Internal Political Developments

Government’s Decision to Legitimise UCPN (Maoist)’s “Revolutionary Council” Creates Obstacles on Peace Process and Statute Drafting; Oppositions Obstructs the House Sessions: The opposition parties – Nepali Congress (NC) and Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist and Leninist (CPN-UML) – have been obstructing the Legislature-Parliament meet protesting the government's decision to legalise land and property transactions made through parallel governments run by the Maoists during the decade-long armed conflict. The opposition parties claim that that the decision taken by Dr. Baburam Bhattarai led government was against the spirit of the peace process and the Interim Constitution. Senior leaders of the two major opposition parties, addressing parliament session on January 17, 2012, raised serious objection to the move and demanded the government take back its decision. They also warned that they would neither let the House session resume, nor sit for talks with the United Communist Party of Nepal –Maoist (UCPN-M) on peace and constitution unless the Cabinet scraped the decision. As soon as the House session started on January 17, 2012, NC Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Poudel and CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal objected to the decision dubbing it as ‘loot’. “To accept the decisions of Maoist’s “people's government” would be to initiate parallel power in the governance. We cannot accept this. We will not let the Maoist capture the power,” said Nepal. Nepal further accused the Maoists and the Maoist-led government of working against the agreements made earlier. NC leader Poudel said that the Maoists are trying to get away with their misdeeds by formally endorsing their robbery as legitimate. “We would not tolerate such a loot. I had told this earlier as well that the Maoist’s misdeeds would not be forgiven just because they are in power now,” said Poudel. They had also boycotted the meeting of the major parties called by Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai at the Peace Ministry on January 17. The NC President Sushil Koirala has made it clear that no new agreements would be made with the UCPN-M if they fail to execute the 7-point deal signed on November 1, 2011. “Legalising the transactions of the land during the insurgency is just a dream of the Maoist that would never be fulfilled. We are not scared of insurgency anymore. If they want to go back into hiding we would not stop them,” media reports Koirala as saying.

In fact, the protest comes amid the government's plan to issue a 35-day notice calling such property owners to register the land transactions. Earlier this month, the Cabinet had decided to distribute land ownership certificates for plots purchased, sold and transferred by the "Revolutionary Council" through the Land Revenue Office. It is said that the UCPN-M’s Revolutionary Council brokered thousands of land and property deals in the country during the insurgency. According to a report, more than 12,000 such deals were made only in five mid-western districts, and many of these transactions took place under duress, wherein the sellers were unsatisfied with the price they received for their pieces of land and houses. During the insurgency, the districts of Rolpa, Rukum, Salyan, Jajarkot and Kalikot were well-known Maoist strongholds, and the party had apparently proscribed the people of these districts from having recourse to the land revenue offices whenever they wished to sell a piece of land or their house. It was made mandatory that all the dealings pertaining to the sale of properties take place under the Maoists’ supervision. For that, the party used to charge Rs 500-700 per transaction.

In the meantime, the Supreme Court on January 19, 2012 has stayed the government decision to provide legitimacy to the properties purchased, sold, and distributed by “Revolutionary Council” of the UCPN-M during the decade-long conflict. A Single Bench of Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi has issued the order to this effect. Before that on January 17, a group of lawyers belonging to Democratic Lawyers Association had moved the apex court against the Cabinet decision. The court has, in its order, stated that the interim order is issued until January 25, 2012. The Bench also decided to send the case to the full Bench of the apex court citing the gravity of the issue.

Government Under Pressure from Madhesi Parties, including the Coalition Partners; Gupta Threatens to Quit the Government: Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Nepal (MJF-N), which had supported the Bhattarai led government from outside, has warned that if the government does not promulgate the constitution within the allotted time, or promulgates a constitution against the sentiments of the Madhes, then the Madhesis would write a constitution on their own. Addressing a program organised in Siraha, Chairman Upendra Yadav further said that they have already planned for protests and demonstrations, as there is no way that the current government is going to promulgate the constitution on time.

