By Pratibedan Baidya

It’s been one year since His Majesty King Gyanendra assumed executive power after sacking the coalition government that had almost 70 percent representation in the dissolved House of Representatives.

His Majesty King Gyanendra

His Majesty King Gyanendra
(File Photo)

King Gyanendra cited ineptness of political leaders, growing corruption and alleged politicisation of bureaucracy as the indicators of the failure of democratically elected governments since 1990. So, during his direct rule over the last year, was he able to deliver?

The first meeting of council of ministers chaired by HM the King himself announced 21-point programme highlighting good governance and improve service delivery, but analysts say all these programmes remain in paper only.

The very first agenda of the 21-point programme was to combat corruption. By overshadowing the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIUAA), King Gyanendra constituted the controversial Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) to look into corruption related cases. But critics say the RCCC started its action right from the beginning to exact political revenge rather than work impartially.

The detention of former premier, Sher Bahadur Deuba, and former minister, Prakash Man Singh, on charge of irregularities in the multi-million dollar Melamchi Drinking Water Project smacked of vendetta. So much so that the RCCC—that did not have a single jurist in its panel—refused to entertain the investigation report conducted by the Asian Development Bank saying that it did not find any irregularity while awarding contract in the said project.

The Supreme Court (SC) is examining the legality of the RCCC and is slated to hand out its verdict on Feb. 13. Meanwhile, the Transparency International (TI), an international anti-corruption watchdog, said that corruption has increased significantly in the period of direct rule of the King. It is but natural since there is no system of check and balance –that is ensured in a parliamentary democracy– under the royal regime, say analysts.

The government could not do anything for making the bureaucracy transparent and fair. The nomination of Panchayat-era royalists to the top posts of bureaucracy humiliated the civil servants. During the recent tour of King Gyanendra to the eastern development region, local people complained that corruption had increased following the royal takeover of last year.

According to reports, the government recently decided to provide a financial assistance of Rs 4.5 million to Bharat Keshar Simha, chairman of World Hindu Federation (WHF), a pro-royalist Hindu outfit.

Development works could not take place as major donor agencies stalled their assistance thanks to the unrepresentative nature of the government. The fate of Melamchi Drinking Water Project became uncertain after a major donor to the project, Norway, decided to suspend its assistance.

Former premier Sher Bahadur Deuba

Former premier Sher Bahadur Deuba
(File photo)

Perhaps, the greatest failure was the government’s inability to restore peace in the country. It refused to respond to the four-month-long unilateral ceasefire announced by the Maoists. Instead, it claimed peace had been restored in the county thanks to the royal regime. By attacking police posts at Thankot and Dadhikot police posts in the Kathmandu valley and mounting fierce attacks at Tansen, the district headquarter of Palpa in western Nepal on Tuesday, rebels sent the message that their backbone was still intact despite the claims made by no. 2 in the royal cabinet, Dr. Tulsi Giri.

During his address to the nation on Wednesday, King Gyanendra said Nepal’s foreign policy had restored Nepal’s prestige and credibility in the international arena. But critics say Nepal has been isolated internationally over the last year.

In the domestic front, the King’s reluctance in finding consensus with the legitimate political forces pushed the seven agitating political parties towards working out a broader alliance, which further complicated situation.

Critics say the king reshuffled the cabinet for the third time in a year but failed to do anything concrete for the people or the country. Though the King visited different parts of the country and listened to grievances of the people, implementation of his assurances remains a far cry.

A foreign relations expert, Mohan Prashad Lohani, argued that there were some positive developments over the last year during direct rule of His Majesty the King.

“There were no reports of large scale of corruption in the country and the discipline was maintained in the administrative sector of the country,” said Lohani. “Though the status of service delivery is yet to be improved as was the case immediately after the royal takeover, it is heading in the right direction,” he added.

According to Lohani, seven political parties should have tried to reach into consensus with the King rather than the Maoists in order to restore peace in the country.

He also stated that foreign governments were exerting continuous pressure upon the government due to political instability in the country.

