The Impact of Nepal’s Terai and its Parties

These articles appeared in Nepal News.

Terai parties obstruct CA meeting for fourth time in a row

Terai-based parties obstructed the Constituent Assembly (CA) meeting for the fourth time in a row, on Monday, demanding constitutional guarantee of ‘autonomous Madhesh province’.

K.B Gurung who chaired the Assembly declared the sitting adjourned till 2:00 pm Tuesday after the CA members from Madhesi parties came to the rostrum and starting chanting slogans. They had done the same done in the last three CA sittings.

The protesting CA members said they would not allow the Assembly to take up its normal business unless the government comes up with a new constitution amendment bill by incorporating the issues raised by them. The stalemate continues even as top leaders of the parties kept on engaging in hectic discussions on the demands of the Madhesi parties.

Prachanda: “We will not disband our army”

Thanks to “Boletín informativo do Comite Galego de Solidariedade co Nepal”

by Mary Des Chene and Stephen Mikesell 02/07/2008

It is 14th Jeth, 2065, [Tuesday, May 27th, 2008] in Nepal, the day before the Constituent Assembly is to convene and declare Nepal a full Republic. The king remains in his palace. The form of the new government, who will lead it, whether the old parliamentary parties will join in a Maoist-led government or, as they have indicated so far, will boycott and try to isolate it — these and other basic questions remain to be resolved. The following is an early morning interview with CPN(Maoist) leader Prachanda, before he embarked on a last intensive round of negotiations to try to bring the parliamentary parties into a coalition government under Maoist leadership.

Kathmandu. May 27, 2008.

Q. You may become Nepal’s new head of state within a few days, but the parliamentary parties are putting up a lot of blockades. Yesterday your party put forth a 9 point proposal to address the current political impasse.

What are the main barriers to formation of a CPN(Maoist)- led government at this point? What are the challenges and what are the proposals you’ve made to the parliamentary parties?

A. Intensive debate, discussion and struggle is going on, on the question of formation of the government, and mainly on the questions of the head of the state and the head of the government. These questions raise so many ideological and political issues, involving the class interests of the parties.