Strengthen judiciary first

At its eighth conference the other day, leaders of the SAARC Bar Council endorsed the 19-point
Kathmandu Declaration. The Declaration pledged to establish South Asian Courts for Human
Rights and the South Asian Commission for Human Rights. Human rights has never received top
priority within the SAARC framework. So, in this backdrop, this development must be seen as a
step in the right direction for leaders of the SAARC Bar of Council have undertaken to ensure a
better status for the legal profession in their respective countries. However, there are certain
questions that must be considered seriously. Will legal experts of South Asia really be
determined to form such organs? Have they taken into account the fact that all countries in the
region have ideological differences? Will such organizations actually help strengthen democracy?
Answering these questions will be the necessary homework to do before the South Asian Courts
and the South Asian Commission for Human Rights can actually take off.

In the Kathmandu Declaration, the leaders of SAARC Bar Council promised to work together in
all legal aspects. They include, among others, development of feasible and transparent system
for the appointment of judges. This will ensure judicial independence as well as the accountability
of the judiciary. The declaration pledges to review existing laws, execution of foreign judgments
and even arbitral awards. This apart, they have also pledged to make efforts to set up the SAARC
centre for arbitration, mediation and conciliation besides establishing a SAARC university of legal
sciences. The exchange of publications, case laws and research findings are other features of
the declaration. SAARC LAW will also keep special reservation for women in all legislatures with
the aim of empowering women legal cadre.

Justices and legal experts of SAARC member-countries come together once every year to share
knowledge and legal information. However, they have so far failed to raise certain issues that have
hampered the judicial system in their respective countries. For instance, the regimes of Bhutan,
the Maldives and Pakistan have been unable to dispense proper justice mainly because of the
political system in place in these countries. There is widespread violation of rights and the
judiciary has always taken a backseat. Under such circumstances, it is going to be hard to
maintain transparency while appointing judges and also to ensure an independent judiciary as
well as accountability.

A better and more fair judiciary system is the need in South Asia. Leaders of SAARC LAW
should first of all concentrate on improving the judiciary system to strengthen democratic values.
This obviously involves more than upgrading sources of legal information. They must identify the
core areas where justice has always been ignored and address the problems in these areas. The two proposed organs - South Asian Courts for Human Rights and South Asian Commission for Human Rights - should play a catalytic role to promote democratic values, maintain transparency and accountability of the judiciary.

Parliamentary committees : Grinding or assisting?

By Ram Bahadur KC

Just as some parliamentary committees were beginning to work more effective, there have
surfaced some problems in the media, relating to the duplication of work, claims and also some
whispered complaints among ministries and departments about their unnecessary grinding or
digging out more than is necessary. However, the truth is that the activities of the committees are
both grinding as well geared to assist in making parliamentary work fair, just and effective.

Mini legislatures: In fact, committees are integral parts of the parliament. They are often
described as little legislatures also. Some parliamentarians and scholars also call them "the eye, the ear, the hand and very often the main brain of legislators." Thus the committees are very important,
active and occupy a strategic position. Former American president Woodrow Wilson once made
a very interesting and meaningful statement about committee work-system in the USA. "It is not
far from the truth to say that congress in session is congress on public exhibition, whilst congress in its committee rooms is congress at work". It signifies how the committee system activates members and keeps parliament business in full swing.

The purpose of committees is to assist the House to perform its functions in a more regulated
and effective manner. They are designed to scrutinize legislation, investigate an issue, make
case-study, oversee executive agencies and administration of policy. They speed up the
business and also facilitate the duties of parliament members. The committee deliberations can
be free, frank, short-cut, reconciliatory and compromising. What seems really difficult, complicated and conflicting in the full House could be made simple and easy in the committees. It is only in the committee that a proposed legislation or an issue can be resolved comprehensively. It prevents a bill from delay or dying, it safeguards an issue from being exploded.

Committee provision in Nepal: The USA is said to have the most effective and comprehensive
network of committee system. Others like UK, Australia, France, Korea, Japan, Jordan, too have
effective committee system. There may be subject-committees, area-wise committees, special
committees, and issue-wise joint committees. The Constitution of Nepal has also made the
provision for a committee system. Nine subject committees are in the House of Representatives
and four area-wise committees in the National Assembly. There are petition and ethnic
committees in both House. The other special and ad hoc committees are constituted as and
when necessary for particular purpose and specified time.

All committees in Nepal are not as effective as desired. Some are, however, far more effective like
Public Accounts Committee, States Affairs Committee, and Social Justice Committee. The
reasons for this could be lack of facilities, lack of initiative of the chairman and members of the
committees. Some are even duplicating works and simply trying to find fault, instead of analyzing
and deliberating issues and making suitable recommendations for solutions. This may lead to
mere wastage of time and resources and spoil the very spirit and purpose of the committee .

Prerequisites for success: Committee system being an essential mechanism for expediency and
facilitating the House business, should be made more competent. Based on the experiences of
other countries and our own the committees, it can be said that to be made effective the following
conditions must exist:

- selection of a dynamic chairman by committee members themselves.