Lohani urged the King to initiate effort for addressing the political stalemate and initiate dialogue with the political parties so as to resolve long-drawn political stalemate in the country and also to ensure success of the King’s roadmap to revive the constitutional process.

One of the most hit sectors after the royal takeover was Nepali media. Nepali media enjoyed unrestricted freedom after the restoration of democracy but the controversial media ordinance, haphazard arrests and detention of journalists for not following the directives of the government and the royal appointed bureaucrats became common phenomena during the period.

Said Yubaraj Ghimire, editor of Samaya weekly, “This should be the convincing proof to all mainly His Majesty King Gyanendra that absolute power and suppression of democratic exercise does not provide solutions to country’s major problems like terrorism, fiscal indiscipline, mal-governance and corruption. A broader understanding among major political forces alone will take care of these problems.”

Subodh Raj Pyakurel, chairman of Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC)– a leading rights watchdog in the country– said the King’s direct ruled failed in all fronts like politics, economics and human rights, among others. “Human Rights situation of the country is not only worse but it is passing through a very critical situation,” he said, adding, “The country has become a failed state in the classical context.”

When asked about the government’s claim of improvement in the rights situation in the country, Pyakurel said, “ The government is giving fraudulent reports. Reports by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal and other rights bodies present the right situation in the country.”

According to Pyakurel, political parties are gradually getting support from all walks of life as they have expressed commitment not to repeat past mistakes.

Analysts say the peaceful outlet to the present crisis would be to hand over power back to the people’s representatives and accept the place of constitutional monarchy. As the Maoists have agreed to come to the politics of competition, formation of an all party government and holding talks with them would be a major step towards restoring peace in the country.

Unfortunately, no such initiatives are being taken by the people who matter so far.

By Sanjay Upadhya

A year after seizing full executive powers, King Gyanendra has baffled many in Nepal and abroad by essentially pledging to stay the course. After a tumultuous year – a qualification opponents, supporters and those indifferent to the royal takeover would probably agree on – the punditocracy had expected the monarch either to begin a process of reconciliation with the mainstream opposition and Maoist rebels or to take a harder line against them.

In a nationally televised address on Feb. 1, marking the first anniversary of his takeover, the monarch insisted that Nepal’s overall situation had improved. He vowed to hold next week’s controversial municipal elections as scheduled, clearing the way for national elections next year. In content, tone and demeanor, the monarch appeared resolute. Widespread international condemnation and growing internal opposition do not seem to have distracted him terribly.

In the weeks and months since he dismissed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s multiparty government, King Gyanendra has made it amply clear that his roadmap for Nepal’s renewal draws important coordinates from its partyless past.

The monarch was quick to appoint prominent members of the Panchayat system to his cabinet. Some senior bureaucrats of the time were brought back for public duty. Although politicians who broke away from the Nepali Congress and the Unified Marxist Leninists continue to serve in the royal cabinet, they don’t seem to be setting the agenda.

Panchayat-era institutions like zonal administrators have been revived. The state media has been projecting the royal roadmap with Panchayat-era zeal. King Gyanendra himself has been regularly touring the countryside, mingling with ordinary people in a way befitting a politician running for office.

Despite this clarity, the royal government continues to face a serious credibility crisis. Palace advisers must have factored in the stridency of the criticism the takeover would trigger from Nepal’s mainstream parties, civil society, the private-sector media and much of the international community. Barely months after the takeover, prominent royalists began voicing disenchantment with the palace’s rule.

Haunted By The Past

The royal regime’s proposal to develop Nepal as a “transit corridor” between two Asian powerhouses has failed to generate the national discussion it deserves.
Within the mainstream alliance, the loudest criticism of King Mahendra – the father of the present monarch who introduced the Panchayat system after ousting Nepal’s first elected government in 1960 – resonates as the sturdiest confirmation of one’s democratic credentials. The newly ascendant ex-panchas seem to be held back by a sense of collective shame. Clearly, the royal government’s real crisis is one of conviction.

