The Nepali Congress and the UML, Nepal’s two major parliamentary parties, have disagreed on the agenda of round table conference and proportional representation election system demanded by the overwhelming majority of the grassroot Nepalis. Following several lingering formal and informal sessions of discussions among political leaders, the two major parties, openly at the request of Chinese, Indian and American officials, have collaborated to still prolong the crisis. The sources having communication access to the Nepali Congress and the UML categorically claim that both the parties do not have an intention of holding the Constituent Assembly polls before ensuring first that the Maoist influence has been considerably undersized. They have also expressed their pleasure at the fate that the Maoists have faced in the Terai region where the Madhesi Forum and dozens of other armed groups under the protection of the government security mechanisms and foreign intelligence operatives have been able to bring the former rebels to the brink.
Nepal’s mainstream media have glamorized on Sunday that the Maoists have completely surrendered to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala by abandoning the people’s demand for the all-proportional representation election system. But the Maoists have denied any agreement on the issue. According to the Deshantar, a pro-Nepali Congress weekly, Maoists have agreed with the prime minister by canceling their fully proportional representation election system. But the daily newspaper Jandisha in its lead story quotes Ram Bahadur Thapa (Badal), an influential senior Maoist leader according to whom there has been no agreement on the issue of the proportional representation election system. However, most of the leaders talking to the Nepali mass media have at least admitted that they have little disagreement on the issue of monarchy. They have hinted at their general understanding over the abolition of monarchy sooner or later.
Meanwhile Ganesh Man Pun, a Maoist-led Young Communist League leader, has warned that the Nepalis might need to go to war if Nepal’s territorial encroachment from the Indian side continues. According to Dang-based journalist Dilli Malla, Pun, speaking to a mass there on 21 December said that if the current government remains indifferent to the foreign intervention and border encroachment, it might be necessary for the Nepalis to launch not only the mass movement but also a national defense war. While Maoist leaders have been warning like this, Terai groups affiliated to various armed criminal groups of bordering India have been holding secret merging talks. They have already decided to regionalize Nepal’s politics. Many of them have clearly expressed their desire to be separatist leaders. The Nepalis, sandwiched between almost 2.5 billion population, have been awaiting an intensive transformation of their 10-year long armed insurgency. It will still take much time to see the clear shapes of the country’s future politics.
Lecturer, Mass Communication and Journalism
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