- selection of committee members according to their knowledge, experience and aptitude.

- commitment and initiative of the selected chairman and members for the committee business.

- acquiring technical knowledge and expertise for committee work.

- well defined jurisdiction and delegation of powers for committee functioning.

- provision of necessary physical and economic facilities.

- non-partisan attitude among members and the chairman of the committee.

- adequate rapport among chairperson of House, the chairman of the committee and reasonable
level of understanding between members of the ruling and opposition in the committee.

Considering the growing volume of House business and urgency of their timely implementation,
the committee-mechanism must be effective, as experienced in other countries. But
preconditions and necessary qualifications as mentioned above must be met and necessary
facilities must be provided. If committees are to work in a vacuum without these pre-requisites,
they may ultimately turn out to be a farce.

Self-invented "ISM"

By Subas Risal

My father once asked me to write something that I flay so much about, subsequently after the discussion we had regarding the current situation of our so called ‘desh’. I call it ‘so called’ because there is undoubtedly doubt over the existence of our ‘desh’. And again there is a big question "who are our"? Considering the citizenship bill that has been recently passed, there is doubt whether we are Nepalis or not. In both the pro-sarkari and anti-sarkari articles something is desperately wanting. The writers tend to emphasize more on English rather than the content. I happened to come across the response section of TKP and there was this sentence which I was seeking for a long time ie "mere good writing skill is not tantamount to intellectual superiority" and I was very much impressed by this
sentence and hail whoever wrote it. Writers tend to conceive articles along the line that "mere
good writing skill does amount to intellectual superiority." I prefer to say that it is nothing but
absurdity, which many nepali writers do. Nepali writers want to be famous overnight by scribbling
(mind this word) or inventing new words. May be I’m one of those writers. I can’t go against the
tide. I apologize if the above mentioned stuff tends to deter the so-called "intellectual" writers from
writing.

There are plenty of "isms". Neuclearism, terrorism and colonialism are some examples of isms. I
am going to set up my own whether or not it is going to be approved by the people and that is
"anti-concretism". I definitely know my intention, which is to be a leader without a single follower.
Well that’s that, let’s not deviate from the issue. Should concretism prevail or not that’s the
question. First of all I would like to introduce you to my beloved ‘ism’. If you go for a trek to
Shivapuri hill-- which I used to do once a month, while I was in school-- you will see a jungle of
concrete from the hill; You will ask yourself is this Kathmandu valley? The answer is within
yourself. Every where inside the valley, buildings are rising, well that is a good sign of
modernization. It's kind of funny that even though owner does not posses large areas of land,
they finds lots of space in the air. (That’s bit exaggerated but just a ‘bit’). I hope, readers (may be
I’m the only reader and writer) are now quite familiar with the so-called "concretism".

. The range of Himalayas from my home was clearly visible, but unfortunately enough, I used to
call them mere rocks. My neighbour whom I thought was an environmentalist since he
possesses trees was a man of the concrete age with his idea of ‘slash and sell’. He slashed all
the trees and sold them. I don’t have any right to criticize his personal life but tall trees are being
superseded by tall buildings, and he’s almost done. Suddenly the significance of Himalayas was
there in my head. I cannot tolerate that building but what can I do? I guess nothing. He was able
to enjoy the Himalayas, which is now obscured for me. Look how self centered people are. I’m
left here criticizing the ‘concretism’ and the buildings which tend to obstruct the magnificence of
the Himalayas and he who is building it has also a motive behind and that is obvious. Everybody
is self-centered. Nobody wants to be left behind in this competition. I guess an earthquake is
imperative for a ‘funny’ metropolis .I know that I’m being cynical but this is the reality.

Nepal’s ideology is democracy

Basanta Lohani

It seems that our deputy prime minister Ram Chandra Poudyal has eyes to see the Maoist
problem eye to eye when, at last, he has been able to establish the causal relation between
Maoist problem and Nepali Congress (NC). All through this time, it was only the effect in terms of
Maoist problems that the nation was discussing about without really hitting home the cause that
gave birth to it. In this process, thousands of lives have been lost and billions of property
destroyed making handful of people as heroes and, likewise, another handful stinking rich all in
the name of Maoist movement. Last week, Poudyal finally admitted: "the situation is the making
of our own. Had it not been for our move that toppled our own majority government, Maoists would
not have been born at all." Poudyal is further pained to see "integrity crisis" inside NC and has
apprehended Maoist’s design "to liquidate democracy". This indeed is a remarkable confession
from a man aspiring to be our country’s prime minister.

Actually, the NC leadership does not deserve credit for giving birth to Maoists no matter how
incompetent they had already proved and utterly greedy they had become in quenching their
thirst by the time the Lower House of parliament was dissolved. I would like to reject Poudyal’s
assertion right away although I am aware of the increasing greed and incompetence as much the
same way as any other conscious citizen is. But it ran short of giving birth to Maoist, for it was
born out of greater social contradictions than the contradictions inside NC. It is true that if anyone
brought up the Maoist and gave them the strength that they enjoy now, it is entirely NC’s
leadership. Had it not been the way NC functioned and made a mockery of democracy, the
Maoists may have remained like an underdeveloped child the way they were earlier and could
have been even assimilated to the mainstream politics of the country in the democratic
dispensation.