King Gyanendra has carefully avoided using the word “Panchayat” in his public pronouncements. His ministers have been speaking of their past cryptically, if at all. By no contemporary standard could the Panchayat regime be defined as democratic. In retrospect, the three-decade ban on political parties alone was enough to expose the emptiness of any such claim. But was the regime really the monster its critics continue to denounce it as?

No doubt, the Panchayat philosophy considered political opposition as an alien institution detrimental to Nepali society. Countless politicians and activists were imprisoned for years purely for their political beliefs. Countless others lost their lives trying to restore democratic rule.

However, these facts do not tell the entire story. Political opposition existed in at least three forms since King Mahendra’s takeover. At the first level were the banned Nepali Congress and communist parties, which sought to overthrow the royal regime by overt or covert means.

The second front consisted of smaller opposition parties that offered policy alternatives without directly challenging the royal regime. The third group consisted of legislators who sought to liberalize and democratize the partyless system from within.

By casting the Panchayat system as the product of an ambitious king’s desire to monopolize power before elected politicians gained excessive control, critics have blocked a broader contextual inquiry. King Mahendra repeatedly characterized parties as corrupt, divisive and pawns of foreign powers. In fairness, his strong distrust of parties as agents of modernization partially rested on their performance during the 1950s.

Nepal, more importantly, was part of a wider group of newly emerging nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America that could not shield themselves from the emerging dynamics of the Cold War. The competing pressures exerted by the United States and the Soviet Union, in search of newer spheres of influence, were enough to turn many of these countries into non-party, one-party or military regimes. Nepal confronted added pressures from the growing tensions between its two giant neighbors, China and India.

Within its quadrangular confines, the Panchayat system’s achievements in developing infrastructure, integrating the economy and heightening the kingdom’s international profile stood out. Democratic leaders who praise King Birendra for his emphasis on peace and development are, in effect, lauding the role he played during the Panchayat years.

Through regular national and local elections, the partyless system contributed to raising the people’s democratic awareness. There was no shortage of accusations of rigging and other electoral machinations. But, then, such complaints were no less clamorous during the parliamentary and local elections held after the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990.

If the Panchayat system’s achievements rested on the systematic repression of the people, as critics continue to claim, then Nepalis probably still have to unearth all those mass graves buried somewhere out there. If the monarchy is indeed responsible for the impoverishment of Nepal, then one must wonder why the Maoist rebellion did not break out during the Panchayat system, when the palace was at the zenith of its power. If the repressiveness of that regime foreclosed that possibility, then the openness of the last 15 years seems to have left much uncovered.

For their part, western governments warning King Gyanendra against a return to the past are being disingenuous. In a clear display of bipartisanship, the White House invited King Mahendra and King Birendra on state visits – the first under Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson and the second under Republican Ronald Reagan. President Reagan not only endorsed King Birendra’s proposal to have Nepal declared a Zone of Peace, he recommended that other governments should do so. The White House’s clear reference was to India, the principal critic, which saw the proposal as the king’s effort to undermine New Delhi’s influence in Nepal.

Queen Elizabeth paid two state visits to Nepal, the first weeks after King Mahendra’s takeover. King Birendra played host to European luminaries like French President Francois Mitterand and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Indian presidents and prime ministers basked in royal hospitality while singing paeans to the monarchy’s role in strengthening the traditional ties between the two nations. Could the partyless system have been sustained without the generous financial assistance provided by the international community?

In ignoring the broader context in which the palace-led partyless system existed for three decades, Nepal’s post-1990 democratic leadership ended up unprepared for the post-9/11 shift in the dynamics of international relations.

Indeed, for the anti-palace alliance and Maoist rebels, the wholesale denunciation of the Panchayat regime, understandably, continues to be politically expedient. The palace had endured enough criticism for the partyless system’s flaws to have started advancing its achievements.

