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POLITICS |
Suspended Animation The country enters into a
new phase of instability after the major parties' assessment that election could not be
held as scheduled By BHAGIRATH YOGI When chief of Nepal Police, Pradip Shumsher
JB Rana, spoke his mind "in his personal capacity" at an all-party meeting
convened by the Election Commission on September 12 that elections should be postponed by
a few months, opposition parties cried foul. They even blamed Rana of being part of the
conspiracy to postpone polls and push the country into a constitutional quagmire. Little more than two weeks later, a meeting
of seven political parties convened by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on September 29
held that elections could be not be held in the country "under present
circumstances."
When premier Deuba recommended
dissolution of the House of Representatives on May 22 and called for a snap poll on
November 13 amid intense infighting within the ruling Nepali Congress, there was a general
observation that elections could not be held unless the Maoist insurgents were engaged in
some sorts of peace negotiations. Preoccupied with establishing himself and
his group as the "genuine" leadership of the ruling party that had undergone
vertical split, the premier seemed to be losing every opportunity to call the rebels for
negotiations and forge a consensus with the political parties that believe in the
country's constitution, said critics. The situation was such that the political
parties were not ready to kick the election campaign even after the Supreme Court upheld
the premier's prerogative to dissolve the House of Representatives on August 6 and paved
way for elections. But "inexplicable delays" on the part of Election Commission
to decide on which of the Nepali Congress factions were genuine added to the confusion. As the Maoists seized the moment and
launched heavy raids at Bhiman and Sandhikharka on September 7 and 8 killing over 110
security personnel, the government's claim-- that there had been improvement in the
country's law and order situation after the nine-month long state of emergency (that
expired on August 28)-- lay exposed. It was bound to have far-reaching impact on the
country's contemporary polity.
A day after the Election Commission
published programs to hold polls in six phases over two months beginning November 13,
major political parties including Nepali Congress, CPN (UML), Rastriya Prajatantra Party,
Nepal Sadbhavana Party, Jana Morcha Nepal (JMN) and Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party (NMKP)
unanimously decided Sunday that the situation was not conducive to hold elections.
Interestingly, the youngest political party in the country-Nepali Congress (Democratic)
led by premier Deuba himself also of the same opinion. The parties', however, had differing
opinion regarding the future course of action. "Our party has decided that the
only democratic alternative to the present complicated situation in the country is the
restoration of the dissolved House of Representatives," said Nepali Congress
spokesman Arjun Narsingh K. C. The parent NC found its new allies in the form of JMN and
NMKP who backed its proposal. While the NC (Democratic) representatives
rejected the proposal outright, the CPN (UML) leaders remained undecided. "We are not
against restoration of the House of Representatives but still feel that chances of
restoration of the parliament are very slim," said UML general secretary Madhav
Kumar Nepal. A senior member in the Deuba administration, Minister Chiranjivi Wagle said
the premier would start looking into possible options as advised by the all-party meet. The most obvious option would be to defer
polls and form an all-party caretaker government and call the rebels upon a table of
negotiations. It may be easier said than done. The central committee meeting of the Nepali
Congress led by G. P. Koirala decided Tuesday that it would not take part in the proposed
all-party government to be led by Mr. Deuba. The party reiterated its demand that the
House of Representatives be reinstated in case elections could not be held on November 13. "To defer polls will be an
unconstitutional move and we will not support that," said NC leader Narahari Acharya.
While the prospects of reinstatement of the House once dissolved and endorsed by the
Supreme Court remain unclear, premier Deuba would obviously would not like to consider
that option as he is no more a member of the ruling party. By highlighting the demand for
reinstatement of the House, the parent NC may have been trying to stress that premier
Deuba's decision to dissolve the parliament was incorrect, despite being constitutionally
valid, and that it would remain away from the intricacies of an all-party government
comprising people from different ideologies. But at a time when the country is passing
through one of the worst crises in the country, lack of political consensus is likely to
do more harm than good to the nation, say analysts. "The failure to hold elections in
time is not only the failure of the Deuba government, it also exhibits that we have
already entered into an abnormal situation from the constitutional point of view,"
said Professor Krishna Khanal, a political scientist at the Center for Nepal and Asian
Studies, Tribhuvan University. "In order to prevent the complete breakdown of the
constitutional process, political parties must take initiative and forge
national consensus to find a way out." According to Prof. Khanal, the urgent issue
for now is to identify the causes that led to deferring of the polls rather than holding
polls. "There is no objective basis to believe that there will be significant
improvement in the security situation in the next five to six months," said Khanal. "Hence, the political parties should
seriously take initiative to towards addressing country's problems through progressive
amendment of the constitution and keeping themselves open to proposals like referendum and
elections to the constituent assembly (as demanded by the Maoists) if the need be." Addressing his party's national meet on
Monday, Premier Deuba, however, rejected both the options of going for referendum or
elections to the constituent assembly as one of the basis for negotiations on Monday. With
such a rigid position, the all-party government, even if it is formed, is least likely to
evolve a national consensus to arrive at a negotiated settlement with the rebels. "We have seen from the history that
government comprising opposing political ideologies doesn't last long and fail to
accomplish their objectives," warned Pradip Giri, central committee member of the NC
(Democratic). As the government seems to be backed by
extreme rightist forces and the "extreme leftist" forces represented by
the Maoists seem to be hell bent to destroy the 1990 constitution-that guarantees people's
fundamental rights and gives space for multi-party polity and constitutional monarchy, the
outcome of such a conflict is very difficult even to imagine, said Prof. Khanal. What is obvious by now is that the country
has already entered into a new phase of political instability. The political parties -
that represent people power-could attempt to bring the country out of the crisis, in
cooperation with the constitutional monarch-only after identifying the perennial source of
instability in Nepal in the changing regional context. Preoccupied as they are with their
own vested interests, will they heed to the call of the hour? PRESS
COUNCIL AWARD The award goes to a
journalist committed for professional journalism By A CORRESPONDENT Thanks to his two-decade long uninterrupted
affiliation with the media, Pushkar Lal Shrestha of Kamana Prakashan Samuha now oversees
four popular publications coming under the same roof. Chief editor of Nepal Samacharpatra
daily, Kamana entertainment monthly, Sadhana family digest and Mahanagar, an eveninger,
Shrestha finds little time for business other than media. Shrestha was rewarded Monday with this
year's "Gopaldas Press Council Journalism Award" set up by Press Council
of Nepal in the memory of veteran journalist, late Gopal Das Shrestha, who founded and
edited "The Commoner," the first English newspaper in the country. "It is a
matter of great pride for me to get such a prestigious prize," said Pushkar, who is
also the president of International Press Institute Nepal chapter. The award carries the purse of Rs 40,000
and was awarded to senior journalists Govinda Biyogi and Purushottam Dahal in the past. |
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