An act of threatening a state is different from sustaining a movement. For a movement to spread,
it cannot be sustained unless it finds an ideological base. This is where the point of departure is
in terms of their strength. The Maoists, it seems, have extended the Marxian dialectics through
Mao’s script to the settings of dependency theory that explains global exploitation of weaker
nations as much the same as colonial exploitation of the eighteenth century in a broadly changed
setting. They argue that multilateral or multinational companies could build such colonial
structures and inculcate social values through the use of capital for such exploitation making the
developing countries weaker over time as their greed for capital accumulation increases like the
way India is making Nepal its semi-colony.

What was considered as a scanty outfit has now grown to such an extent that they have already
established their own ‘regime’ in four districts and, in another half a dozen districts, their
presence is decisive. They are consolidating their strength, rehabilitating displaced people,
regulating social services and even encouraging agricultural production. The government is caught
so much in the pandemonium, in its strategy to deal with the Maoists that it is slipping every day
because of its own making. This is well reflected in the drooping morale of the police force
fighting to contain the Maoists’ advances for which they are not trained. The government is
incoherent in its strategy and indecisive in its initiatives causing greater anxiety and creating
more unstable conditions.

Poudyal has shown the guts to call a spade a spade. The cause of ailment is the greed among
the leadership. As it seems, it was hidden beneath the jubilation of restoration of democracy. As
days rolled on, this became increasingly overt. This greed blinded those in the leadership to such
an extent that their sensitivity of democracy gradually became blunt and its ideals were meant to
be exalted only for people’s consumption. This virtually reduced democracy to a money-making
machine for the new rulers. The phase of policy experiments designed and prepared by the
multilateral agencies became very handy for this purpose. Those who assured us such policies
were new found gospel for economic transformation are the same leaders who now publicly admit
that the policies were implemented without homework and that they were also unsuitable for
Nepal. This is how our leadership without a vision became like a ship without a compass. All this
resulted in mismanagement, then in chaos and disorder and finally in the non-delivery of the
system. This is how NC has maligned democracy and given rise to the Maoist movement by
being itself a breeding centre of all sorts of distortions that have proved as nourishment to Maoist
growth.

From the time of the troika to the present undeclared Bhattarai party and Girija party, the
ceaseless fighting inside NC has eaten up the vitality of democracy. Thus, Poudyal is right in his
diagnosis now known almost to everybody. The reason why he looks differently on this count is
that as deputy prime minister, he has spoken the truth about how integrity has degenerated to
such a low level causing ‘integrity crisis’ inside his party. The first diversion, as he has correctly
pointed out, was when Girija Prasad Koirala had the house dissolved on July 1994 after his
government was pulled down by 36 of his own members of parliament.

The snap poll held on 30th November gave a hung parliament installing for nine months a minority
communist government and thereafter making coalition politics as a parliamentary compulsion to
run the government. This period intensified the greed further so alarmingly that what we have
today is only a ‘skeleton democracy’, a cover for more loot. If this continues, democracy will
collapse because its structures can not take such piling garbage loads as the by-product of loot
and mismanagement. This is too small a country with too small a resource base, sandwiched
between the two Asian giants. No wonder these are the boon days for the Maoists to consolidate
their tactical strength for massive armed offensives. The government is in doldrums because the
fighting terrain has become slippery on call counts: politically, economically, strategically and
topographically.

In desperation, the rulers have started behaving like the self appointed guardians of all virtues and
the only saviours of democracy. This road is not of democracy but of authoritarian thinking. It has
such a striking similarity with the Panchayat days when any one opposed to it used to be
declared as anti national in the same way, any one who exposes the greed of the rulers are
branded anti democracy. Mahatma Gandhi said once: ‘I keep the door and windows of my mind
open so that cultures of all kind can come in and mingle’ Democracy is not shutting the door, it
is opening the door wide open. Everybody has the right to agree or differ in forming opinion. It is
the strength of the system that can aggregate and articulate diverse interest in forming national
interest, binding all of us to this nation that we all love so much.

Democracy can survive only if it can take root as the way of life, not because few Lilliputians
exalt the lofty ideals as its guardians. The communication minister the other day pointed fingers
at opinion builders as if they were opposed to democracy. It is as much our concern too. But the
threat to democracy has come from the rulers because of their greed, callousness and betrayal.
On this count, Poudyal has become taller because of his self-introspection. Democracy is
Nepal’s ideology. The least NC leaders can do is not suffocate it by spilling its filth. To this end,
let them first keep their own house in order and allocate more time to state management with a
vision that extends beyond themselves. Democracy is not creating such a mess, as it is today,
where it is a free for all to plunder making Maoists as the countervailing force of the present loot.
The best way to combat Maoists is to stop this loot and deliver to the people. This is the first
step to lure them to come inside the political boundary for working together in making a better
Nepal.