In an interview to myrepublica.com, Pun said that the middle ground to end the present political deadlock is to debate in the parliament the move by President Dr Ram Baran Yadav to reinstate the army chief.
Excerpts of the interview:
Myrepublica.com: How long will you continue the house obstructions?
Barsa Man Pun: We are obstructing the parliamentary proceedings for certain reasons, particularly for the cause of civilian supremacy. The dual power centers created in the aftermath of the president’s unconstitutional move came to an end after the Maoist-led government resigned. Ever since we have been launching protest in the parliament demanding that the president’s unconstitutional move be rectified but we postponed our protest after the government sought a month’s time to consult with the political parties to address our demand. And we resumed the protest as there was no consensus on the issue even after a month, nor did we see any such possibility. We will withdraw the protest the day there is an agreement on the issue or they let us debate the issue of the president’s move in the legislature-parliament.
Though it was our party which demanded the formation of the CA and is the largest in it, neither the president, vice-president, the CA chairperson nor the prime minister belongs to our party.
Myrepublica.com: Doesn’t your demand to discuss the president’s move in the legislature-parliament violate the constitution?
Pun: It is true that the constitution doesn’t’ allow debate on certain issues. But we have the tradition of holding debates on political issues in the parliament. The mass movement reinstated the parliament and it passed many resolutions afterwards. But the Supreme Court (SC) was still considering whether the parliament should be reinstated or not. In this very legislature, we passed a resolution in the case of slain journalist Uma Singh, though her case was going on in the court. This shows our parliamentary tradition. When Army Chief Rookmangud Katawal’s case was still in the court, the government decided to retain him as the army chief. So was the term extension case of eight army generals that was subjudice in the court.
Likewise, in his reply to the SC, the president himself had written that it was a political case. Our tradition, agreements and the president’s acceptance show that it is a political case and can be discussed in the parliament. Let’s pass a resolution in the parliament so that the constitution would not be violated again, and even if others are against it, we will be happy to be in the minority. The parliament is the supreme body of the people. All types of political cases should get an entry to the parliament and this will avert political confrontations.
Myrepublica.com: If a resolution motion was passed against the president, would not the president have to resign?
Pun: It is not written anywhere that the president will have to resign if a resolution motion is passed. Though he may face moral pressure, he doesn’t have to resign. The president is also a human being and he can err.
Myrepublica.com: Can there be any middle ground?
Pun: Let’s debate the issue in the parliament. That is the middle ground. All the political parties will put forth their views. Let’s go for a vote and the resolution will be passed if we can garner a majority, if not, it will fail. Positions of all political parties will be recorded in the parliament.
Myrepublica.com: Why doesn’t the Maoist party register an impeachment motion in the parliament if it thinks that the president violated the constitution?
Pun: This is not the middle path. It will create a problem. Now we have 40 percent parliamentary votes and we may garner enough votes to get a majority. And if we just get a simple majority – short of two-third majority – it will create a problem. The president may say they could not generate two-third votes necessary for impeachment but we can argue that he was elected by a majority and that the majority is against him. In fact, we have not sought to remove him from office. We just want to correct his move and caution him against taking such actions in the future.
Myrepublica.com: What can be the other alternatives?
Pun: Another alternative is that the government can correct the president’s move. The 18 political parties should review and realize their mistake, and form a new political equation to take the constitution writing and peace process forward. Let’s seek a solution in a package. As our party chairman has stated, the major political leaders should go somewhere for 10 to 12 days and forge a new 12-point agreement. This will help find the solutions to the president’s move, peace process and constitution writing.
Myrepublica.com: What other issues should such a package cover?Pun: The president’s move is just a part of the problem. Only correcting the move by the president will not bear fruit if the peace process and constitution-writing process cannot be completed. The peace process has reached so far and our responsibility is to drive it to its logical end. The next thing is an agreement on the basic principles of the new constitution, including the system of governance, inclusiveness and form of democracy. Then we will not face any problem in constitution writing. Then comes the question of how the Maoist army will be integrated into the army and other security agencies. Besides, there are other things like management of the transitional period and the peace process. All these should be discussed in a package.