In the meantime, Minister for Information and Communications and Chairman of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Ganatantrik (MJF-G), Jaya Prakash Gupta said that that there is no point in staying in the government if the four-point pact is not implemented. Defending the four-point pact signed between Samuykta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) and the UCPN-M, Gupta claimed that the pact has played a crucial role in giving pace to the stalled peace process and constitution writing process. He added said his party is ready for any kind of struggle to institutionalise the achievement of Madhesis’ agitation.

Strikes against the Price Hike: Once the Nepal Oil Corporation had revised fuel prices on January 18, 2012, thirteen students union affiliated to various political parties have been protesting against the government decision to hike the prices of petroleum products. The students union decided to intensify the agitation accusing the government of turning deaf ear to the 24-hour ultimatum given to withdraw the price hike. As per the new price, diesel and kerosene will now cost Rs. 85 per litre, up from Rs. 76. The price of petrol has been hiked to Rs. 115 per litre from Rs. 105 earlier. Similarly, the price of cooking gas has been increased to Rs. 1,500 per cylinder from the Rs. 1,325 earlier.

Foreign Relations

Relations with India

Deputy Prime Minister Gachhadar Visits India: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar has arrived India on January 17, 2012 for India a four-day official visit. It is said that it is Gachhadar's first visit to New Delhi after assuming the office of Home Minister on August 29, 2011. It is reported that Deputy Prime Minister Gachhadar met Indian Prime Minister Manamohan Singh on January 18, 2012. It is also reported that Indian Prime Minister Singh expressed his interest about the ongoing peace process and statute drafting process during the meet with the Deputy Prime Minister Gachhadar. “He has expressed concern about the situation of democracy, and if or not the UCPN (Maoist) was committed to the peace process,” Deputy Prime Minister Gachhadar said. According to the sources, the meeting also dwelt upon the recent visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, border security and the possible use of Nepali land against India.

Deputy Prime Minster Gachchhadar, who was accompanied by Nepal Police Chief Rabindra Pratap Shah, Nepal Army’s Brigadier General Daman Ghale and National Investigation Department chief Moti Gurung, met Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram, Foreign Minister SM Krishna and Defence Minister AK Antony. Home Secretary Sushil Jung Rana and AIG of the Armed Police Force Durju Rai had joined Gachhadar in Delhi as they reached New Delhi on January 15, 2012 for security talks.

In the meantime, Nepal and India have discussed a wide range of bilateral security concerns in an effort to strengthen mutual cooperation on addressing the challenges, during a high-level dialogue that began here on January 16, 2012. It is said that this is the home secretary-level bilateral talks which are being held after a gap of more than two years. At the meeting discussions were held on more than a dozen issues ranging from counterfeit currency to further facilitating information exchange between authorities of the two countries. According to reports, fake Indian currency was the major concern expressed by the Indian side. Also, Indian officials showed their concerns on the issue of illegal funding channelised to the Madrassas in Nepal, especially those in the bordering districts.

Relations with China

Chinese Ambassador Houlan Praises Nepal Government: Organising a reception in Kathmandu on January 18, 2012, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Yang Houlan has appreciated Nepal government’s hosting of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during his official visit. Yang said joint efforts from both the sides made the visit a complete success. “The Chinese premier and the Chinese people were really moved by these efforts,” Yang said, adding that both the Nepali and the Chinese sides “now agree that the visit was a milestone in our bilateral relations...Although the visit was not a long one, it was fruitful,” Yang said. He also described the visit as holding great significance to Nepal-China relations.

It is said that this is the first official comment on the visit made by the Chinese side. Before that, there was a joint statement issued at the conclusion of Wen’s visit. Wen was in Kathmandu for around four hours on January 14, 2012, and the visit was the first official visit by a Chinese Premier to Nepal in a decade.

By Uddhab Pyakurel