Resolve Differences

MINISTER of Local Development Dev Gurung has pointed out that an all-party mechanism proposed by him at the local level could not be formed or materialise due to intense opposition from the CPN (UML). Despite the fact that the major political parties, including the Nepali Congress, had acceded to the proposal, the obstacles created by the UML, as referred to by Minister Gurung, came on the way of building an all-party consensus mechanism at the local level. As even the Interim Constitution provides a separate chapter for a local body mechanism and mentions about building all-party structures for the districts, municipalities and villages, the dilly dallying on the part of political parties on it is inappropriate. The interim statute puts obligations on the government to grant greater autonomy to the local bodies and make sure that they perform their roles and functions more effectively to meet the political, development and social aspirations of the people.

However, the political parties do not seem to be coming close to resolving their differences and sustaining cohesion with a view to building a representative local mechanism so that the intent of the interim statute with regard to creating competent local bodies is realised. Needless to say, the UML had maintained its dominant position at the local bodies during the previous elections held nearly a decade ago. The party contends that it should be given a larger share of seats and positions in the local bodies on the basis of its previous hold and support base at the local level.The argument advanced by the UML holds some logic, but when it comes to negotiation and settlement some give and take is expected on the part of the political party so that a solution for mutual satisfaction could be arrived at in the new context. The local bodies are being run by the bureaucracy that cannot be held politically accountable to the people, as a result development and governance activities at the local level have suffered. The agitation launched by the VDC secretaries recently has already exposed the problems facing the local bodies. Moreover, the government had gives commitments to form an all-party mechanism to run the local bodies to respond to the demands raised by the VDC officials. The political parties are, thus, obliged to ensure that the interim local bodies are constituted and services relating to governance and development are delivered to the citizens.

Source: The Rising Nepal, September 6, 2007

NEPAL: ARMY SEES MAOISTS HAND IN EXPLOSIONS, REPORT

The Nepal Army submitting an investigative report before the prime minister has concluded that the Maoists were involved in the Sunday’s Series of Explosions that rocked the capital city, Kathmandu. In the midst of the Maoists conducting activities to foil the November Polls, the Rajdhani Daily reports, citing a high placed Nepal Army Source, that there is no way any other group except the Maoists were involved in the explosion. The NA investigative team has also alleged the Maoists for disrupting polls by forwarding various demands such as declaring republic, complete proportional system and the amalgamation of the Militias into the National Army. The NA report also indicates the recent Maoists activities of attacking the leaders of the political parties aimed at disrupting their election campaign.

All the Maoists activities in the past have remained unsuccessful that were aimed at disrupting the CA elections thus this explosion has been strategically committed by the Maoists to foil the CA elections”, the report submitted by the NA to the PM after three days of the explosion emphasizes.
The Maoists, by first forwarding 22 point demands in what they call to create poll atmosphere and later allege the Nepal Army and the Royal Palace instantly for their involvement in such heinous acts is highly deplorable, says the report further, writes the Rajdhani weekly. The Maoists claims are thus self contradictory, adds the NA report.
The report also takes into account a statement made by the Maoists’ valley in charge Chandra Bahadur Thapa (Sagar) that “dynamite will explode frequently in the country now on words instead of petrol bombs if their 22 points demands were not met with”.

The report says, the explosions in Kathmandu took place only after the valley in charge made such remarks. The NA thus forwards “circumstantial” evidence.
After the explosions, the Maoists tilted media houses in Nepal thus carried the news as if the Nepal Army and the Royal Palace were behind the explosion, the report further adds.
The highly inflammable ingredients and the time-device used to manufacture the bombs hint that it has been assembled by expert hands, says the report further.
To explode such bombs, experts are required that the Maoists and the Terai outfits possess in abundance, the report adds.
Unless concrete evidence suggesting involvements of other groups are found, the Maoists always remain as a prime suspect, the report concludes.

