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Special Conference cum Workshop to reinforce application of Human Rights in Nepalese Criminal Justice System

Kathmandu School of Law (KSL) and Sydney Center for International Law (SCIL) organized one day Special Conference cum Workshop to reinforce application of human rights in Nepalese criminal justice system on 17th of November, 2009. The programme was carried out as a part of activities under a project 'Safeguarding Human Rights in the Criminal Justice System in Nepal' run by KSL and SCIL in support of the Australian Government (AusAID). The programme was aimed at declaring the formal adoption of Law Enforcement Training Manual by all stakeholders of the criminal justice system of Nepal in their human rights training. Altogether 261 participants including constituent assembly members, high level police officers, senior public prosecutors, defense lawyers, human rights activists and legal scholars and law students participated in the programme.

Minister for Law and Justice Prem Bahadur Singh delivering his inaugural speech

The program was graced by Hon'ble Prem Bahadur Singh, Minister for Law and Justice, as a chief guest accompanied by other dignitaries including Her Excellency Ms. Susan Grace, Australian Ambassador to Nepal; Mr. Ramesh Chand Thakuri, Inspector General of Nepal Police; Mr. Sanat Kumar Basnet, Inspector General of Armed Police Force; Mr. Shiva Bahadur Ranabhat, Deputy Government Attorney; and Prof. Dr. Yubaraj Sangroula, Executive Director, KSL as guest speakers of the programme. Top

The programme was divided into two sessions presided by Prof. Madhav Prasad Acharya, Professor-Incharge, KSL. Minister Singh inaugurated the programme amidst a grand ceremony by formally releasing the publication of English and Nepali version of Law Enforcement Training Manual for Safeguarding Human Rights in the Criminal Justice System in Nepal. At the same occasion, Minister Singh also released the "Curriculum Report" which includes a review of human rights education in criminal justice system in Nepal. The second session consisted of a workshop to discuss on the training methods, human rights issues covered by the Manual and its importance, which was followed by question and answer session and declaration on adoption of Manual as an official training document.

Participants of the Programme

FIRST SESSION

Putting his inaugural remarks, Minister Prem Bahadur Singh mentioned democracy as an instrument to secure human rights. The existence of democracy helps to secure peace, deter aggression, promote the rule of law, combat crime and corruption, protect human rights, and prevent humanitarian crises, he added. But each country needs to promote and defense democracy as a key issue. In his speech he also urged civil society to play positive role by cooperating the law enforcement agencies in safeguarding human rights. He further showed the need to ameliorate Nepalese legal system and find out the lacunas to ensure speedy justice.

Mentioning that Australian government do not have vested interest for supporting Nepal, Her Excellency Susan Grace, Australian Ambassador to Nepal, said Nepal is going through a profound period of change and Australia is keen to assist Nepal to establish robust systems of governance including protection of human rights for all citizens. The support has been provided under AusAID the Asian Public Sectors Linkages Programme which aims to assist the transfer of Australian capacity-building skills and experience to counterpart public sector institutions in Asia. She also mentioned the challenges for lasting impact of the gained insights that are achieved from the activities funded by Public Sector Linkages Programme. However, the publication of Manual and the Training Curriculum and officially endorsing them as appropriate for use and dissemination through the government is an excellent step to sustaining the impact of this cooperation.  Top

Mr. Ramesh Chand Thakuri, Inspector General of Nepal Police, highlighted on the human rights training activities carried out by Nepal police and the benefit they can have from the Training Manual and suggested curriculum. He mentioned that Nepal police has established National Police Training Academy and Human Rights Cell within the organization which conducts trainings and organizes various programmes to police officers. But despite series of attempts made by Nepal Police for application of human rights, we have been encountering security and human rights violation issues in course of crime investigation and maintaining public order. One of the reasons for this is the lack of skilled human resource and proper management. He also urged civil society, CA members and different NGOs and INGOs to work together for achieving common objective of safeguarding human rights in the criminal justice system.

Mr. Sanat Kumar Basnet, Inspector General of Armed Police Force (APF), also reaffirmed that police force is responsible to maintain law and order and security of the people. Earlier, human right was not known to the people but now it has become one of the crucial agenda of every country. APF is committed to work for the protection of human rights and has included human rights and security issues in its training agenda, and it will use this manual as a second nature in its training, he added. Reaffirming his commitment to implement application of human rights in all its activities, IG Basnet also requested the organizers to cooperate the APF by providing human rights training materials and trainers to its human rights training.

