KATHMANDU, Oct 14: Members of the high-level task force formed to settle differences related to constitution-drafting have reached a ´broader´ understanding to accommodate diverse political ideologies in the new constitution.
Leaders also agreed to take the agreements -- the Interim Constitution, the Comprehensive Peace Accord, the 12-point understanding and others -- as major bases while drafting the statute.[break]
They reached agreement to this effect in principle at a meeting of the taskforce headed by Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, which was held at Singha Durbar on Thursday. Nepali Congress (NC) Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Paudel and CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal, among others, are members of the panel. Constituent Assembly (CA) Chairman Subas Nembang also participated in the meeting.
According to party leaders present at the meeting, they felt ready to take the process ahead after agreeing to embrace the broader principle of accommodating diverse political ideologies in the new constitution. "we then decided to enter into the list of around 225 disputes that have surfaced over the contents of the new constitution," said one leader.
At the beginning of the meeting, NC leaders in particular emphasized that the taskforce should at first be clear on the basic principles of the constitution that is to be drafted.
Some members including Dev Gurung of UCPN (Maoist) had argued at the meeting that they would reach nowhere if they started getting into theoretical discussions.
"But finally the leaders agreed to move ahead, accepting a proposal that the Maoists be open to non-Maoist views and vice versa," the leader said.
They agreed that the new constitution would allow various political parties to go to the people with their diverse political thoughts and that the party that can convince the people with their ideas will be mandated to rule the country.
With clarity in the broader principle of the new constitution, the leaders decided to enter into the list of contentious provisions proposed for the new constitution. The leaders have agreed to move ahead at a time when the parties have seen growing mistrust among each other. While leaders from non-Maoist parties accuse the former rebel party of trying to insert some provisions prohibiting pluralism and paving the way for imposing one-party dictatorship the Maoists accuse other parties of trying to maintain the status quo.
"We will start sorting out the disputed provisions one by one starting October 19 as per the spirit of the agreements that we reached in the past," Dahal told reporters after the meeting.
Leaders said they have decided to start with the unresolved issues in the thematic report prepared by the CA Committee on System of Governance. The committee failed to determine the system of governance, as the Maoists are for an executive presidential system and unicameral parliament without opposition while NC and the UML are against that. The two parties are for a bicameral parliament with an active role for opposition parties and an executive prime ministerial system, with a ceremonial role for the president.
Leaders present at the meeting seemed upbeat after the talks. "If they can maintain the seriousness and the spirit seen among the leaders in recent days, the statute-drafting can gather momentum," said one leader regularly involved in the talks.
Sharp differences among the political parties over the provisions to be enshrined in the new constitution have marred the drafting process. The taskforce was formed after meetings participated by all the 27 political parties represented in the CA failed to yield any result, and its objective is to settle or narrow down the long list of disputes.
The taskforce has an October 24 deadline to submit a report to the meeting of 27 political parties after settling or narrowing down the differences. The preliminary reports will then be forwarded to the Constitutional Committee (CC) which is entrusted with preparing an integrated draft of the statute incorporating all the 11 thematic reports. The parties are yet to forward eight of the 11 thematic reports to the CC. Chairman of the CC Nilambar Acharya has said that at least a month is needed to prepare the integrated draft.
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