It seems our Old School Jholeys (OSJ) are suffering from a collective case of high blood pressure. With the Balen government swinging its "Fast and Furious" gavel, the old guard has realized they won’t have much to do for the next five years except whine. Their latest target? The Nepal Army.
The local Mayors and ward chairpersons—the ones whose primary skill is wearing party-colored mufflers—are suddenly up in arms because the Army asked for details on squatters in illegal settlements. Our old-school media houses, always ready to carry the water for their masters, are echoing this flak. But why the panic?
National Security or 'Hukumbaasi' Insecurity?
The government’s interest in these settlements is a matter of national security. With illegal migrants from Bangladesh and refugees from Myanmar finding easy harbor in these unchecked slums, any responsible state would want to know who is living there. But the real reason the old guards are trembling is much closer to home.
If the details of these "squatters" become public, the mask falls off. We will finally see that the majority of these illegal settlers aren't the landless poor, but old-school jholeys who grabbed public land to build shacks and rent them out to the real needy. They have bled this country dry, and now they have the audacity to question the Army for seeking the truth.
The Only Institution They Couldn't Break
In three decades of mili-juli sarkaars (coalition governments), the Nepal Army has remained the only institution that the old-school parties couldn't fully politicize or turn into a private puppet show. We remember when Prachanda, living the high life in Baluwatar, tried to fire the Army Chief to install a "yes-man." When he failed, he resigned like a juvenile delinquent.
He dreamed of a "Prachanda-land," a North Korean-style paradise where the Army would serve the leader, not the nation. It was the President and some firm pressure that kept the Army from becoming a private security tool for the CUM (Congress, UML, Maoist) trio. They tried to break the Army's morale by questioning why the "Green folks" didn't fire on protesters at Singha Durbar or the President’s House. But would it have been better for the Army to massacre thousands of citizens just to protect the "right" of corrupt politicians to continue their loot-tantra?
2026: No More Free Lunches
Unlike our neighbors in Pakistan or Bangladesh, our military didn't hunger for a junta. They stood by the constitution and let the people decide. We’ve had our elections; we have our winners and our very sore losers. The old-school media is terrified because they know their rackets—tax evasion, extortion, and "chiya kharcha" from foreign embassies—are about to face the music.
The Nepal Army is likely the only institution left that 30 million law-abiding citizens actually respect, while the judiciary remains a playground for political appointees. To the CUM jholeys: the game is over. If you want to return to your shameless looting, wait until 2031. Until then, shut the funny up and let the government do its work.
The Army stepped in to protect the country when it was turning into a battlefield, even protecting the very politicians who ruined it. The era of receiving a slice of the Rs 300 crore government ad budget for doing "PR work" instead of journalism is over. This is 2026. The Nepal Army stands for stability and a government that works for the people, not one that rips them off at the TIA immigration desk. Attacking the Army isn't just a political move; for the old guard, it might just be the final nail in the coffin.
Jai Nepal!