Dedicated to Daniel Pearl

Finally the top leaders of ruling eight-party alliance have agreed to reschedule the Constituent Assembly (CA) poll by the end of November.

A meeting of the top leaders, held at Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s residence,  Baluwatar, on Thursday asked the council of ministers to amend the interim constitution and fix a new date for the poll.

Amendment in the interim statue is necessary to reschedule the poll since the constitution says that the CA poll will be held on June 20.

The parties unanimously agreed to postpone the previously scheduled CA poll, as the Election Commission (EC) said it was not prepared to conduct the poll on June 20 in absence of necessary legal frameworks and other preparations.  

After five days of discussions, the leaders also reached consensus to review the report of the Election Constituency Delineation Commission (ECDC), paving way to resume the stalled Interim Legislature-Parliament.

Despite agreement on all issues, the CPN-UML, the CPN-Maoist, the Peoples Front Nepal (PFN) and the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) wrote separate note of dissents on different issues.

UML wrote note of dissent demanding proportional election system and referendum.

In the note of dissent, the UML said the proportional election system was necessary to accomodate various dissenting voices in the CA. Similarly, it said referendum should be held before the CA poll to decide the fate of monarchy

Amrit Kumar Bohara, UML standing committee member, said, “We still stand by our position on proportional election system and referendum.”

He said the UML, however, wouldn’t be an obstruction to the CA poll. “We will launch nation-wide interactions on referendum and the proportional election system until the poll is conducted,” he said.

He also said the UML still holds reservation over the decision of reviewing the ECDC report. “There are no convincing arguments on why the ECDC report should be reviewed,” he said, adding, “But we expressed flexibility on the decision of reviewing a  few technical problems in the ECDC report.”

The Madhesi lawmakers have been obstructing the regular proceedings of the parliament demanding that the government review the ECDC report.

Today’s meeting also decided to amend the interim constitution so as to authorize the previous committee of the ECDC to review the problems in Sunsari, Jhapa, Nawalparasi, Dang, Sarlahi, Mahottari, Banke and other districts.

The Maoist in its note of dissent said the eight political parties should proclaim a federal democratic republic including proportional representation system for the CA poll before holding the polls. “Our party believes that the activities of the feudal reactionary palace and the status quoist thinking of some parties in the eight-party alliance are responsible for not holding the CA poll in June,” the note of dissent tabled by Maoist chairman Prachanda said. It further said federal democratic republic, including the proportional representations system of election will only ensure poll in November.

Similarly, the PFN, in line with the UML and the Maoist, said in its note of dissent that the proportional election system only guarantees the representation of all people in the CA poll. The NWPP, in the note of dissent, however, demanded that the right of the tillers to the land be ensured in the constitution.

The eight political parties also agreed to immediately amend the interim constitution and to pass the necessary election laws to hold CA poll in November.

The Young Communist League (YCL), a recently formed youth wing of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) looks growing as more criminal force. The recent activities unleashed by the YCL cadres across the country are a testimony in itself that the YCL is developing as a criminal gangster. There are nation-wide condemnation against the YCL’s activities. They have beaten up civilians, Chief District Officer, women, police and everybody.

It’s much ridiculous to hear that the Maoist leaders say the YCL is formed to cooperate with people. Yes, I agree, it may be formed to improve the deteriorating image of the Maoist party. But the YCL has done more harm than any good to the Maoist party. Nepalese people are growing more suspicious of Maoists due to the recent activities of the YCL.  It looks more apparent that the Maoists want to continue their terror threat across the country through their so-called YCL. Everybody in Nepal knows that the YCL hasn’t acted as a political force. I think it’s also because the Maoists have included all those former combatants in the YCL. The combatants who always believed that the power comes through the barrel of a gun can never believe in demcracy and democratic competence. So condemnt YCL and their activities. The Maoists must immediately call a national conference of the YCL and instruct them politically. They should be given instruction about democracy and democratic values. The delay in doing so may cost much to the Maoist party.