Kathmandu Post

Editorial»

Rhetorical pitfalls

JAN 08 -
Suspicion between the political parties is once again on the increase. There are fears that the peace and constitution processes will not be completed by May and each party is blaming another for what they see as obstructing the process. Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal appears now to be hesitant in pushing these processes forward. He feels that the Nepali Congress and the UML are not allowing for any flexibility on the constitutional debate on the form of government. Unable to accept a parliamentary system of the kind that the Congress is proposing, he feels that it is not in his interest to complete the regrouping of combatants if his party does not receive anything in return. He has thus stated that the combatants opting for voluntary retirement will vacate cantonments only when a breakthrough on form of government has been achieved.

The other parties on the other hand claim to have been betrayed by the Maoists. After all, the Maoists did agree — in the seven-point agreement — to an integration deal the terms of which they would fulfill as soon as possible. The Maoists are in fact engaged in a process of stalling that is damaging for the broader political process. But the rhetoric of the Nepali Congress and the UML is overblown. In their accusations that the Maoists are deliberately trying to stall the peace process, so as to dissolve the Constituent Assembly, has an element of hyperbole about it. Further, their demand that the current government resign can only have a negative impact. If the government does resign, there will be more political turmoil and this will damage the prospects of completing a permanent deal on the peace and constitutional fronts.

For the immediate future, the Maoists need to delink the integration and rehabilitation issue with discussions on the form of government. In other words, Pushpa Kamal Dahal should agree to the disbanding of combatants opting for voluntary retirement immediately, even though there isn’t any deal on the form of government on the table. Discussions on the constitution should then be taken in earnest. Rather than hold on to their rigid positions, the parties should engage in talks on how to balance the issue of ensuring greater stability through the office of the head of government with the need to prevent any kind of authoritarian inclinations. There is currently a tendency for the Congress to claim that the Westminster model has no flaws and it should be adopted wholesale in the new constitution. They need to recognise that there were flaws in the political institutions as set up in the 1990s that need to be rectified. The Maoists also need to pay greater heed to the concerns of the other political parties.

Posted on: 2012-01-09 09:20

---