Maoist chief bogged down in army integration, statute
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KATHMANDU, JUL 12 -
UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal is working behind the scenes to prepare his party’s final position on some thorny issues of army integration, constitution drafting and government—battling the intra-party feud that threatens to weaken his hold over the party.
With the current term of Constituent Assembly (CA) set to expire on Aug 31, there is tremendous pressure on Dahal to articulate the party’s non-negotiable bottomline. Already the position of the hardliners in the party has made his hold on the party shaky. Many, including his own supporters, have begun wondering if he can pull through the polarisation and fragmentation inside the party.
Dahal faces an uphill battle to balance the competing demands on him: carrying the party together and delivering on his party’s commitment to peace and constitution. He will have to offer something substantial to the hardliners for their tacit acquiesce on peace and constitution. The Baburam Bhattarai faction, which supports Dahal on the primacy of peace and constitution, is likely to extract its pound of flesh for its support. Wary of the dangers that he faces from within the party—given the issue-based alliance between the Baburam Bhattarai faction and hardliners, Dahal has begun charting a course that will be a win-win situation for both his leadership and his rivals.
According to Dahal’s close aides, he is already considering the party’s strategy for the post-August scenario—in the form of a nationwide stir after Aug.31—should efforts for peace and constitution fail and the CA doesn’t get extended. This, Dahal reckons, will partly pacify the hardliners.
Leaders say Dahal will table a concrete proposal fixing the ‘final position’ of the party on peace and the constitution in the crucial Central Committee (CC) meeting that begins Wednesday. Dahal hopes his proposal will be passed by majority vote with support from Vice Chairman Baburam Bhattarai.
In his proposal, Dahal has said that there should be bulk integration of the former combatants and that the Maoists should be given the leadership of the proposed NA directorate to integrate combatants. He has also proposed at least 8,000 combatants should be integrated and that new standards and norms be fixed forming a technical panel of NA and combatants. “We will propose the start of regrouping of combatants immediately and discussion on contentious issues simultaneously,” said a leader.
“We will come with a final position on contentious issues of integration and constitution writing process, the Chairman has prepared a proposal on it,” said Barsha Man Pun, a party standing committee member. Dahal is planning to get his peace proposal endorsed first from the CC despite demands from his deputies that issues related to allocation of responsibilities be settled first.
In his draft proposal, Dahal has called for the new constitution to be “anti-expansionist and anti-imperialist” and which would guarantee the rights of the marginalised, Dalits and oppressed communities—one of the major issues raised during the insurgency. In yet another bid to take the hardline Baidya faction into confidence, Dahal in his proposal has stated that party would not compromise on the issues raised by the party such as federalism, directly elected president and mixed model of election model. It appears that he wants to push through a proposal that will be ambiguous enough for the hardliners to interpret to suit their constituency.
On the issue of government, Dahal has the view that the party should make efforts to form a government under the party’s leadership on the basis of the five-point understanding and seven point understanding. A Maoist leader said that on the issue of government all three leaders—Dahal, Bhattarai and Baidya—have similar views.
According to leaders close to him, after getting his proposal approved from the party’s CC meeting Dahal plans to hold discussions with the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML on preparing the first draft of the constitution by Aug. 31 and settle basic differences on integration. Other parties are eagerly waiting for the decision of the Maoist CC, expecting that Maoists will adopt even a flexible stance on peace and constitution.
Posted on: 2011-07-12 08:59
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