Public Awareness

Civil Liberty

Most politician and ruling elites in Nepal often ignore the civil liberty of people for their political power and status quo.

The election of Constituent Assembly for permanent peace in Nepal is the must crucial element of the political crises yet politician and ruling elites can less care if they can for their vested interest and power. They may ignore the fact that it is the mandate of the People's Movement II. 

They may let go the repressors and murderers of People's Movement II. Still they may commit the blunder for loyalists of royalists to rise from under the jungle of Nepal to take over the power in the name of Democracy. 

Until the mandate of People's Movement II for the Constituent Assembly election and the establishment of Republic nation we must continue the movement. 

Civil society leaders slam government

Kantipur Report

Speaking in a discussion program on "Eight-Point Agreement and New Nepal", organized by Gorkha-Kathmandu Republican Forum at Siddhartha Vanasthali School, on Saturday, civil society leader Dr Devendra Raj Panday said the monarchy was the biggest obstacle to development in the country. 

"All social and cultural malpractices in the country have their source the in the monarchy," Panday said. "As long as there is a king in the palace, he will always try to get back the powers he lost," he warned, adding that only constituent assembly elections could steer the country to peace, progress and prosperity. 

Speaking on the occasion, Author Khagendra 

Therefore Citizens' Movement for Democracy and Peace on July 13, 2006 have announced fresh programs to press for implementation of the commitments made by seven political parties and Maoists to the people, and also to counter status quoism and regressive elements

Reinstatement and longevity of the parliament was

 As part of a program, decided upon unanimously after a meeting of civil society leaders on July 11 and 12, CMDP is organising a sit-in from 4:00 PM on July 26 at Shahid Vatika in Ratnapark.

Meanwhile, CPN-UML leader Bamdev Gautam

"It is difficult to go to constituent assembly elections without them. But it is also difficult to go with them," he said.

The people want peace talks to achieve results, and want lasting peace through formation of an interim government., peaceful management of arms of the Maoists and the state, and elections to constituent assembly.

Speaking at the program, vice-president of People's Front Nepal Lilamani Pokharel said the government had made a mistake by not consulting Maoists while drafting the letter sent to the United Nations. 

"They did this despite the eight-point agreement, which says any decision that can have long-term impact should be arrived upon through mutual understanding," he said. Pokharel also expressed solidarity with the civil society's street programs.

The more important demands of the CMDP are implementation of the eight-point agreement, announcement of dates for constituent assembly elections, dissolution of parliament, total observance of ceasefire code-of-conduct, and action against top army officers involved in repression.

Sixty-three people have signed the statement, including Dr. Devendra Raj Panday, Dr. Mathura Prasad Shrestha, Padma Ratna Tuladhar, Shyam Shrestha, Dr. Mhesh Maskay, Prof Krishna Khanal, Dr Sundar mani Dixit, Bishnu Nisthuri, Dr. Om Gurung, and Mall K Sundar.

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Comment:

The leaders of political parties of Nepal are prone to get succumb to their parties’ self-interest for power. Once they get into the government their minds get lost with their self-interests, power and fear to lose the grip.

At this point it seems that political larders and the members of cabinet are losing their courage to punish the culprits of Royal regime. They are forgetting the support of People's Movement II and the open demand of the members of civil society to punish those offenders who are mostly in army and police forces.

The culprits are the chief district officers from districts of Nepal. The former home minister of Royal regime, secretaries of the defense ministry, the members of royal cabinet. The vice chair Tulsi Giri must be punished with his those statements that he outright undermined the civil liberty and press freedom, with the cases filed against him in the court during royal regime. 

Politicians are backing off from these offenders and letting them go free like during the People's Movement I.

These politicians and ruling elites of Nepal have not changed from their outdated thinking and practice of political power. They have remained as feudal as the oligarchic Ranas. They want to appoint their ruling elites in the government positions with out mandatory democratic procedures - nomination, parliamentary hearing and appointment.

