February 2009
Political

Some important steps on the right direction were taken during the first m onth of 2009. But uncertainties about the future is still there.

PM Dahal addressing the nation on January 25

In early January, there were fears of religious disputes erupting in the country in which even foreign countries showed their deep concern. But that situation was diffused in time by Prime Minister Dahal who revoked his controversial decision to appoint Nepali priests at Pashupatinath temple in place of Indian priests.

Towards the end of the month, PM Dahal addressed the nation through radio and TV repeating his call upon the political parties to replace the 12-point understanding (which created a national unity among the political parties and overthrew the monarch) with a new understanding. He also announced some immediate steps to improve the governance and to remove social malpractices.

The PM’s address was criticised by the major political parties. Those in the opposition called the PM to rather fulfil his previous promises and create a basis for cordial relations across the political parties. The other major parties in the governing coalition refused to agree with the Prime Minister’s speech saying that he had not consulted them before addressing the nation.

The PM’s address is interpreted as the last ditch effort to extend his stay on the power. The events prior to his televised address lend support to this evaluation.

Earlier in the month, the Ekata Kendra Mashal, one of the many small communist parties of the country, was unified with the Maoists after which the Maoist party was renamed as Unified CPN-Maoist. In a mass meeting organized to announce the unification, Dahal, who is also the President of the unified party, threatened to usurp the power forcefully if his party was ousted from the government. The other political parties were quick to raise strong objections to his radical statement. Two days later, Dahal announced postponement of his planned visit to Norway and Finland citing political problems in the country as the reasons to postpone the trip.

It was a surprising decision because the days before this cancellation of the visit had seen rapid resolution of some of the most vexing issues that were polarising the parties. For example, the long deadlock in the formation of the Constituent Assembly and Legislative Parliament’s committees was resolved by mutual understanding among the parties. CPN-UML’s General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal was unanimously elected the Chairman of the CA’s most important committee that is to guide the Constitution drafting. A compromise was reached with the opposition party to reconstitute the Special Committee for the integration of the ex-combatantsof the Maoists in the Nepali Army. Now the Committee is headed by the Prime Minister himself and has two representatives each from the Maoist, Nepali Congress, UML and Madhesi Janadhikar Forum while some other smaller parties have one representative each.

Also the deadlock in the appointment of more justices at the Supreme Court was resolved. Consequently, two permanent justices and seven temporary justices have sworn in after going through the parliamentary hearing. Similarly, Dipendra Bahadur Chhetri is appointed the Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank, replacing Bijaya Nath Bhattarai who is still fighting in the judiciary against corruption charges. Also filled up was the position of the Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission with UML nominee Prof. Dr. Gunanidhi Sharma taking over the vacant post.

But in the meanwhile, the Terai Madhes Loktantrik Party (TMLP) withdrew its support to the government and started fresh agitations. The problem was aggravated due to the proposal from the PM to ban all types of strikes and road blockades. The NC and TMLP objected to it saying such ban would undermine people’s right to protest. Similar proposal was voiced in the televised address of the PM.

Before the PM’s televised address to the nation, the session of Legislative Assembly was prorogued. Subsequently, the government announced that three ordinances were being promulgated and some others were being finalised. That again was opposed by NC and UML. The NC said the government was bypassing the parliament and trying to rule by ordinances while UML complained that it was not consulted regarding the ordinances. Following the opposition, the Ordinances were shelved but again brought out a few days later.

Another important development of the month was the formation of a parliamentary committee to monitor the implementation of the commitment made by the PM for fulfilling the nine-point demand of the Nepali Congress, including the return of the property seized by the Maoists and disbanding the military structure of Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League (YCL). The progress so far in this regard is the change in the name of the YCL, now proposed to be called Young Communist Democratic League (YCDL).

The month also saw the government starting talks with three armed outfits–two from the Terai and one from the hills.

Continuation of violent attacks on journalists persisted also in January. Following the incident of Maoist attack on Himalmedia in the previous month, Uma Singh, a woman journalist of Janakpur, was slain and some persons have arrested in that connection, including a local leader of Maoist party.

Among the vexing issues still unresolved is the recruitment process started in the Nepali Army to fill up the vacant positions that invited maoist ire. The however, early February it was reported that a consensus among has been developed the parties to constitute the local political bodies such as Village Development Committees, Municipalities and District Development Committees.

The CPN-UML is preparing for its party convention scheduled for February. In the meanwhile, violent clashes have been continuing between the youth wings of the two parties. As elections of the student unions in various campuses are round the corner, these clashes are not expected to abate in the February as well.

The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum concluded its party convention in which it managed to avoid a split in the party by arriving at a compromised solution to reelect Upendra Yadav as the party president. One important feature of the MJF convention was the presence of a high profile delegation from the Chinese Communist Party while the Indian political parties were conspicuously absent.