Uphold constitution in letter and spirit : PM
‘Fault lies not in constitution’

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Nov 8:Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and main opposition leader Madhav Kumar Nepal today expressed striking differences regarding the amendment of the Constitution, promulgated after the restoration of democracy in 1990.

Koirala stood by his stance that it would not be wise to seek repeated amendment while Nepal said fundamental reform in all sectors including the Constitution was needed to put an end to the perversions seen in the past ten years of democratic exercise.

The two leaders however had their views converging when they reacted towards the five year long Maoist insurgency. Both of them denounced the violence being unleashed by the Maoists and said the Maoists’ violence, in no way, be a panacea to the people.

"We should gear all our efforts to uphold the provisions of the Constitution in its letter and spirit rather than seek its amendment," Koirala told a talk programme organised here today.

Koirala said those exercising the Constitutional provisions could have faults but the Constitution itself was not faulty.

"We would only be inviting instability if we seek repeated amendment of the Constitution, all the political players should instead live up to the Constitutional norms and values for political and economic stability," he said.

Koirala was speaking at a programme jointly organised by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and Society for Constitutional and Parliamentary Exercise (SCOPE) at the Birendra International Convention Centre to mark the Constitution Day.

"The competition among political parties to strengthen their organisational base led to the politicisation of all societal organs including the government machinery after the restoration of democracy," Koirala said.

He attributed the rampant politicisation of institutions as the root cause of the perversions that surfaced in the past ten years of democratic exercise.

He underscored the need to bring about a social uprising to control corruption, which he said had turned out to be an invisible enemy of the society.

"The Bill seeking to empower the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority has been put before the parliament and there are reasons to hope that corruption would be controlled after the Bill is passed by the Parliament," Koirala said.

Koirala responding to the need to make amendments in the Constitution for free, fair and impartial elections expressed by Nepal said the government would initiate the necessary reforms after the all-party committee formed to forward recommendation on the modalities of the election submitted its report.

Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Mahanta Thakur said the Constitution of Nepal 1990 had provided the fundamental rights to the people and upheld a bright prospect for the all round development of the country.

Following the promulgation of the new Constitution every individual has been given legal protection and the rule of law in the country has been established, Thakur said.

Main Opposition leader and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) Madhav Kumar Nepal said the traditional attitude of the Nepalese to stick to the social structure already there has been the major obstacle for development.

"The need of the hour is to go for change and reform in all sectors including the Constitution if the country is to take a stride forward in the development front," Nepal said.

He said it was surprising why the politicians and the general people in Nepal had become the slaves of the prevailing situation marked by corruption and individualistic attitudes when the nation has alternative political parties that have the potentials to give a positive direction to the country.

"The country is now in the hands of corrupt politicians and the Mafia, the people are tired of rhetoric on corruption control, they rather would want to see people penalised for their wrong doings," Nepal said.

Former Speaker Daman Nath Dhungana portrayed a grim picture while dwelling on the achievements of the past ten years of democratic exercise.

"The past decade of democratic exercise has witnessed extreme politicisation of all sectors, the poor are getting poorer and their voices have not been given due attention," Dhungana said.

He said that the Constitution had been used as a means to rise to power and the distance between the electorate and the Parliament had increased over the years.

Senior advocate Ganesh Raj Sharma said the whole essence of the Constitution was based on rectifying past lapses on the basis of the precedence set and making the desired changes.

He said that regardless of the poor economic status of the Nepalese people and their illiteracy they have shown that they can bring about a complete change in the society giving way to a Constitution that protects their interest.

Dwelling on the achievements of the past ten years of democratic exercise, Sharma said a democratic system of accepting and rejecting any political party on the basis of its performance had been established in the country.

The consensus among the political parties reveals that there is the need to improve the Constitutional provisions instead of going for its amendment, he said.

SCOPE President Purna Man Shakya said unless the ruling and the opposition parties joined hands to address the problems of the nation, the ongoing process of consolidating multiparty democracy would witness a setback.

Transfer NC leadership to new generation: Kisunji

Kathmandu, Nov. 8 (RSS): Former prime minister and leader of the Nepali Congress (NC) Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, in a press statement published here today, said that it would be in the interest of the country, democracy and the party if he himself or the Prime Minister and Party President Girija Prasad Koirala did not seek any post and provide guidelines to the younger generation of the party.

In the statement, Mr Bhattarai said that he had been raising his strong voices in the parliament and then publicly that the leadership of the Nepali Congress and the government should go to the younger generation and he would like to reiterate this point once more.