They want to continue with the logistics of governance of the feudal oligarchic regime so that they can appoint chief district officers by passing their own elected chairs of district and assembly members. 

Civil society of Nepal must watch the movements of politician in all political parties and in the government to guard the civil liberty of people of Nepal. So that our the complete electoral system is established to govern people by the people. The following government logistics must be archived in the administration, judiciary and law enforcement practice:

1. The districts of Nepal must be administered by the elected chair of each district and the assembly members.

2. The district judge must be elected by the popular votes of the people of district of Nepal to rule the district judiciary process as independent body of the government.

3. The district attorney must be elected by the popular votes of the people of district of Nepal to prosecute the public offenders of the district.

4. The district police chief or law enforcement officer must be elected by the popular votes of people of districts of Nepal to enforce the law and order of the district.   

There should be no police officers in the central level of the government with commanding position as in the feudal oligarchic royal regime.

There should be only district police chief in the districts of Nepal. The district law enforcement officer should be only police officer as district chief of the nation.

The Civil Movement for Democracy and Peace (CMDP) in Nepal has announced that it will hold a series of protests beginning July 26 to address the delay in holding elections for the Constitutional Assembly. It has accused the government of failing to include Maoists in major decisions and making an issue out of weapons management.

The government has decided to hold the elections within eight months and is asking the Maoists to permanently hand over its weapons before it joins the government. The Maoists have refused. A U.N. team is visiting Nepal for the same reason.

The Maoists are calling for the present parliament to be dissolved for not having an inclusive mandate.

The CMDP is looked upon with importance because it played a major role in the recent protest movements and includes experienced bureaucrats, academicians, entrepreneurs, and past ministers among its ranks.

These days, public sentiment doesn't seem to be in favor of the government. Parliament has made popular decisions but failed to bring them into action. The government is concentrating on accumulating power whereas its prime concern should be the elections for the Constitutional Assembly.

"This government is back to the pre-movement era when they fought each other for posts. They have forgotten the mandate of the nineteen days people's movement. I am very unhappy for having two deputy prime ministers," said Lokesh Dhakal, a graduate student at Tribhuwan University. "Why won't political leaders sacrifice the post for the people's welfare?"

The appointment of two deputy prime ministers was a political balancing agreement adopted by the Seven Party Alliance.

"Parliament has declared Nepal is without discrimination... The ground realities show discrimination everywhere. Let them put words into action. The present parliament can never speak in favor of Dalits as there are no Dalit representatives [in Parliament]," said Suman Pariyar, who is a Dalit and a graduate student at Tribhuwan University. Dalits make up one fourth of Nepal's population.

"Nepal is drafting an interim constitution but there are no Dalits on the committee. The interim constitution backs up the Constitutional Assembly. How can we rely on it?

"We support the movement that is going to start from the 26th of July. Political parties and the parliament are inseparable in a parliamentary democracy but we want a new formation and newer strategies by totally new people in parliament. There is no difference between the present parliament or government and the governments... [of the] last 15 years," Pariyar said.

The Nepali people have grown to be politically mature and all the political decisions made by the parliament are analyzed by the public. A political decision made by the parliament might be popular but it doesn't necessarily have the gravity of the people's vote.

Nepalese are fed up with political instability and seek a quick solution to the present political instability. Everyone in Nepal now knows what they want. This political maneuvering by the present government, which is what all past governments did, is unbearable to them.

July 26, 2006

Citizen's Movement for Democracy and Peace stages a sit-in to pressure the government and Maoists to speed-up the peace process at Ratnapark in Kathmandu on Wednesday. The civil society umbrella organization vowed to continue protests until the election to the constituent assembly is held in the country.

Dedication:
This web site www.nepalcivilsociety.org is dedicated to the Civil society of Nepal. It is to honor the work of all members of Civil Society of Nepal  who dedicated their lives to the Liberty of People of Nepal. The purpose of this web site is to promote the movement of Civil Society as part of Nepali culture with the objectives to protect civil liberty of people of Nepal through public awareness.

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