King Gyanendra’s cabinet includes diverse elements from the Panchayat past, beginning with Dr. Tulsi Giri, the man who broke with the Nepali Congress in 1960 to bolster the royal regime. Kirti Nidhi Bista, another politician with an early background in multiparty politics, remained a favorite with Kings Mahendra and Birendra. Tanka Dhakal, Kamal Thapa, Niranjan Thapa and Bhuban Pathak entered politics as pro-Panchayat student leaders, emerging as first-generation panchas.

Conventional wisdom dismisses these men as nothing more than Stalin’s henchmen or Hitler’s storm troopers. However, they could have begun to set the record straight by showing greater candor in addressing their partyless past in the wider canvas of that system’s context, nature and role. Instead, they spent most the past year trying to flaunt the government’s supposed democratic credentials. After all, the Panchayat system, even during its most restrictive form between 1975 and 1980, was far more accountable to the people than the current regime is.

Through forthrightness, the palace could have entered more forcefully in a constructive debate about its future. The cost of failure is all too apparent. The royal regime’s proposal to develop Nepal as a “transit corridor” between two Asian powerhouses has failed to generate the national discussion it deserves. The palace’s effort to correct the distortions in Nepal’s foreign policy, in keeping within its rights as a sovereign nation, continues to be brushed off as the brandishing of the “China card” by the Nepalese media. The Royal Nepal Army is subjected to the most stringent human rights standards, while the Maoist rebels can get away with blatant violations of commitments made to the international community.

Can the people really be blamed for failing to grasp, much less be galvanized, by a royal agenda so clear yet so lacking in conviction?

(A Nepali journalist based in the United States, Upadhya has been a Fulbright Scholar at New York University. This article is reproduced here courtesy www.scoop.co.nz Please send your comments to [email protected])

(Editor’s Note: Nepalis, wherever they live, as well as friends of Nepal around the globe are requested to contribute their views/opinions/recollections etc. on issues concerning present day Nepal to the Guest Column of Nepalnews. Length of the article should not be more than 1,000 words and may be edited for the purpose of clarity and space. Relevant photos as well as photo of the author may also be sent along with the article. Please send your write-ups to [email protected])

Supreme Courtl (File Photo)

Supreme Courtl (File Photo)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued show cause notices to the government and all regional and zonal administrators demanding reasons on why the administrators have been staying in the posts even after the end of their tenure as per the ordinance under which they were appointed in the posts some 10 months ago.

Acting upon a writ petition filed by a group of people including advocate Hari Bahadur Mainali, a single bench of Justice Kedar Prasad Giri issued the order.

The petitioners have claimed that the administrators’ tenure ended four months ago as soon as the six-month-long tenure of the Ordinance promulgated to appoint them ended.

The government had promulgated the Ordinance amending the Local Administration Act 2028 to appoint the regional and zonal administrators after the February 1 royal takeover of last year.

The government had appointed zonal and regional administrators to look after the administrative works.

In a bid to disrupt municipal elections, Maoists have been continuing attacks against poll candidates and destroying their properties.

Maoists bombed the houses of Bishnudevi Rawal and Kumarbahadur Shah, mayoral and deputy mayoral candidates of the Tikapur municipality on Wednesday.

The Maoists detonated five bombs simultaneously in the area where the District Police Office, the District Prison and the branch office of the Nepal Rastra Bank are located, Wednesday evening, report quoted a Dhangadhi-based security source as saying.

At least 200 rounds of gunshots were heard in the area from 8:10 pm to 8:35 pm, locals said. The Maoists began firing from the east and the police retaliated later, the District Police Office said.

Meanwhile, the Maoists opened firing on the Sukhkhad-based unified security base camp at 8:45 pm. However no causality is reported on both sides.

A report from Taulihawa said Maoists detonated a bomb in the house of the recently-elected mayor of the Taulihawa Municipality, Ramdas Gupta, at 9 pm. The explosion has destroyed the house completely.

Windowpanes of the New Road (Pokhara)-based office of the Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City were destroyed in a blast carried out by the Maoists, a report said.

The Maoists detonated bombs near the residence of the superintendent of police at 6:45 pm on Wednesday, a report from Tanahun said, adding that there were no casualties.