Stating that he had humbly asked Mr Koirala not to make discrimination between the updated active member and other members and publish a list of all the members without adding or deleting any names at the party’s central office, former prime minister Bhattarai said that in a democratic set up, the names of voters is not kept confidential and this system which is correct had been followed by the party in the past.

Reiterating his appeal that the electoral college should be published only after the decisions taken by the party had been implemented, Mr Bhattarai said that otherwise, public at large would think that there was no internal democracy in the historically renowned Nepali Congress party.

Constitution has not failed, says Koirala

Kathmandu, Nov. 8 (RSS): Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has said important gains have been made in enhancing the probity of the judiciary, preserving human rights and maintaining rule of law in the past one decade of the promulgation of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal-1990.

Mr Koirala, speaking at a one-day national colloquium on "Constitutional practices: a review" organised by the Nepal Law Society here today, noted that legal and institutional infrastructures have already been laid to provide local autonomy as per the concept of decentralization.

Stating that all works by the state machinery are transparent, foreign investment has increased with growth in infrastructures required for economic development and goodwill between ruling and opposition benches has increased, the Prime Minister remarked that death penalty has been abolished and detainees are no longer physically tortured.

The goals of democracy will remain unfulfilled if we fail to bring the socially, economically and culturally backward communities into the mainstream of development, he added.

A propaganda has been launched by some quarter that the constitution itself has failed, he said, adding political parties are to some extent responsibile for not fulfilling the people’s expectations.

Observing that the mult-party system and the constitution have not failed, but our actions may have failed, the Prime Minister said multi-party democracy has no alternative.

Mr Koirala also spoke of the need for making massive changes in the electoral system for strengthening the multi-party system.

CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal noted that not only general citizens, and political and opposition parties are dissatisfied with the present state of affairs, but the ruling party is also not satisfied and spoke of the need of sitting together to get out of the present crisis.

Though the constitution has envisioned political, social and economic prosperity of the country, the past decade has failed to take us towards the right direction, Mr Nepal said, adding that existing problems can be resolved through mutual consensus and understanding.

Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhyaya asserted that the role of the judiciary in the past ten years has been satisfactory and judicial patience has been maintained in settling disputes.

Speaking of the need for all to take stock of the pros and cons of the constitution which was promulgated with the aim of setting up an ideal democratic society, he observed that the thrust of the constitution lies in safeguarding the rights of citizens and carrying out people’s welfare works.

Various other speakers including MPs Nawaraj Subedi, Rajeshwor Devkota and former MP C. P. Mainali also spoke at the function chaired by society’s chairman Churamani Raj Singh Malla.

Deuba decides to contest for NC president

Janakpurdham, Nov. 8 (RSS): Former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has announced his candidature for the president of the Nepali Congress to be held under the forthcoming 10th general convention of the party.

Addressing a mass meeting organised by Janakpur Municipal Committee of the Nepali Congress at Tirahutiyagachhi of Janakpur today, Mr Deuba said that after he took over the charge of the NC president, he would share the joys and sorrows of the NC workers of the villages and assign responsibilities to his opponents in the party in line with their efficiency.

Central member of the Nepali Congress and former minister Khum Bahadur Khadka emphasised the need to resolve the Maoists issue through dialogue and if the Maoists retreated from talks, the NC activists were prepared to confront them.

Another NC central member Chiranjivi Wagle said that new Nepal could be built only in democracy and economic development had taken place in the country in the last one decade.

NC central member Bijaya Kumar Gachchhedar said that people were closely watching what the government has been doing.

Former minister Bimalendra Nidhi emphasised the need for consolidation of the only democratic Nepali Congress party.

NC Janakpur Municipal Committee president Digamber Raya presided over the mass meeting.

Doors open for talks with Maoists, asserts DPM

By a staff reporter

Kathmandu, Nov. 8:Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ramchandra Poudel has asked the intellectuals and the civil society to make a rational judgment of who — the government or the Maoists — is more sincere and honest to find a permanent and peaceful solution to the Maoist problem.

Speaking to the press at the Home Ministry, his first such press conference after assuming the responsibilities of the Home Ministry, Poudel said the government has kept the doors open for talks and the recent releases of Dinesh Sharma and Dinanath Gautam (and also the release of Dev Gurung about 11 months ago) was meant to create an environment for talks with the Maoists. But, he blamed the Maoists for backing out off the talks under one pretext or the other.

He also doubted about the Maoists’ motive after they continued with their violent activities even after the release of their men.

"It is getting clear that the Maoists are not serious at all to find a solution of the problem through peaceful means and their proposal for talks is nothing but deception and duplicity," he told the gathering of journalists.