Source: Telegraph Nepal, September 6, 2007

Nepal Army : Contributions To UN Peacekeeping

Hira Bahadur Thapa

UN Peacekeeping Operations (PKOs) date back to the 1950s. It is an innovation of the United Nations to secure peace in conflict-ridden parts of the world. In the beginning, such PKOs were established with limited mandates. The peacekeepers then were asked to help keep peace agreements intact by preventing the parties to the conflict from violating them. Therefore, blue helmeted soldiers then were deployed to achieve the sole objective of securing peace agreements, and in that sense, their participation in the PKOs was not that vulnerable.

Transformation

The premier UN Peacekeeping Mission is the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) based in the Middle East. This mission was set up to secure peace in the Middle East following the Arab-Israeli war. Three Nepal Army personnel are serving with the UNTSO. This is also the mission in which Nepal Army observers had, at the UN's request, provided their services for the first time in its history of UN peacekeeping. Given the growing complexity in international affairs and changing scenario in various troubled regions of the globe, the UN's deployment of peacekeepers had to undergo a major transformation. This change has occurred both in the diversity of nationalities to which the UN peacekeepers belong and the responsibilities they are asked to shoulder. Today's peacekeepers are not confined to keep peace by helping to maintain the Peace Agreements. Additionally, they are now deployed to undertake a number of other activities like organising and observing elections, training the security forces on human rights and even taking charge of an interim administration. The UN makes every effort to ensure that its peacekeepers do not infringe upon the human rights of the people they are supposed to protect. The UN is currently involved in monitoring the ongoing peace process and observing the Constituent Assembly elections in Nepal. Following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), a UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) has been deployed. Its fundamental role here is to monitor the armies of both the Government and the Maoists along with their arms. There are cantonments in various parts of Nepal where members of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the CPN-M are kept with their arms.

As Nepal is heading towards restructuring the country through the Constituent Assembly elections, the role of UNMIN is crucial in making the current peace process a success. It is interesting to note that Nepal has been hosting UNMIN as per the requirements of the country although it is now the fourth largest troop and police contributor in the world to the UNPKOs. At present, Nepal has sent 3,670 personnel from the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force to various UNPKOs. They are now serving with various missions like United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), UN Organisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) and United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) I & II, among others. Of these, the largest contingent from the Nepal Army is deployed with UNIFIL where 859 personnel serve with that mission alone. This is the mission where Nepal has sent its peacekeepers since it started in 1978. With a very short interruption in the 1980s, Nepal has been providing its Army personnel to Lebanon on a continuous basis. This proves that Nepal's participation in UNIFIL is highly acclaimed.Continued participation of Nepal in UN Peacekeeping notwithstanding, the Nepal Army is facing tough competition mostly from its South Asian counterparts. The largest army and police contributors to the UNPKOs are from our region. Moreover, Nepal has its own painful history of an armed insurgency that has sometimes dragged our professional army into controversy as a few human rights organisations have been found criticising it. At some juncture when the country was in the midst of the internal conflict, a few human rights activists even lobbied against Nepal's participation in the UNPKOs. Due to persevering efforts of the government to counter the logic of the activists, the embarrassing situation of non-deployment of Nepali security personnel in the UN Peacekeeping Operations has not occurred as yet.

We need to be very alert in ensuring that such campaigning against Nepal's interests does not gain momentum. For this, the Nepal Army has to be cautious as well as responsive to accusations relating to its human rights records. Interestingly, people from Amnesty International were capitalising on the opportunity when our Chief of the Army Staff was having an interaction in London recently at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. They had questioned him about the progress made in the investigations concerning the death of Maina Sunuwar and the Doramba incident in which 18 unarmed Maoists were killed. There is no doubt that Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, had raised these issues very seriously during her last visit to Nepal. The Nepal Army has a crucial role to play in reassuring the international community about its current efforts to bring about convincing results of the said investigations, which have attracted significant attention internationally.The Nepal Army has pledged time and again that it will abide by the instructions of the civilian government. It has also given assurances that it will be very sensitive to upholding the human rights commitments made by the Nepal Government. It might be worth mentioning the remarks made by the prime minister, who also is the defense minister, in a message to the participants of the Nepal Army Officers' Cadet Training held at Kharipati a few days earlier. In his message, he emphasised that the Nepal Army should uphold democratic norms and values while accommodating the popular opinion of the Nepali people in the changed context.

