Maoists' new demands

Sometimes we wonder why our politicians behave like children – they keep on making demands that so often do not make sense to common people. Children do so out of innocence and curiosity. But our politicians make demands and take public positions just because of their bloated egos. Now ego seems to be the major obstacle in forging consensus to steer the country out of the current political deadlock. One after another, leaders of the major political parties are making and rejecting demands as if they have run out of imagination to do anything else.



The leaders are no longer negotiating in earnest but are just hardening their public postures. Far from showing statesmanship when it is most needed, the politicians are failing even to see the danger lurking before them. If they fail to strike a deal and extend the term of the Constituent Assembly (CA) by May 28, politics will move into an unpredictable trajectory.



During the last few days, the Maoists have been piling up new demands, one after another and the Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML have spent no time in rejecting them. As recently as Tuesday, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) demanded that a separate security force be formed taking ex-combatants from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and security personnel from Nepal Police, Armed Police Force (APF) and Nepal Army (NA). A few days ago, the party also demanded that a provision in the interim constitution that allows formation of majority-based government be scrapped so that any government can be formed only on the basis of consensus. NC and UML have rejected both these demands, which means dialog is unlikely to make any headway in the next few days.



We don’t believe that adding new demands or bringing in a new wish-list during this crunch time will be of any help in breaking the political deadlock. Actually, it can only play a spoilsport. We, therefore, urge the parties to focus on the six-point agenda that all of them had agreed to work on to resolve the political crisis. Maoists’ demand to form a separate security agency can be discussed and, possibly addressed, within the framework of the six-point agenda. We think that forming such a security agency is a viable idea and it also gives the Maoists a much-needed face-saving on the PLA issue, something that they have struggled with so far. Our only concern here is this: What if the personnel from NA or APF or Nepal Police do not volunteer to join such a new security agency? The State cannot force them to join the new force involuntarily, quitting their respective security agencies.



In return for this consensus to form a new security agency, the Maoists must give up their demand to scrap the provision of majoritarian government from the constitution. The constitution already has a provision for formation of a consensus government and it allows for the formation of a majoritarian government only if consensus fails. Isn’t it ludicrous to ask to raise the standard of something when you cannot meet even the basic standard?

Related story

Maoists had difficulties winning elections even in their bastio...