New York Times (May 28, 2012)
KATMANDU, Nepal — Nepal descended into a new crisis on Sunday after
rival political parties in the Himalayan nation failed to reach an
agreement on a new constitution before the national legislature’s term
expired at midnight.
Related
Times Topic: Nepal
Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters
Baburam Bhattarai
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, speaking on national television,
announced that the legislature, known as the Constituent Assembly,
would be dissolved. He said he would remain in power and that his
government would hold November elections for a new assembly. Rival
political leaders quickly denounced the plan as a power grab.
“Political consensus is still needed to move ahead,” Mr. Bhattarai said
in his address, just before midnight. Describing himself as “saddened”
and “dejected,” the prime minister added: “Let us learn from mistakes
and move ahead.”
The development on Sunday is yet another setback in Nepal’s long and
often torturous transition from monarchy to democratic republic. The
country suffered a decade-long guerrilla war by Maoist rebels that
ended in 2006 when the Maoists agreed to put down their arms and join
the democratic political process. The Constituent Assembly was elected
to a two-year term in 2008, but that term was extended again and again
after rival political parties failed to cut a deal on a new
constitution.
This time, Nepal’s Supreme Court ruled that the term could not be
extended. Mr. Bhattarai, who is a member of the Maoist party, said his
decision to hold elections in November was consistent with options
outlined by the Supreme Court, in case the deadline was missed. But
other political leaders blasted the decision, saying that the prime
minister should have followed a different option, under which the
Constituent Assembly would be allowed to become a parliament that could
continue to try to hammer out a constitutional deal.
“It is a well-planned conspiracy,” said Gagan Thapa, a leader of the
Nepali Congress Party. Early Monday morning, four political parties
called for the prime minister to step down.
Distrust runs deep among Nepal’s three biggest political parties: the
Maoists, the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified
Marxist-Leninist). On Sunday, negotiations broke down after the rival
parties could not agree on the federalist structure for the government
under the new constitution.
Two weeks ago, the three parties and the Madhesi alliance, a group of
parties from the region along the Indian border, had agreed to create
states whose borders would be designed to include members of different
ethnic groups. However, the Maoists later withdrew from the deal
following opposition from indigenous groups and some of the smaller
Madhesi parties.
These smaller parties want boundaries in which states would be based on
ethnicity, ensuring that minorities would be able to accumulate greater
political power by forming a majority in certain states. Opponents of
this idea argued that such a structure would only perpetuate and deepen
ethnic divisions in the country.
The issue of ethnic states has sparked protests and violence across
Nepal in recent weeks. On Sunday, as political leaders were gathered
inside the prime minister’s residence, people rallied outside, chanting
slogans for and against ethnic-based federalism. Roads near the
Constituent Assembly building were filled with people singing or
dancing, as different sides tried to rally support.
“There should be a federalism based on single ethnic identity,” said
Rohit Limbu, 25, a student with a red band around his head, who
attended a mass gathering organized by ethnic groups.
Yet not far away, people at a different rally waved national flags and
warned that dividing the country by ethnicity would incite tension and
undermine the ethnic tranquillity that has long prevailed in Nepal.
“We do not want a constitution that upholds ethnic-based federalism,”
said Suresh Karki, 35, a businessman. “We want good will in society.”
The continued political instability in Nepal will only worsen the
situation in a tiny country pinned between China and India. Power
failures have become common, while the economy has been battered
because of the country’s political uncertainty.
Kiran Chapagain reported from Katmandu, and Jim Yardley from New Delhi.
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