Thaindian News

By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu, May 14 (IANS) With less than a fortnight left for Nepal’s parliament to be dissolved and the major parties still unable to agree on the future course of action, a top UN official Friday warned the nation that it was rapidly running out of time.

“Time is very short for tangible progress to be made,” cautioned Karin Landgren, chief of the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) who returned to Kathmandu from New York after briefing the UN Security Council on the situation in Nepal.

The tenure of the elected Constituent Assembly, that also serves as the interim parliament, ends May 28. However, the ruling parties have not been unable to ready a new constitution.

Consequently, Nepal faces a dire constitutional crisis with both parliament and the government facing automatic dissolution from May 28 midnight unless the government declares a state of emergency and imposes president’s rule.

The only peaceable way out is amending the deadline for the new constitution but the government has been unable to start the process for an amendment.

Though Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has begun consultations with the minor parties to seek their support, there is still no consensus.

While the prime minister’s party favours extending the life of the interim parliament by a year, its biggest ally, the Nepali Congress, has been advocating fresh elections.

The opposition Maoists, who form largest party in the house, are seeking the prime minister’s resignation before they consent to an amendment.

“The tenure of the Constituent Assembly expires in two weeks. The Security Council expressed concern at the lack of consensus over its extension,” Landgren said.

The UN envoy also said that though the Maoists, who had enforced a six-day strike this month seeking Nepal’s resignation, had withdrawn the protest and the concession “should have created a conducive environment for rapid progress in the negotiations”, the parties had not been able to capitalise on it.

Landgren says she had long warned of a “dangerous slide” in the peace process, with the delay in promulgating the constitution, and on integrating and rehabilitating the Maoist rebel army personnel due to the “polarised and mistrustful” political climate.

The Security Council is asking the government and the Maoists to agree and implement a “time-tabled action plan, with clear benchmarks” to address the main obstacle to an agreement.

It is the issue of nearly 19,600 Maoist guerrilla combatants, whom the former rebels want to be taken into the army while the government says it will induct only 3,500-4,000 of them.

Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda has tabled a plan to dismantle the combatants’ camps and rehabilitate them within four months. However, the number of guerrillas to be hired in the army continues to remain a severe bottleneck.