A three-hour meeting of the top leaders of the three major political parties in the capital also agreed to give the commission a month to complete its work. There is a provision in the interim constitution for the formation of an experts-led state restructuring commission to assist the Constituent Assembly (CA) in its task. [break]
While the Maoists argued that the commission should only work to fine-tune the 14-province federal proposal passed by the CA Committee on State Restructuring, the ruling parties argued that the commission should be granted full rights to study and make recommendations for a scientific restructuring of the state.
“We argued that the commission should be granted the rights to study and make recommendations independently, though it may also take into account the decision of the state restructuring committee. There is nothing to worry about as the CA will have to endorse the commission´s recommendations,” said UML leader Bharat Mohan Adhikari after the meeting. He said the ruling parties forwarded such a proposal as the 14-state ethnic-based federation passed by the CA committee has sparked controversy.
On January 20, the CA committee passed a 14-province federation by majority votes.
Countering the ruling parties´ proposal, Maoists argued that such a commission can only make recommendations to the CA, and as the CA committee has already passed a 14-state federation, the commission can only assist the CA in technical parts.
“We are still discussing how we can accommodate the work of such a commission and how it can work on the technical sides without violating the CA committee´s decision,” said Maoist vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha after the meeting. He said such a commission should have made recommendations before the CA committee took the decision.
He also said the Maoists had formed a state restructuring commission when they were in power, but it could not take full shape due to non-cooperation from other political parties.
The three party meeting could not deliberate on other agendas as Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal could not attend the meeting due to “high fever”. The meeting was a follow-up of Tuesday´s Godavari talks in which the leaders had decided to hold agenda-wise discussion to reach an agreement.
They “frankly” put their views on the six agenda items: review of all the peace agreements, removing mutual inter-party mistrust, ending the current political deadlock, agreement on integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants, constitution drafting and power-sharing.
The major hurdle for reaching consensus was the differences in dealing with the deadlock. While the ruling parties argued that Maoists should first agree on five main agendas for peace and constitution drafting before forming a national unity government,the latter demanded that all issues be dealt with simultaneously and consensus be reached in a package, including change of government. The former rebels argued that peace process cannot conclude by keeping them out of power.
During the Godavari talks, many points of differences surfaced. The ruling parties and the Maoists did not see eye to eye on the political system in the new constitution. The Maoists said they would not accept the ruling parties´ Westminster model at any cost and proposed a presidential system with some “unique features”.
They also fell out over the integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants. Maoist chairman Dahal argued that his party is not for completing the integration and rehabilitation of the combatants until the constitution drafting is ensured.
He also flatly rejected that he had earlier verbally agreed with Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala to integrate 3,000 Maoist combatants into the Nepal Army (NA), and demanded integration of up to 10,000 into the NA and others in other security forces, including the Nepal Police.
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