SRC report

The argument for a State Restructuring Commission (SRC) was a compelling one: The political parties, guided by their differing ideologies and biases, would be too divided to have an informed and constructive dialogue on state restructuring and might not be able to come up with a federal setup that meets the aspirations of a diverse populace and at the same time turns out to be a viable arrangement. It’s precisely for this reason that the interim constitution envisioned the formation of the SRC. The idea was that independent experts from related fields would be members of the SRC, and they would come up with a recommendation that may not be perfect, but would significantly narrow down the differences between the parties and provide a solid basis for final agreement on the gamut of issues.



The two conflicting reports submitted to the prime minister today --one recommended by a majority on the SRC and the other a minority report -- haven’t served to narrow the differences among the parties; they have only widened their disagreements. The fault, however, doesn’t lie with the original idea. It lies with the parties, the way the SRC members were chosen on a partisan basis just to defend the biases of the respective parties and to serve their narrow interests. The parties have now reaped what they have sown. The two reports differ on issues as fundamental as the number of federal provinces, the right to self-determination, residual powers and priority rights. Has the SRC made any progress in resolving issues on which there was dispute at the CA committees? Hardly. After wasting almost two-and-half months of its precious time, the SRC has once again left the political parties with the daunting task of reconciling these differences.



Since the parties are in deadlock over the issue of the peace process and the House remains stalled due to protests by major opposition parties against the government decision to legalize conflict-era property deals, there is slim chance of the parties sitting together any time soon to take up constitution writing. And that’s the biggest worry. There is hardly any progress on the two most contentious issues in constitution writing--state restructuring and system of governance--and each of them will consume a lot of the time and energies of the political leaderships. As we all know, time is slipping away real fast and if the parties fail to expedite negotiations soon they will be unable to meet the deadline. The government must step in here: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai should grasp the nettle and revoke the cabinet decision on war-era property deals, even if a hard-line faction in his party is downright opposed, and thereby create an environment of trust in which the political parties can once again negotiate in earnest.

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