Myrepublica.com: Are the Maoists ready to join a national unity government led by UML or NC?
Pun: The current government is not a national unity government as they have claimed. The idea of the national unity government that we are floating will guarantee constitution writing and logical end of the peace process. All the political parties should forge an understanding for this. We will not agree if the second, third or fourth party leads the government. The largest political party should lead the government and others will get ministries and responsibilities on the basis of their strength. The political parties should agree on common minimum programs, constitution writing and management of transitional period and peace process. Otherwise, it will make no sense, no matter whoever leads the government. The interim constitution had also envisioned a government based on consensus though we have not followed it.
Myrepublica.com: Constituent Assembly was your agenda. Don’t you think the constitution drafting process has hit a roadblock due to your party’s rigid stance?
Pun: It seems so if we look at political developments from outside. Though it was our party which demanded the formation of the CA and is the largest in it, neither the president, vice-president, the CA chairperson nor the prime minister belongs to our party. The party that fought for the formation of CA and became the largest political party has been alienated from the whole process. So, how can constitution writing and peace process move ahead?
Myrepublica.com: Isn’t your demand for civilian supremacy indirectly aimed at occupying these positions?
Pun: It is not true. It is quite natural for the largest political party to lead the government. What we think is that it is wrong to topple the government and form another in an unnatural manner and establish military supremacy under the backing of foreigners, thereby undermining democracy. National independence, peace process, democracy and constitution writing are in peril. The new government was formed in a wrong manner.
Myrepublica.com: How will Nepal’s political scenario develop in the days ahead?
Pun: First, let’s seek all the solutions from the parliament. Let’s pass the resolution motion and correct the president’s move. Second, let’s forge a new agreement and form a Maoist-led national unity government. All the political parties share power on the basis of their strength. If not, we will continue our struggle in the streets and in the parliament while keeping the option of power equation open for the formation of a government. But if all attempts fail, the situation will deteriorate. The country may face another conflict and the peace process itself may go out of track.
Myrepublica.com: Why didn’t you attend the meeting of the Special Committee meant to supervise, integrate and rehabilitate the Maoist combatant that was reconstituted on July 14?
Pun: We will go to the meeting only if it is called by the committee chairman. Its chairman is ‘Prachanda’. It can be reconstituted only through political consensus. The government cannot reconstitute the committee on its own. We were holding talks on who should lead the committee, but they suddenly “reconstituted” it without our approval. We discussed it in the party and decided not to go to the meeting.
Myrepublica.com: Wasn’t there an agreement that Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal would lead the reconstituted committee?Pun: It is not true. We decided to appoint Bam Dev Gautam as its chairman in the beginning. Then again we decided to appoint the representative of the largest political party. Later it was agreed that our chairman would lead the committee. Accordingly, our chairman and then prime minister led the committee. It should be understood that whoever becomes the prime minister should not lead the committee. And the committee chairman should be named on the basis of consensus of political parties.
Myrepublica.com: The government says the process of discharging disqualified Maoist combatants has halted due to lack of Maoist commitment. What do you say?
Pun: It is not true. We are fully committed to the process. The Ministry of Peace should make a schedule and tell us and, on our part, we shall inform the PLA camps. We have also told the ministry to make a coordination team. We handed over the responsibility to the ministry while we were in the government. The ministry had already made significant progress in this regard then and would have solved the problem by now had the government led by our party continued in power.
Myrepublica.com: Are you satisfied with the rehabilitation packages for the disqualified combatants?
Pun: There are altogether 64 or 65 packages and we agree with them. The government has told us that it would review the rehabilitation packages if some combatants showed new interests and if the government could fulfill them.
Myrepublica.com: Why has your party gone for collective leadership just six months prior to the party’s general convention?
Pun: It is true that we should have gone for collective leadership from the general convention. The forthcoming convention will be a convention of unity and we have projected a team of leadership for this. Our party has come through a war and it is quite natural that there will be disputes on how to establish our agenda through the peace process and the CA.
kiran@myrepublica.com
post@myrepublica.com
Related story
Let’s live in peace and embrace diversity