Gender

Against the background of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which envisages the integration of the PLA of the Maoists with the Nepal Army, the country has to be seriously involved in the preparations for achieving this goal. Once the democratic transition in Nepal comes to its logical end, with the completion of Security Sector Reform, there is no reason why Nepal cannot one day send even a female battalion at the call of the UN, especially now that it has been putting emphasis on gender equality in its peacekeeping operations for long.

Pay Heed To Maoist Concerns

Yuba Nath Lamsal

Recent remarks by Maoist Chairman Prachanda have created ripples in the Nepalese political spectrum. In an interaction with the civil society members and professionals in Kathmandu, comrade Prachanda had raised serious doubts over the holding of a free and fair election to a Constituent Assembly scheduled for November 22 this year. According to Prachanda, an environment for the elections has yet not been created, and in such a situation, the genuine verdict of the people may not be reflected in the Constituent Assembly election.

Poor security

His concerns include the poor security situation in some districts of the Terai, interference by some external forces and activities of the feudal elements against the new political process. The concerns and issues raised by the Maoist chief are genuine. The law and order situation at present is poor especially in the Terai. Some groups there have raised arms and resorted to criminal activities like intimidation, killing, abduction and extortion. As a result, many people have fled their homes for fear of their lives. The government employees, who are to conduct the elections, also do not feel safe. Hence, voters cannot freely participate in the election and give their verdict. The other issue is related to the monarchy. Although the monarchy is down, it is not out. The regressive and rightist elements under the protection and patronage of the monarchy are active in derailing the present peace and political process. The Constituent Assembly election is a historic process at making the people sovereign in the real sense and restructuring the state and ensuring inclusive democracy and a just society. The necessity of the Constituent Assembly election had been felt and demanded in 1951, and it had been agreed that elections to it would be held right after the political change then that toppled the century-old Rana family rule and established a multi-party political system. It was the monarchy that aborted the process for the Constituent Assembly election in 1951, although the then king himself had promised to hold it. Thus, historic developments have proved that the monarchy has been the main hurdle in democratic consolidation since 1951.

It has also been proved that the monarchy and the Constituent Assembly cannot go together. Nowhere in the world have the two gone hand in hand. One must be compromised for the other. And there has been a wave for republicanism, and it is almost certain that the monarchy would go if the Constituent Assembly election were held in a free and fair manner. Thus, monarchists in collusion with some external forces and fundamentalist elements are hatching a conspiracy to sabotage the process for the election with the feeble hope that the monarchy will survive. The election to the Constituent Assembly may not be possible as long as the monarchy exists in Nepal. Moreover, the monarchy is a symbol of feudalism, exploitation and discrimination, which has already lost its relevance. Since the constitution has a provision to abolish the monarchy by a two-third majority in Parliament, the eight political parties can and should declare Nepal a democratic republic from parliament to facilitate the smooth conduct of the election. The other issue comrade Prachanda has raised is related to external pressure and interference in Nepal's internal affairs. The Maoists are of the belief that some powerful nations are active to sabotage the Constituent Assembly election and the ongoing political process through which the monarchy can be saved and progressive forces in Nepal could be prevented from going to power.There is a grain of truth in his remarks. But the international community has been supportive of Nepal's peace and democratic process. Even during the struggle against the king's dictatorship, the support and co-operation of the international community played a crucial role in boosting the morale of the pro-democracy forces, which finally forced the king to bow down. For this, the Nepalese people are always grateful to their international friends. But the activities and remarks expressed by representatives of some nations are not at all compatible with the diplomatic norms and values. They have openly supported particular political parties and condemned the Maoists. Against this background, it was natural for the Maoist party to doubt the genuine outcome of the election. Attention should, therefore, be paid to the concerns raised by the Maoist chairman. The government, therefore, needs to take immediate measures to create a conducive atmosphere for the polls.

