[It is absolutely critical that political parties in Nepal need to first form a consensus government, expedite the peace process, draft the Constitution within the stipulated timeframe of May 2011 and work together for an acceptable formula for the rehabilitation of the People’s Liberation Army. History is replete with myriad of examples of forceful authoritarianism emerging out of necessity when feeble democratic leaders ramble over trivial issues of day-to-day governance.]
By Nishchal N. Pandey
DEMOCRACIES sometimes have to go through ridiculous rituals. It has been more than three months after Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned as Nepal's Prime Minister. Nine rounds of election has thus far failed to elect a new leader. The fact that the country does not yet have a Constitution and that the present House is not a regular hung parliament like in Britain rather the first elected Constituent Assembly formed to write a new statute of the country compounds the already complex problem. The annual budget is already two months late and indications are that without a consensus across party-lines, the current lame-duck government will not be able to present the budget let alone ratify it.
Nepal has already had three Prime Ministers after the regime change of April 2006 and 19 in the last 19 years. Such gross political instability coupled with economic stagnancy and turmoil in the Terai region bordering India's Uttar Pradesh and Bihar does not auger well for the nascent republic. Political parties have yet again held the nation at ransom at a time when diarrhea and cholera are rampant and monsoon flood has swept away villages in several parts of the improvised country. Even otherwise, the main industrial and agricultural area in the south is already being ruled by the writ of nefarious gangs and criminal squads. Now in the absence of a government for such a long time has in effect accelerated a vertical collapse of the state emergency delivery system and disaster management capability.
The Constituent Assembly elections held on April 10th 2008 saw the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) emerge as the single largest party in
Then Madhav Kumar Nepal who had lost in two constituencies to the Maoists in the elections, led a coalition government of centrist Nepali Congress and moderate left UML party. But his government too has a wasted year as little has been achieved either on the issue of rehabilitation and reintegration of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) or the equally contentious proposed federal setup and which political system to adopt in the future. Instead, a huge trust deficit between the major parties prompted the Maoists to hit the streets and boycott parliament proceedings. As a corollary, deadline of May 28 of this year was missed and an additional year was granted to give the people their new Constitution.
What the Nepali people are abhorring at the moment is horse trading of the lowest standard, parties are being split and the Terai based parties are continuously abstaining from the vote which is not only a malpractice in a Westminster model of parliamentary system but a mockery of the nascent democracy. It is this very form of brinkmanship and self-centered behavior that had led to the failure of the 1990 Constitution yet the parties do not seem to have learnt any lesson from their country's own recent history.
Nepal is geo-strategically significant for a number of reasons: It sits in close proximity to two 'would be' superpowers- China and India with their intensifying strategic competition within South Asian countries. Although they are known to be the rising global giants, Nepal has open and porous borders with South Tibet and North Bihar, two of the most backward and soft underbellies of these 'powers to be' where decades of neglect has resulted in insignificant economic or social progress. An unstable Nepal unable to govern itself and increasingly collapsing to economic ruin and political disturbance could invite involvement of outside powers in a region that is in no shortage of ethnic, religious, linguistic, ideology based conflicts and secessionist movements.
Already the United Nations Mission is present to monitor the arms and armies of both sides of Nepal's conflict with the Security Council giving a seventh extension (Resolution 1939) on September 15th. Repeated extension of the peace process seemingly going nowhere, hostile parties not in accord to settle core issues of drafting constitution coupled with escalating lawlessness in the countryside can paralyse the state on the one hand and cause increased international interference on the other. The UN Secretary General Ban ki Boon said on September 9th that he would propose 'alternative measures' to the Security Council after UNMIN's term expires in 4 months.
The general convention of the centrist party Nepali Congress ended on September 22nd with the elderly Sushil Koirala defeating Sher Bahadur Deuba who is already a three time Prime Minister of the country. Koirala is known to be a hard-liner against the Maoists and which may further corner the latter without whom an end to the current turmoil cannot be found. While Prachanda and Jhal Nath Khanal have backed out from the voting, the lone candidate Ram Chandra Poudel of the Nepali Congress is still bent on continuous elections for Prime Ministership although his party's strength falls too short for even a simple majority.
It is absolutely critical that political parties in Nepal need to first form a consensus government, expedite the peace process, draft the Constitution within the stipulated timeframe of May 2011 and work together for an acceptable formula for the rehabilitation of the People’s Liberation Army. History replete of myriad of examples of forceful authoritarianism emerging out of necessity when feeble democratic leaders ramble over trivial issues of day-to-day governance.
The author writes from Kathmandu and his latest book "New Nepal: The Fault-lines" is published by SAGE.
INTEGRATION BODY AGREES TO ADOPT PM'S PROPOSAL
The Special Committee for Supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation of Maoist combatants
also constituted a three-member sub-committee—including its members Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat from Nepali Congress, Ishwor Pokharel from UML and Barsha Man Pun from the Maoist party—to finalise the work plan within four days by making necessary changes on proposal.
The meeting was held at the Prime Minister’s Office in Singh Durbar this evening. The prime minister is the committee’s chair by virtue of his office.
The meeting decided to collect the record of all the PLA fighters including their name, age, permanent address, and photograph from the parties concerned--the UCPN-Maoist or United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) or Joint Monitoring Coordination Committee—at the earliest. The representatives of the major parties including the UCPN-Maoist were present in the meeting.
Earlier, UNMIN had denied to provide the details to the government.
The meeting directed to activate the Committee’s secretariat from tomorrow.
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar
