A forgotten deadline

It seems no one is any longer interested in remembering the deadline for the promulgation of the new constitution. According to the original pledge made by the politicians, it should have been promulgated at least two years ago. During the first two years of constitution writing, following the election of the Constituent Assembly (CA) in 2007, there was a lot of enthusiasm among commoners about the constitution, and their concern whether the CA would meet its deadline was palpable.



Tapping into this sentiment — and also out of their own enthusiasm — most of the electronic and print media would start a countdown at least 100 days before the deadline expired. But no more. We are now just 79 days from the expiry of the CA’s term, extended for the third time, and yet no one seems seriously bothered. Some people have already drawn the conclusion that the CA will not be able to promulgate a constitution or see the country into federalism. Others feel that they simply do not have any say in the constitution-writing process and can’t influence its outcome. So why bother?



The repeated extensions of the deadline— unconstitutionally on the last two occasions— have left the public weary of deadlines, and professional people, including those in the media, have become even more skeptical about the intentions of the leaders as well as about their competence. It is against this background that the deadline looms once again— the CA will have to promulgate the constitution by May 28. It might be a little early to conclude that it will fail yet again to write the constitution within the stipulated time, but things do not at all look encouraging.



Not that the political leaders are not putting in their efforts. Lately, the top leaders have been meeting almost every alternate day and there are behind-the-scenes merry-go-round meetings among the best and brightest of the second-tier leaders to narrow down differences among the political parties. And yet the differences over the major issues persist. The peace process is far from complete. Leaders are still struggling to find a way to integrate 6,500 former Maoist combatants into the national army, and the issues of rank and integration norms still remain points of divergence.



In the constitution writing itself, the leaders are yet to enter into any substantive dialogue on the two major issues— system of governance and state restructuring. Three top leaders of the UCPN (Maoist), NC and UML on Friday divided up the work among themselves and agreed to come to the next meeting after ample homework and with possible recommendations. But this hardly reassures us over the outcome and makes one worry about the approaching deadline. Though it may seem a little far-fetched, the leaders should now start thinking of an alternative political course also should they fail to complete the task by May 14, for that deadline cannot be extended yet again.

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