Crisis looms over Nepal

Pioneer Editorial

No Government, no Constitution, no Republic

As time ran out on Sunday for Nepal’s Constituent Assembly to produce a Constitution, leading to the body to be dissolved without having finished its task, the country slipped into a period of both political and legal uncertainty. For one, with the dismantling of the Constituent Assembly which also served as Nepal’s interim Parliament, the validity of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s Government has come under a cloud. The UCPN (Maoist) leader has said that he will continue to lead the caretaker Government until a new Assembly is formed after election on November 22. But his proposal has found few takers, with leaders from the other two major parties — the CPN-UML and the Nepali Congress — strongly opposed to the idea of another poll. The is because all Nepali politicians, irrespective of their ideological commitment, are hugely unpopular in the country in these times. Consumed by their own political ambitions, they have spent the last six years bickering with one another instead of guiding Nepal towards peace and democracy. So much so that the Constituent Assembly’s initial two-year mandate had to be extended four times in as many years, until finally, Nepal’s Supreme Court ruled last November that there would no more extensions at the end of the current term, which expired on May 28. It is in accordance with this judgement that Mr Bhattarai dismantled the Constituent Assembly and decided to go back to the people for a fresh mandate. But if elections are indeed held anytime soon, it is highly unlikely that many of these leaders will find their way back to Kathmandu. This explains why the leaders have now approached President Ram Baran Yadav to set aside the election date. They of course argue that the decision was taken in a “unilateral” and “authoritarian” fashion by Mr Bhattarai without factoring in their opinion. Even if this was the case, the dispute is still the result of a fractured body politik.

More importantly, even if an election is held sometime soon, it will essentially be a referendum on the politically divisive issue of federalism. It is over this point of contention that the Constituent Assembly had failed to build consensus. The shape and form of Nepal’s federal structure has been a thorny issue involving both individual political aspirations for the future as well as historical tensions between communities going back centuries. It is a key issue that must be carefully resolved in keeping with aspirations of the various communities, but it must also be done before popular unrest boils down to violence. For that the country’s political elite must come together and literally draw the roadmap for the future. But clearly, that’s asking for too much in the given circumstance.

Courtesy: http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/item/51706-crisis-looms-over-nepal.html