Prachanda's remarks were dubbed as a ploy to defer the Constituent Assembly election. Other political parties, including the power constituents of the eight party government, namely, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, have now come down heavily on the Maoist chairman's remarks. In fact, the Constituent Assembly election was the sole agenda of the CPN-Maoists until last year. Other political parties, including the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, had been reluctant to go to the Constituent Assembly election. But they agreed on this issue as the Maoists continued to press for this demand. Thus, we cannot believe that the Maoists have abandoned the agenda of the Constituent Assembly election.Prachanda spoke the bitter truth, which has been difficult to digest by others. Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had also spoken on similar lines in the past regarding the possibility of holding the election in June. Deuba had also come under severe criticism from all parties, including the Maoists, for his remarks that it was not possible to hold the election in June under the then prevailing situation. But it was accepted by all later, and it was agreed to defer the election date till November.

22-point agenda

Earlier, the Maoists had unveiled their 22-point demand, in which they have expressed clear commitment to the Constituent Assembly election. Their only concerns are the basis and grounds for the elections. It would, thus, be unfair to doubt the intention of the Maoists regarding their commitment to the Constituent Assembly election as the Maoists would definitely not want to abort the process and agenda they had raised. Against this background, it would be in the interest of the nation if the political parties stopped blaming each other and worked in unison for the common goal of holding the Constituent Assembly election

Source: The Rising Nepal, August 31, 2007

Time To Brace For Elections

WHETHER it is in the general social life or the Gai Jatra, the topic of the Constituent Assembly polls is bound to crop up. Much hope is pinned on the Constituent Assembly elections. In fact, the very future of the country and the people depends on it.

It needs no reminder that the polls are a mere 82 days away. It may not be the culminating point as the new constitution has to be drafted by the Constituent Assembly that will represent the people from all groups in the country. Yet, the lacklustre performance of the political parties in the run up to the election is a matter of worry.Some minor hiccups have been impeding the political parties from jumping into the bandwagon. Some parties are engaged in their own internal affairs while others have come up with plans and programmes.Herein, it is worthwhile noting that the 22-point programme put forward by the CPN (Maoist) has generated much debate among the other parties. The Maoists say that their struggle will continue both in the House as well as in the streets. They have been emphatic on the point that they are not against the CA election but want to create a conducive environment through their movement. If that is the case, then it is in the interest of the people and the country. The Maoists have said and expressed what they want to do, and the manner that they have decided upon. This is something transparent and gives the people an idea of their stance. Whether it is liked by the other parties or not, it has to be accepted as the Maoists have now entered mainstream national politics.

The other political parties, too, should come up with their plans and programmes, considering the fact that the election is round the corner. At the moment, much focus is also on the unification of the Nepali Congress and the Nepali Congress (Democratic). That is also related to the united stand for the election. It will be an important event when they stand together in the CA fray.As for the CPN (UML), it has already initiated its election campaign. So far, it is the only party that has begun a campaign in earnest. So far the campaign has been concentrated in the Kathmandu Valley only. There is a need to spread out.The call for going to the villages and districts has not yet begun as the scenario shows. It is for all the parties that profess unity - the eight parties in particular - that must motivate themselves to reach places where the majority of the people live. It is there that they must focus their attention as the people there lack awareness regarding the CA, its importance and the polls for it. No party has devised an education programme for it. The reason is that Kathmandu serves as the base with the other parts of the country not getting the due priority.There may be problems in the Terai region, but the parties can make a foray into the hills and other remote parts of the country. This also has not come about in the absence of concrete programmes. It seems that the eight parties are still grappling with some differences. One issue has presumably been solved, namely, the nomination of the ambassadors to 20 countries. That had been a contentious issue. It has been resolved but after a long delay. It can be hoped that the various missions will have chiefs to conduct activities in the interest of the country. There may be some misgivings, yet the nominations have been completed, which is a matter of relief.

Manifesto

When the greatest event of the country is only months away, and talks of unity has been made time and again by the eight party leadership, it is hard to understand why they are delaying in venturing onto the election turf. Moreover, none of the parties has made their CA election manifesto public. That is the document that they have to take to the people during the election campaign. Maybe they might have their own reasons for delaying. But now is not the time to procrastinate but to get wholeheartedly into the game as the Election Commission is said to have made the necessary preparations and now wants the political players to take to the field.

Source: The Rising Nepal, August 31