Nepal crackdown on protests ahead of constitution deadline

KATHMANDU: On this day six years ago, Nepal's major political parties, then marginalised by an aggressive king Gyanendra, signed an agreement with the underground Maoist guerrillas secretly in New Delhi with India's blessings. The pact paved the way for united opposition to the king's army-backed regime and saw the abolition of monarchy in Nepal as well as the end of 10 years of Maoist insurrection.
Ironically, on the sixth anniversary of the 12-point accord, Nepal's new Maoist government announced a ban on protests and sit-ins near key buildings that have begun to see public demonstrations as the constitution deadline looms larger amidst the certainty that parliament would fail to meet it again – for the fourth time in a row.
The home ministry announced on Wednesday that protests and demonstrations were banned near parliament and the official residence and office of the president, vice-president and prime minister. The ban comes ahead of the Nov 30 deadline within which parliament is mandated to unveil a new constitution but now, it is certain, will not be able to provide even a preliminary draft.
This is the fourth time the 601-member house is going to fail the challenge. The new constitution was originally scheduled for 2010. However, with the major parties remaining deadlocked in a bitter tussle for power, it failed to ready the statute despite getting three extensions totalling 21 months.
Now the new government of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai is said to be seeking six months more to complete the task. But there is growing opposition to it. First, the Maoists' former allies, the communists, demurred and on Wednesday, the biggest opposition party, the Nepali Congress, said it too was not ready to agree to a further six-month extension.
The PM will need two-third majority in parliament to amend the interim constitution and get the extension. However, it would be impossible to do so without the approval of the other two parties. Unless a new agreement is reached, parliament is likely to see a stormy day on Thursday when a vote could take place on the extension.
Indigenous communities, including lawmakers, have been holding protests before parliament when the government planned to create a new body to divide Nepal into federal states. The protests forced the cabinet to drop the plan. Protests have also begun before the prime minister's office and residence by people injured during the pro-democracy protests and former security personnel.