Nepal is in the process of
re-democratization since last year. The inefficiency and shortsightedness of
the ruling political parties and the un-cooperative attitude of the palace led
to the formation of a disgruntled group a decade ago and this group waged a
bloody war against the democratic forces which lasted for more than ten years.
This insurgent group called themselves the Maoists and in the ten years of war more
than fourteen thousand people lost their lives, and property worth billions was
destroyed. Despite several efforts to bring this group of insurgents into
mainstream politics, the situation worsened and ultimately, the palace became
greedy for power and seized it from the political parties in the name of saving
the nation.
The despotic rule of the king,
who was surrounded by the sycophants, tried to rule the country again with the
help of guns. This attitude of the king helped in bringing the democrats and
the Maoist together for a common cause. They stuck a deal and vowed to work
towards democracy and end of the autocratic rule. A 12 point agreement between the Maoist and the democratic forces
was reached and a decision was taken to start a revolution against the king who
was becoming more and more despotic.
It took 19 days of strong people oriented revolution
and the king was forced to give away his powers to the people again. The
parliament was restored and Mr. Girija Prasad Koirala was unanimously elected
the prime minister of the country. Again after several sittings, negotiations,
and the 12 point agreement, the Maoist
were also inducted into the parliament and provided with some important
ministerial positions. However, despite
all the negotiations and agreements, even today the people have not been able
to find peace in the country. The country has sided more and more into the mire
of unruliness, and the political parties have not been able to handle the show
adequately. The root causes of such non performance of the government
are as follows:
1. High expectation of the
people;
2. Problem of Governance
(Sometimes anarchical situation);
3. Double standard activity by
the Maoist even after joining the government;
4. Formation of the Young
Communist League (YCL) by the Maoist- continuation of
atrocities;
5. Distrust among the eight
party;
6. Functionless Parliament for
one and a half month;
7. Vested interest;
8. Shortsightedness of the
political parties;
9. Warring factions;
10. Rampant Strikes and
closures;
11. Corrupted bureaucratic
system;
12. Intellectual bankruptcy;
13. All these hurdles help to
create situation not holding constituent assembly
election on time.
Major Challenges
1. Complication of the
constitutional Assembly Election in peaceful Environment and in a democratic
process.
2. Cantonment arrangement and
ratification of Maoist combatant in the cantonment
(by
UN).
3. Fulfillment of the
aspiration of the people in different sector
4. Operation of the interim
constitution with 8 party agreements.
5. Final decision about the
king and Monarchy; before or after constitutional
assembly election.
6. Addressing the demands of
all social and ethnic groups regarding their
position in a
new structure (Federalism including language, culture and geography—inclusive
democracy)
Therefore, we would like all
of you to realize that Nepal
is going through a very difficult phase and without the help of the
international community we will not be able to reform the country and bring it
back to the normal democratic track. We would therefore like to seek the
valuable suggestions of the participants of the conference in helping us to
move forward in our endeavor to make Nepal a free democratic country
with no human rights violations. We would like to share our experiences and get
your advice on the above matter.
Asian intellectual communities share and
respect the human Right issue because it is as essential as basic need in the 21st
century. Most of the people in Asia are poor
and deprived and face extreme poverty in life.
Describing the effect and pain
of poverty in a Sanskrit drama Bidhusak states:
“daaridryada
hrimeti hriparigato Parrarsate tejaso.
nistejaa paribhabaan nirbedamaapadhete.
Nirbinnasachameti sokapahilo budhyaaparityajete.
Nirbaddi chhyamehito nidhanataa sarbaapadaamaaspadan.”
Finally
Nepalese present situation is quite complicated for democratic experiment,
maintenance of peace & security and the protection of human rights
situation.
Hwa Rang is
dedicated for autonomy, democracy and peace in Asia
and world. We should share our ground reality and try to contribute towards
achieving the goal of Hwa Rang. Korea,
Mongolia,
Nepal
face in their political history the pain of authoritarian system. But Korea came out
successfully from authoritarian system to democratic; Mongolia is
also in the path of peaceful transformation of political system. My country Nepal has its
long autocratic legacy and huge division by cast, ethnicity, class and sexual
division and discrimination. We need to help each other using our capacity. I
would like to thank professor Youshin choi, Balgammunun, President of Hwa Rang
for opposing authoritarian election organized by the king and for raising a
voice internationally against my arrest and imprisonment by the king’s
government last year.
My visit to Mongolia would
not have been possible without the strong support provided by Prof. You Shin
Choy. I’m really pleased to be here with energetic, colorful, young Asian hearts
dedicated to peace, democracy and autonomy and human rights in Asia and the world. My country Nepal is in democratic dialogue for
peace and is searching for vigorous process through democratization but the democratic
path is not easy. Too much freedom may create anarchy, total control of
politics leads towards dictatorship like in Nepal, Mongolia and Korea
previously.
There’s
certain similarity between Mongolia,
Korea
and Nepal.
Lord Buddha was born in Nepal.
Mongolia
and Korea
are the greatest followers of Buddhism. Geographically we are far apart in Asia; politically both countries (Mongolia and Nepal) enter
into the legal democratic process. Mongolia is leading to achieve this
goal through peaceful means. So, I’d like to learn how it became possible in Mongolia and
how peaceful transformation of communism into democracy; and why Nepal is facing
transitional difficulty? I would like to know how to improve this situation of Nepal and
restore peace, prosperity and security in my country.
Every one
knows how king of Nepal
tried to take all the power in his hand forcing people to make sacrifice for
freedom and Democratic Nepal. All this movement was to establish Nepal as
democratic country but instead of moving in the road of democracy the country
is moving towards communism. So, I’d like to know how we can work together to
improve this situation of Nepal
so that we can move forward to the same path of democracy as did Monarchy.
Bibliography
Seymour Martin Lip set(Editor
in Chief.), 1995(1414 22nd street,
N.W. Washington, D.C., Vol.2), “Encyclopedia of Democracy”, Congressional
quarterly INC.
William van Genugten and
Camilo Perez-Bustillo: 2001(Zed Book
limited, 7 Cynthia Street, London
N1 9JF, UK
),“The Poverty of right”
The Duke of Portland(K.G., G.C.V.O.) , 1888: London FABER AND FABER
LIMITED (24 RUSSELL SQUARE):
“MEN WOMEN AND THINGS”.
Descriptive Peace Accord :
Peace Committee, Nepal Government; Peace
secretariate, Singh durbar, Nepal.
HOR Proclamation: 24th April 2006;
WWW.Nepalnews \ Mercantile Communications Pvt_ Ltd.html
Full text of the Ceasefire
Code of Conduct agreed between the govt. of Nepal and CPN (Maoist) on May 25, 2006 :(Unofficial
translation by Nepalnews translation team)
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