Entrepreneurs have said the supply mechanism of the Kathmandu valley and other parts of the country was not normal.

Speaking at an interaction in the capital, they urged the government to be serious on preventing shortages during the time of strikes.

They further said that there will be shortage of petroleum products in the valley if the strike goes for a long time due to the negligence of the Nepal Oil Corporation.

However, speaking at the same program, Assistant Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Rajesh Kaji Shrestha, said the government is prepared give continuity to the supply mechanism regardless of the situation of the country.

He also urged the entrepreneurs to make the supply mechanism effective.

Generally people suffer from shortage of goods during the time of strike due to the government’s inaptness to monitor market and make supply mechanism effective.

Commander of US Pacific Command, Admiral William J Fallon has said that the political division between the King and the political parties has encouraged the Maoist insurgents.

The Commander of US Pacific Command, Admiral William J. Fallon, calls on Foreign Minister, Ramesh Nath Pandey, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sheetal Niwas, Kathmandu, Wednesday, Feb 01 06. (Photo courtesy: Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Upon completion of his 24-hour long visit to Nepal to convey serious concern by the US Government at the situation in Nepal, including both the threat posed by the Maoist insurgency and the King’s decision just one year ago to sideline Nepal’s political parties and establish rule from the palace, he urged all parties with a common interest in a stable and peaceful Nepal to sit together to discuss and agree on a way forward to establish a truly participatory government.

He further said, “Reconciliation between the King and the parties is not only indispensable to bring back democracy but also to effectively address the insurgency by the Maoists, which given their continued use of violence, could not be viewed as a legitimate political actor,”

A press statement issued by the US Embassy in Kathmandu, Admiral Fallon met with the King, senior Army officers, political party leaders, and civil society, and also visited RNA troops and facilities in some areas of the country.

Admiral Fallon also met Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey and Home Minister Kamal Thapa on Wednesday.

Talking to journalists after the meeting, Foreign Minister Pandey said that talks were held to expand the existing ties and to expand areas of cooperation between the two friendly nations.

According to Minister Pandey, Admiral Fallon appreciated His Majesty’s address to the Nation.

During the talks, Fallon was also briefed about the current situation in Nepal, Pandey said. “The talk was gratifying and it should contribute in expanding the understanding between the nations,” he added.

Commander of US Pacific Command, Admiral William J Fallon has said that the political division between the King and the political parties has encouraged the Maoist insurgents.

The Commander of US Pacific Command, Admiral William J. Fallon, calls on Foreign Minister, Ramesh Nath Pandey, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sheetal Niwas, Kathmandu, Wednesday, Feb 01 06. (Photo courtesy: Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Upon completion of his 24-hour long visit to Nepal to convey serious concern by the US Government at the situation in Nepal, including both the threat posed by the Maoist insurgency and the King’s decision just one year ago to sideline Nepal’s political parties and establish rule from the palace, he urged all parties with a common interest in a stable and peaceful Nepal to sit together to discuss and agree on a way forward to establish a truly participatory government.

He further said, “Reconciliation between the King and the parties is not only indispensable to bring back democracy but also to effectively address the insurgency by the Maoists, which given their continued use of violence, could not be viewed as a legitimate political actor,”

A press statement issued by the US Embassy in Kathmandu, Admiral Fallon met with the King, senior Army officers, political party leaders, and civil society, and also visited RNA troops and facilities in some areas of the country.

Admiral Fallon also met Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey and Home Minister Kamal Thapa on Wednesday.

Talking to journalists after the meeting, Foreign Minister Pandey said that talks were held to expand the existing ties and to expand areas of cooperation between the two friendly nations.

According to Minister Pandey, Admiral Fallon appreciated His Majesty’s address to the Nation.

During the talks, Fallon was also briefed about the current situation in Nepal, Pandey said. “The talk was gratifying and it should contribute in expanding the understanding between the nations,” he added.

The security forces rescued 60 civilians including businessmen, intellectuals and politicians from the Kukurkaate area in Ramechap District on Tuesday.

