Nepal crosses a hurdle

In its 17th attempt, Nepal's constituent assembly elected, on February 03, a prime minister for the country which had been under a caretaker government since June 30, 2010. This is a significant political breakthrough, masterminded by the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists), the largest party by far in the Constituent assembly (CA). The Maoists took a wise, albeit belated, decision to eschew party chauvinism. They signed a seven-point pact with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) or CPN-UML and their party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda withdrew his candidature from the contest for the post of prime minister and engineered an overwhelming victory in favour of Jhalanath Khanal, president of the CPN-UML. The Maoist-UML pact lays the foundation of a left alliance and the two parties made a pledge to "lead the future governments on a rotational basis based on mutual understanding and long-term cooperation." Article 1 of the pact says: "The two parties vow to strengthen inclusive democracy and establish political and social system geared towards socialism while adhering to the pillars of national independence, indivisibility and sovereignty to create an independent economy through socio-economic transformation." Thus they not only prefer socialist path but also want to take the democratic parties on board to safeguard "national independence, indivisibility and sovereignty". For the present, the formation of the new government -- the third since the CA elections of 2008 -- opens up the opportunity to complete the peace process which began with the end of the decade-long civil war in 2006 as well as constitution drafting, which began with 2008 CA elections, within the extended time frame, ending May next. This is not to suggest that Nepal's politics is out of woods. The Maoists and the UML are at loggerheads with the interpretation of the seven-point pact and the former are refusing to join Khanal's cabinet pending settlement of the matter. The Nepali Congress (NC), on the other hand, is totally opposed to the Maoist-UML pact which, according to it, is "likely to obstruct the peace and constitution drafting processes." It has flatly turned down the proposal, made jointly by the Maoists and the UML, to join Khanal's cabinet until the seven-point pact is scrapped. It is uncertain how soon Khanal's cabinet will be expandced or the formation of the government will be completed. The leaders of these three big parties, who among themselves would decide the course and destiny of Nepal's politics, are known to be stubborn players in the power game. But they have shown great tact and flexibility on the issue of furthering the causes of constitutionalism, republicanism and completing the peace process. So, bargain hard as they do for power in the government, all the three parties are unanimous in their view that the peace and constitution drafting process should be carried forward through consensus. Much will depend how well or badly Prime Minister Khanal handles the twin issues of democratisation of Nepal's 96,000-strong army and the integration as well rehabilitation of the 19,000-strong Maoist army. The UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), which was established in 2007 to facilitate matters between the state army and the Maoist army, departed on January 15 last without making much progress. Since then the matter is the sole responsibility of the prime minister. The seven-point Maoist-UML pact also envisions "to take the peace process to a logical end by executing all tasks related to integration, rehabilitation and voluntary retirement of Maoist combatants." If a workable solution to this delicate issue is found, other things related to the peace process or constitution drafting should easily fall into place.