#345 20 - 26 April 2007 16 pages Rs 30 Weekly Internet Poll # 345 Q. Should there be a referendum on the monarchy ahead of constituent assembly elections? Total votes: 2,938 Weekly Internet Poll # 346. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com Q.Are you optimistic about the outlook for the economy for the rest of the year? KUNDA DIXIT HARDER TO REBUILD: A strategic bridge at Sarai Naka in Kapilbastu that the Maoists tried to blow up three Bridge-building times is finally being repaired. Traffic has to make a 3km The people don't want more squabbling, detour while the bridge is made they want to see their country being re-built safe again. EDITORIAL dramatic achievements of the past missing. The people expected the ignoring them creates conditions year from the ceasefire to the government to be efficient about not just for anarchy and n the first anniversary of interim government, service delivery, about fast- lawlessness, but for another, far the April Uprising, there mainstreaming of the Maoists, tracking showcase projects like messier revolution. Ois cynicism inside the being able to travel along the the Sindhuli Highway or the Ring Road. In most other parts of highways without checkpoints, Hetauda shortcut to the tarai, State of the State the country there is hope for the the night buses running again, about quick decisions on An unfinished uprising p2 future. police posts being re-established, hydropower. But all they got were Many people from Jhapa to and a general feeling that things fuel shortages, power cuts, and a Guest Column Kanchanpur that we spoke to in are returning to normal. business-as-usual attitude. Only One more chance p2 the past week count their But the expected peace the army seems to have its wits Nation blessings: the end to fighting, the dividend is conspicuously about itself and has rushed the An armless army p4 completion of the Karnali Highway to Jumla. Nation The eight parties now need to The last big battle p8 focus on development, the economy. These things do not have to wait for elections, and Go to p2 Mc Dowell 2 EDITORIAL 20 - 26 APRIL 2007 #345 Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Editor: Kunda Dixit Executive Editor: Anagha Neelakantan Design: Kiran Maharjan Web: Rupendra Kayastha Director Sales and Marketing: Sunaina Shah [email protected] Circulation Manager: Samir Maharjan [email protected] Subscription: [email protected],5011628/29 Hatiban, Godavari Road, Lalitpur [email protected] GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu 5543333-6, Fax: 5521013 Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hatiban: 5547018 One more chance www.nepalitimes.com The risks and opportunities of delayed elections he decision to postpone options for the new constitution. irrelevant, even unnecessary. It is ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME elections to the constituent There are potential pitfalls, of possible that well before we reach Nepalis in the districts seem to have a totally different set of Tassembly came as a damp course. An undemocratic system that stage the whole thing will priorities than the leaders of the eight parties. They don’t squib, rather than a bombshell. is getting a new lease of life. No have spun out of control and the understand why everyone is getting so worked up about Perhaps this is an indicator of significant progress has been transitional arrangements postponement of the constituent assembly election. If the country the leisurely style of the made on any constitution and negotiated over such a long period is not ready for it, postpone till after Dasain, what’s the fuss about transition to the new political assembly-related matters since would collapse. dates, they say. and social order. the reinstatement of the House of If this comes to pass, a great There is similar apathy about the king, most people are neither Cancellation of June Representatives and the opportunity will have been die-hard republicans nor die-hard monarchists. In fact, there is a elections has led to formation of multi-party squandered to move the country what-do-you-expect attitude about Kathmandu’s self-obsession disappointment, confusion, government a year ago. The to a stable and just democratic with the trappings of power. Making the same mistakes over and over again still has its anxiety, and even anger among government itself has all the future. The promise of a consequences. The political choices are still there, it’s about the people. But even those who problems of a coalition, and these participatory process culminating choosing the correct fork on the road. And that can be left to the are likely to increase the longer in a truly representative people at election time. GUEST COLUMN the somewhat unstable coalition constituent assembly, How about listening to the people, instead of whipping them Yash Ghai has to function. The commanding the respect of all into a frenzy over every small thing? It’s not enough anymore to recriminations and squabbling communities and regions, could say the right things, you have to do the right things. Nepalis between the –parties provoked by have helped Nepal negotiate a new across Nepal see through your self-righteous grandstanding. You heaved a sigh of relief did so, not postponement of elections could national vision and identity, and can’t fool all the people all the time. because they did not see the divert attention even more from legitimacy for state structures. A value of a June election, but the procedures critical to a democratic and participatory because they were afraid of the meaningful constitution-making transitional process, at least after consequences of flawed elections process. Already at least one party the initial ceasefire and peace and contested results. has said it feels freed from inter- issues are settled, is essential to The postponement gives party agreements on the path to a consolidate democracy. In this much-needed time for a number new constitution. For the peace regard the process so far has not of processes. There is an process, the problems in the served the country well. People opportunity to provide people cantonments will intensify, feel let down because they are with information about the posing an additional threat to the convinced a mid-June election constitution-making process and viability of the interim was within the reach but has been the role of the constituent constitution. allowed to slip away. But the assembly, and time to promote The way in which the interim postponement of the elections the participation of the people in constitution was negotiated, and will give time to reflect on all constitution-making. Perhaps the rather cavalier approach of the this, and open the way to a more voters can now cast their votes political parties to it, had already participatory and legitimate knowing its consequences, devalued its role as a roadmap. It process. One way forward would something that would certainly is possible that it will be further be to appoint an independent not have been the case in June. marginalised, as parties haggle commission to consult widely on The longer interregnum over partisan political constitutional options and allows time to prepare for the advantages. Key decisions on prepare recommendations for the elections and for the work and constitutional and political constituent assembly. This will facilities of the constituent structures could continue to be reassure the people that the assembly. The parties—and other ad hoc and exclusionary, perhaps process is on track and that they groups who have been focusing not always made in a principled are being listened to. solely on elections—have a way by a small group of party chance to reflect on the nature of leaders—constitution-making in Yash Ghai is professor emeritus at the constitution-making process. a crisis. Some even think that the University of Hong Kong, was chair of Kenya’s constituent The grievances of marginalised perhaps, piece by piece in this assembly, and has been senior communities may be dealt with way, a constitution will be adviser to the constitution- more systematically. There is also stitched up by the coalition, making processes in Afghanistan time to explore substantive making the constituent assembly and Iraq. An unfinished uprising A year later, the tarai is still struggling for inclusive loktantra JALESWOR – Things look different a year days earns you a ‘coward’ tag. In Mahottari the communities around them. In a district visits here to lay foundation stones, after the April Uprising here in this it’s easy to see why, and to catch a where the big landlords are Sharmas, inaugurate school buildings. Girija Prasad Mahottari border town. But what changes revealing glimpse of the emotional distance Upadhyas, Ghimires and Pants, the first Koirala is not likely to receive similar you see depends on where you stand. between Kathmandu’s rulers and the tarai. school here had to be built by a Marwari requests for help when he comes here on In Kathmandu, the concerns are about At the edge of town, flying the national Murarka. The college had to wait for a Saturday to address a mass meeting. the delayed constituent assembly flag, is an early-20th century mansion built Yadav donor. The issues in the tarai are the same as elections and the shenanigans of the Young by Ram Sumsher, a C-Class Rana In Janakpur, the town that Koiralas, they are for Nepalis around the country— Communist League. banished to the madhes by his purist Ranas, Sharmas, Singh Thakuris, and the need for dignity and fundamental clansmen. It has been home to powerful Ghimires claim as theirs there is no freedoms, the right to identity and proof that agents of the crown, badahakims and philanthropic effort bearing these names.