TIME TO CONSIDER

The Kathmandu Post

13 September 2015

TIME TO CONSIDER

The last phase of new constitution drafting process started from Tuesday at the Constituent Assembly (CA) after the Drafting Committee  Chairman Krishna P. Situala tabled it for clause-wise deliberations (“CA begins Final RD of charter process” September 9, Page 1). However, the political scenarios inside and outside of the CA are totally different which has made the general public curious on one hand and nervous and fearful on the other. It seemed as though the three major political forces do not want to budge from their stance to promulgate the new statute based on their arithmetic strength in the CA.

It is very unfortunate that Madhesh and Tarai based political parties have left the CA due to discontents over the high-handedness of the top three political parties. Now, Madhesii Janadhikar Forum- Loktantrik (MJF-L), a signatory of the 16-point agreement, has also decided not to participate in the last phase of the constitution drafting process expressing dissatisfaction over the demarcation of the seven provinces.

Indefinite banda in the Tarai districts against the seven province model have badly affected the daily lives of the people. As claimed by Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar, Chairman of MJF-L, what would have happened if the major parties had agreed to his proposal of delineating eight provinces which would have been acceptable to over 90 percent of parties and pacified the agitating forces?(“Over 90pc of parties will support an eight-province model” 9 September, Page 3). Seeing the ongoing unrests in Madhes and Tarai districts, it does not seem that the new constitution will bring long lasting peace and prosperity in Nepal.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharjgunj