Nepali rulers attempt to lift state of emergency

MIM Notes 266 - September 15, 2002

Ten political parties met and called for the end of a state of emergency in Nepal so that the parties can prepare campaigns for upcoming elections in November. Amongst those calling for elections were CPN-United, CPN-Marxist, CPN-MLM and CPN-Unity Centre Masal. (In each case, CPN stands for Communist Party of Nepal.)(1) It appears these parties (all the existing parties basically) got their way on August 28th, when the state of emergency came to an end as scheduled instead of being renewed for a third time.

The head of the Nepali regime is someone from the Nepali Congress Party, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. However, his party has split over his declaration of a state of emergency. In recent weeks, it is apparent that Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba found himself threatened by a coalition of his own party and other parties. The second-largest parliamentary party, the CPN(UML) told the prime minister he would be politically finished if he did not see to free and fair elections happening on time.

Reactionary journalists are trying to provide cover for the end of the state of emergency. The Kathmandu Post says that the strong showing of the government since May has proved the People's War too weak to attack police or military outposts anymore. Hence, they believe it is time for more peace negotiations before hitting the Maoists harder if they do not end the People's War.(2)

As MIM has explained before, in Nepal, the majority of the 25 million people are vaguely communist as proved by previous elections and the revolution in Nepal. There is only a question of false consciousness, a little fogginess about the best way of going about things. That's why no less than five parties calling themselves "communist" as the first word in their name appear to favor open elections and an end to the state of emergency. The only doubt would be whether some of these factions have been invented by the state.

In any case, returning to the point at hand, the threat against Prime Minister Deuba was apparently strong enough for a newspaper to claim that Nepal's 1990 Constitution is under fire.(3) It is not surprising that there is a constitutional crisis, because there is no solution to the problems that the ruling class in Nepal faces without revolution.

Notes:
1. http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2002/aug/aug29/index.htm#2
2. http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2002/aug/aug29/editorial.htm#1
3. http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishweekly/telegraph/2002/aug/aug28/index.htm#1.