The release of Sharma and Gautam will be test for the Maoists’ sincerity and commitment towards talks, Poudel added.

Regarding Dinesh Sharma’s contradictory statements soon after his release, the Deputy Prime Minister denied that Sharma was under any duress on what he said to the press when he was released last week.

When asked about the report submitted by Sher Bahadur Deuba, coordinator of the high level committee to recommend the other day, Poudel said he would comment about the report only after going through it. Ironically, Poudel was also a member of the Committee. In a thinly veiled accusation against Deuba, Poudel said Deuba had been running the Committee in his own way.

Poudel also said Padma Ratna Tuladhar, who had arranged an informal meeting between Poudel and a high level Maoists party worker before the release of Sharma and Gautam, of becoming a victim of misunderstanding.

After the release of the two high level Maoist cadres, which he said was without his knowledge, Tuladhar had sharply criticised the government for acting wrongly and in an amateurish manner.

Meanwhile, in a press statement the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister said the government was making all possible efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Maoist problem, but if that fails to find an exit to the problem, the government will employ all administrative means to maintain peace and security and to protect the lives of the people.

Bhutan, what is cooking?

BY NAVIN SINGH KHADKA

Kathmandu, Nov. 8:Its maintained silence may stand for its usual indifference toward the impending Bhutanese refugee issue. But, that is not all Bhutan has of late.

True, the Dragon Kingdom has not even bothered to be in touch with the Foreign Ministry in recent days. Nor has it, in the last few months, uttered a single word on the refugee crisis it had created a decade ago.

But, inside its cocoon, the Bhutanese administration has initiated, at its own pace, a move that could be its "changing" stance. After deliberately slumbering all these years on the refugee issue, Bhutan has deployed its census teams to find out how many families were actually evicted under its ethnic cleansing design that began in the late 80’s and lasted till early 90’s.

If this internal exercise of the Bhutanese authority does not deserve an over-emphasis, it cannot be simply ignored like that, either. That with a reason. Bhutan, more than ten years after shooing out its southern Nepali-speaking citizens, has for the first time taken time to find out who had been marched out.

Had the move been only for demographic records, it should, and could, have taken place long time back — logically, immediately after it evicted its southern countrymen at gun points.

The fact that it has, at this juncture, taken time to find out the number of evicted Bhutanese is a clear indication it has something up its sleeves. What could that be?

Sample this: Bhutan is still holding a smoking gun. The gun whose shot might have irked United Nations High Commission for Refugees. It had recently turned down an idea of the commission to verify the around 100,000 refugees in Nepal with the help of their family-heads — the idea that Nepal had endorsed.

Turning down the verification mechanism was a double talk on Bhutan’s part. It is the same Kingdom that issues its land-ownership documents to its citizens in the name of the head of the family. In other words, its demographic record is based on the names of the family heads.

While it insisted on verifying each and every refugee in the seven camps in eastern Nepal.

The idea did not at all sit well with Nepal. Nor could it convince the commission for refugees in the global body.

Meantime, the Druk Yul must have begun to feel the increasing pinch from the slowly yet steadily growing international pressure. In September this year, the European Parliament had asked India to take initiative to address the prolonging refugee problem.

That was a clear indication that the European Union had, at least, recognised the refugee problem. A plus point for Nepal and a minus for Bhutan.

If read between the lines, the move clearly signified the European Union’s viewpoint: Without India’s involvement, Bhutan would not budge from its stand in the refugee issue.

Hardly one month after the European Parliament spoke its heart, Bhutan launched its census campaign to find out the number of Bhutanese that were forced to live as refugees — most of them in Nepal.

Could that be only a coincidence? Whatever be the case, there remains no doubt that Bhutan is facing a double trouble. On one hand, it has vexed the UNHCR foiling its efforts to, at least, begin some field works toward resolving refugee impasse. While on the other, it has India — to whom it should consult its foreign affairs according to a 1949 treaty between the two — which is already urged by an international community of European Union’s stature to help solve the problem.

Taking into account the double-edged sword, Bhutan’s latest census campaign appears to be quite meaningful. It could use its evicted citizens’ census result to tally with the scoreboard of the field verification — if in case it agrees to a second chance.

Also the census team’s findings about the refugees could also be a handy-tool supposing that India signals it to "co-operate" in the Bhutanese refugees’ repatriation process.

If the latter is the case, Nepal cannot afford to miss a lesson: Lobbying for India’s good office to solve the refugee crisis in the international arena helps. Perhaps nothing else does.