they have not been screened properly.” Instead, Minister for Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa has instructed the Armed Police Force (AFP) to monitor the movement of people at the border; the deployment has been inadequate.
Compared to other civil organizations, the national army has a well-trained, more disciplined, and better equipped force. As army’s resources are always oriented to a large-scale war, they can be immediately mobilized to build makeshift hospitals. They have helicopters and vehicles, and bases across the country. If the doctors at government and private hospitals are unwilling to work, the army can mobilize its troops and medical personnel for medical care as well.
The medical services of the Nepal Army had started in 1925 with the establishment of Tri-Chandra Military Hospital at Mahankal, Kathmandu. Renamed Shree Birendra Hospital (SBH) and relocated to Chhauni, it is now a 635-bed sophisticated hospital with a military rehabilitation center, two field hospitals, and 15 field ambulance companies.
Foggy path
The Nepal Army is already involved in controlling the spread of the coronavirus. It has developed a smartphone app for smooth flow of corona-related information. Similarly, the Covid-19 Crisis Management Center has been established in the army barracks in Chhauni. According to security analyst Binoj Basnyat, formation of this center under the Minister of Defense is a signal from Nepal government that the army’s participation is inevitable. “It is the National Security Council that should decide how the Nepal Army is to be deployed,” he says.
But as the NSC has not met for a long time, the role of the Nepal Army in the current corona pandemic remains unclear.
Former Major General of the Nepal Army Tara Bahadur Karki says the NSC should be meeting regularly during a crisis of this magnitude. In the current health emergency, Karki argues, it is the Ministry of Health that should be in the frontline fighting it, with the army playing a backup role. “On the other hand, if the pandemic tomorrow poses a direct threat to the country’s security, then the army has to lead from the front,” he says.
Currently, there are some other mechanisms that can decide on limited deployment of army personnel. The district administration offices can deploy the army at the district level for disaster management, after obtaining permission from the Army Headquarters. At the national level, the Home Ministry can activate the Disaster Relief Act of 2020, clearing the road for the army’s deployment in disaster-control.
“For Covid-19, the army may act as a strategic reserve with heavy medical practitioners and necessary components at the center, operational reserve in the provinces, and fully-involved contribution in the districts,” Basnyat suggests.
One such example army deployment was during the 1918 influenza pandemic in the US, which lasted for 10 months. In the three-phase pandemic, the second phase was the most dangerous, and the US army had to be deployed to control it. “Nepal is now entering the second phase. We should draw the right lessons from history and from the experiences of other countries,” he suggests.