A press statement issued by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) on Wednesday said the Maoists abducted the civilians from the Salupaate area in the district.

Maoists have been continuing abduction of civilians and other people from the beginning of the Maoist insurgency that had claimed more than 13,000 lives.

Expressing serious concern over the increasing violent activities in the schools, the United Systems in Kathmandu on Thursday said it was worried about the government’s plan to locate polling stations in school.

Issuing a statement on Thursday, the UN System, “The UN System expresses its deep concern that the conflict is increasingly damaging the school system in Nepal. We are now concerned about a new threat: the decision to locate 75 percent of polling stations for the February 8 municipal elections in schools.”

The statement further added, “It is a normal practice in many countries to use schools to house polling booths. And in schools in countries at peace, there may be more litter in the playground the next day, the desks and furniture may need to be rearranged, but the school goes back to being a school.”

Citing the announcement of the seven-party alliance and the CPN (Maoist) to disrupt the municipal polls, the UN said, “If the election process takes place in schools, this leaves schools vulnerable to the threat of violence or damage. If schools become a place where the conflict is fought out, then they are no longer safe as places of education.”

The UN reminded that in countries where elections could result in violence, schools can then become the focus or target of that violence. “Nepal does not have enough school buildings at present. Its children cannot afford to lose any more school buildings to explosions.”

Saying that the progress made in the last 10 years to improve literacy and to get more children into school is under serious threat, the UN said that the parties to the conflict – the government forces and the Maoist rebels – have engaged in violent and destructive activities in schools.

“Schools have been caught in the crossfire and have been used as barracks or shelter as well as for political purposes. Their playgrounds have been dug with trenches. Both sides have left explosive devices near school premises, sometimes with fatal results to the children who have picked them up,” the statement read.

The UN also urged all sides to respect the needs and rights of children and keep schools free from conflict.

Institute for Development Studies (IfDS)—a leading Kathmandu-based think tank– has warned that the country may face bankruptcy within the next three months if the government’s expending continued at the current pace.

Making public findings of his latest study in Kathmandu on Thursday, executive director of IfDS, Dr Raghab D Pant, said if the government did not take any contingency measures, it may not be able to raise money even to meet the spiraling current expenditure from April-May this year.

“The fiscal situation of His Majesty’s government is very very critical. The supplementary budget issued last month has added fuel to the fire,” he added.

According to Dr Pant, problem became serious due to the over-estimation of revenue collection and under-estimation of the government expenditure in the budget of the current fiscal year.

The IfDS has projected that inflation could reach an alarming figure of 27.7 percent at the end of this fiscal year if the situation remained same.

Nepal Rastra Bank said recently that in the first four months of the current fiscal year the rate of inflation in the country stood at 8.5 percent.

Like under the Regan administration in the US during the eighties, the economic situation in Nepal at present may be described as “stagflation,” said Dr Pant—who is also the former member of National Planning Commission.

Stagflation is a situation where real income of the people continues to plummet while there is unprecedented rise in prices.

“The recent rise in price of some of the essential goods is psychological in nature,” said Dr. Pant. “It is because people want to hoard essential things fearing that conflict may escalate and there might be shortage of those things,” he explained.

According to the IfDS forecast, “The growth in per capita income will be negative or barely positive this year. National consumption will increase at a faster rate than the growth in income which will further widen the trade deficit due to import of consumption goods. The foreign exchange reserve in the current year will increase marginally or even decline indicating emerging problem in the balance of payments.”

“The receipts from remittances have been the single most important factor determining the level and direction of economic activities of the country, both at the micro and macro level. A marginal instability in this source will disturb the foundation of the economy and is expected to be more dangerous than the current political problem,” the report warned.

“The economy is getting life till date thanks to the good performance of remittance as it is contributing for the balance of payment and for the foreign exchange reserve”, the study said.

Replying to a query by Nepalnews on what should be done to address such a situation, Dr Pant said there is a need to find a political solution to the economic problems facing the country. He did not elaborate.