And the people gave them a mandate accordingly, endorsing a two-year term for the Constituent Assembly. The parties or their leaders-- or the CA for that matter-- cannot change this mandate by themselves. Changing the deadline will mean betrayal of the solemn commitment made before the people.[break]
If the politicians had put in hard work, striving day and night, and still were unable to finish the constitution, they would have at least some moral ground, if not a constitutional one, to ask for a deadline extension. But they haven´t done any work at all, let alone hard work. The relations between top party leaders is so acrimonious that they find it difficult to even sit down together. And when they do sit, say for half an hour, they only reinforce their differences and end the meeting without any constructive discussion on constitution writing. With such a low level of mutual confidence among the top leaders and given their rigid posturing, the constitution cannot be written even in the next several years through multiple deadline extensions. Extending the CA deadline is, therefore, not an option nor would it guarantee that the constitution will get written within any extended timeframe.
Let´s be brutally honest about what is holding up the constitution. The Maoists want to get into power at any cost and unless they are confident that will happen they are not willing to write the constitution. On the other hand, the parties in the current government want to cling on to power no matter how, as they fear that if they let it go this time the Maoists will bulldoze them into oblivion. The constitution-writing process is, therefore, intricately linked to concluding the peace process and an agreement on power sharing. It´s high time the politicians stopped beating around the bush and sat down together to address these three issues simultaneously.
Here is what we think would make for a reasonable proposal. The party leaders should reach an agreement to do three things in the following order: a. Complete the integration/rehabilitation of the PLA and conclude the peace process, b. Finalize the draft of the new constitution before the deadline, c. Form a national unity government, under Maoist leadership if necessary, which will promulgate the new constitution and hold the next election.
The Maoists may ask why they should agree to settle the PLA issue before the constitution is written, and the government may well ask why it should relinquish power when it has the necessary numbers in parliament to stay put? Here are the answers: Writing the new constitution is about taking the country into the future, something we cannot embark on without concluding the peace process, for that would mean carrying the legacy of war well into that future. The Maoist leadership must understand clearly once and for all -- without the PLA issue being sorted out, neither the peace process nor the politics of the country is going to move forward. There can be absolutely no compromise on this point. Period.
The government is right that it has the necessary numbers in parliament to stay on in power. But the parties in government are conveniently forgetting that they don´t have the necessary numbers to write and endorse the constitution, which is their main duty and also the pledge they made before the people during the CA election. The parties can fulfill that duty only if they come together. Hence the rationale for a national government.
Fortunately, the CA committees have done much of the ground work and after enough deliberations, have prepared their preliminary thematic drafts. The top leaders should now work day and night and sort out the differences to reach a consensus. Given strong resolve and hard work, the deadline is still within reach. Let´s once again rise to the occasion and promulgate the constitution by May 28. Let´s once again prove to ourselves and the rest of the world that we, Nepalis, have the wisdom and maturity to collectively chart our own destiny.
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