KATHMANDU, March 14 (Xinhua) -- With the deadline for the Constituent Assembly (CA) only two months away, several national issues in Nepal are still waiting to be resolved among the political parties of Nepal.
As per the verdict made by the Supreme Court (SC) the final deadline for the CA is May 27.
However, looking at the nature of the conflict that still prevails amongst and within the major political parties of the nation, experts and analysts have expressed their doubts over the timely drafting of the constitution.
The speculations rose when senior leader of Nepali Congress (NC) Sher Bahadur Deuba in his speech on Feb. 12 suggested that the 1990 constitution should be revived by amending some of its articles.
"The 1990 constitution of the country should be revived by amending its articles and removing the term King," Deuba said.
Deuba's statement no doubt attracted a lot of negative reaction from the other parties who have been working head on to draft a new constitution but with no results.
Meanwhile, the three major political parties mainly Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), NC and Unified Communist Party of Nepal (UCPN-M) failed to meet the deadline of March 13 to forge a consensus on the debatable issues that is hampering further development in constitution drafting.
The parties are now entangled in key issues of the constitution drafting such as the form of governance, restructuring of the state, electoral system and the power of judiciary along with the integration of the former rebel groups People's Liberation Army ( PLA) into the Nepal Army.
The parties are holding their stance with no room for flexibility on the issues.
While NC has been maintaining that the party will not give up to anything but a parliamentarian system with a constitutional head as the president and an executive head as the prime minister to exercise power, the UCPN-M believes that the demand is rigid and is hampering the constitution drafting.
Meanwhile, the NC and CPN-UML has been claiming that there can be no progress in peace process until the integration process is complete signaling that the UCPN-M should also give up their stance on the rank determination of the former PLA members and comply by the rank determination put forth by the Nepal Army.
The UCPN-M has been demanding that the rank of Brigadier General should be made available to its PLA members after being integrated into the army, while the Nepal Army has made clear arguments that as per the institutional statute no posts more than a major can be provided to the former PLA members.
Similarly the statement made by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, also a senior leader of UCPN-M early this month warning the nation of more violence in the nation if the other parties, civil society and the media oppose his draft of a constitution, also surfaces the conflict that prevails amongst the top leaders of the major parties.
At the same time, the UCPN-M-led government has been facing opposition from within its party.
The party's vice chairman Mohan Baidya on Tuesday demanded that the PM should resign immediately stating the he has failed to follow the party agenda and also said that if the government does not step down nationwide stir will be called soon.
According to the Baidya faction of the party, the PM has been " too flexible" which turns him against the party's key agendas.
Likewise, the commitment made by the UCPN-M to return the seized properties during the time of war to their rightful owners is also yet to be implemented practically.
Owing to these issues, the State Restructuring Committee (SRC) and the Constitution Committee (CC) and time and again failed to make any substantial progress in its work towards helping the CA to draft the constitution on time.
Although the parties agreed that the reports submitted by the SRC will be presented before the CA and would help in resolving the issues, another hurdle remained. The parties have not been able to decide on actions against CA members who have been accused of fraud.
Local observers believed that until and unless there is a national reconciliation with practical implementation and political unison instead of strong stance among the political parties and their leaders, the constitution drafting process will be gravely affected and might as well fail to meet the deadline.
In the meantime, if the constitution drafting does not meet the deadline and the Supreme Court maintains its decision of not allowing further extension of the deadline, in that case, the CA will dissolve and new elections will be held.
However, owing to 10 years of violent conflict, and six years of political transition making up for all the damage that had been meant, holding an election will be another financial blow to the already shaky financial status of the country.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/indepth/2012-03/14/c_131467477.htm
