PM backtracks on peace process

When Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai retuned from New York after attending the UN General Assembly meeting, which he should not have gone in the first place given the urgency of the business at home, the common expectation was that he would immediately expedite the peace process to complete it within 45 days from the formation of his government. He didn’t just dash that expectation but backtracked on his earlier commitment and disappointed Nepalis, including many of his supporters and those who had pinned hope on this prime minister. Talking to media persons at the airport, Prime Minister Bhattarai said he had committed himself to conclude the major tasks of peace process within 45 days after there was a broader political consensus with the political parties. Prime Minister Bhattarai is clearly backtracking on his promise.



On August 25, the deadline given by President Ram Baran Yadav for formation of the consensus government expired, the Maoist party organized a press conference, attended by its top leaders, including Prime Minister Bhattarai, and made public its 5-point proposal to complete the peace process and constitution writing. Point 1 (chha) of the proposal says following an agreement on issues related to peace process, categorization of the combatants will begin on August 31 and complete within a month. Point 1 (jha) even says that a formal program will be held within one-and-half month to bid farewell to all the combatants from the cantonments. It’s important to understand the context of this proposal—it was floated seeking support of the parties to form a government led by Baburam Bhattarai. Maoists and Nepali Congress were too busy soliciting support from other parties to lead the government and there was no negotiation on peace process at all till August 29 when Bhattarai was elected as the prime minister.



It was on August 31, chairing the first meeting of the Special Committee, Prime Minister Bhattarai reiterated his pledge to complete the peace process in 45 days and even said that his government would be the shortest if there was no progress on peace and constitution. The insincerity with which prime minister has disowned his “45 days” pledge made before the nation is unfortunate to say the least. We urge the prime minister and his party to come up with a sincere proposal on all contentious issues of the peace process. We don’t have the luxury of time to move forward on a piecemeal basis on peace process as he and his party has been urging nor is that an effective approach. It’s only if the NC and CPN-UML reject a reasonable proposal by the prime minister that he can blame them for dragging their feet on the peace process; otherwise, people will hold Maoists—who lead the government and control the combatants—responsible for the lack of progress.

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