Providing the insights on the role of law enforcement officials, legal expert Mr. Shiva Bahadur Ranabhat said that criminal justice system of Nepal is governed by principle of punishment to criminals and justice to victims. However, this is not fully realized in Nepal. We hardly practice the notion of fair trial in Nepal. It will be a good beginning if all the stakeholders of the criminal justice system fully apply this manual in course of training and daily activities. Top

Putting his brief experience on the past one year collaborative activities of KSL and SCIL, Prof. Dr. Yubaraj Sangroula proclaimed human rights as an essential element in peoples' lives. The Nepalese legal system has become hotchpotch blended with borrowed and copied foreign common law system. Our laws are made not considering the interest and need of the community, instead, we are very much active to borrow from other legal systems. Hence, we can find influence of common law system in most of the place and continental system in some. The interpretation of human rights is also more influenced by this and criminal justice system is completely limited within arrest, detention, sentencing and so forth. It succinctly forgets safeguarding of human rights within criminal justice system. Today's people of Nepal are misguided who are compelled to take police officer only as the officer, not as a security agent who maintains law and order and ensure peace and security in the society. Over viewing the present scenario, he concluded saying that changing mentality of the people and actors of the state is the basic requirement for application of human rights in criminal justice system.

Earlier, welcoming the participants, Assoc. Prof. Prakash K.C. highlighted on the human rights course provided by KSL. He mentioned that criminal justice system in Nepal is viewed only applicable in judiciary. Other actors of the state are not regarded as important and equal contributors of this system. He appreciated the august gathering and believed that all actors from now onwards will feel responsible and equally important for safeguarding human rights in criminal justice system. Top

SECOND SESSION

In the second session, Prof. Dr. Yubaraj Sangroula put forward the objective of the project and the importance of training manual. He said the concept of training was developed considering the practice of forced confessions, inhumane treatment in detention, sexual harassment, prolonged delays of cases, unfair trails, lack of impartial investigations and lack of access to lawyer etc. which has created adverse impact on people, particularly, marginalized groups of Nepal. The objective of the manual is to improve understanding and knowledge of, and respect for human rights, amongst key actors in the criminal justice system in Nepal. This objective will be achieved only if the concerned key stakeholders take this manual and model curriculum as basic documents to provide training to police and prosecutors on human rights. Besides introduction to human rights, the Manual consist of separate chapters on Arrest, Detention, Investigation, Policing Public Order, Fair Trial and Prosecution.

Dr. Sangroula also made observation on the present scenario of impunity and police and public prosecutors' role in the criminal justice system in Nepal. He pointed to the demerits of adversarial system in Nepalese context and role of police and prosecutors in safeguarding human rights in Nepal. Police involvement in investigation is necessary but still methods are traditional and they don't fulfill expectation of people. He also emphasized on the need of complete reform of Nepalese criminal justice system from victim's rights perspective.

Providing key note speech on the importance of the Manual, Mr. Kalyan Timilsina, AIGP, Nepal Police, said the practical application of human rights is necessary and we need to focus on the implementation of the Manual in police activities. Similarly, Mr. Thakur Mohan Shrestha, AIGP, APF, mentioned the Manual as one of the reference manual for legal professionals, police, and prosecutors and also to general people as it has been framed in simple language. Outlaying the hurdles of application of human rights in Nepalese justice system Mr. Shiva Bahadur Ranabhat as a legal expert said we cannot deny and avoid implementing human rights in criminal justice system but proper and enough research is required time and again to check its effective implementation. He also underlined the need of effective coordination among police, prosecutors and defense lawyers in this regard. Top

Speaking on behalf of the CA members, Hon'ble Ram Bahadur Thapa Magar also reaffirmed the coordination between these stakeholders as inevitable in present situation. Our police force has high potentiality to work but improper coordination is affecting the country at large. However the legislator need to formulate new laws addressing the interest of people and amend those which are still against the notion of human rights. He also expressed his commitment to raise the issue in the CA discussion and deliberations.

Participants raised several questions concerning obligation and accountability of police and prosecutors to protect human rights, practical difficulties to balance security and human rights issues, mechanism to address the issues of human rights violations, resource constraint and limitation of physical facilities, etc. Prof. Dr. Yubaraj Sangroula and AIGP Thakur Mohan Shrestha addressed the questions and queries of the participants.

RESOLUTION

At the end of the programme, a resolution was made which declared the adoption of the Manual as an official training document to all institutions. The Resolution reads as follows: Top

Realizing Criminal Justice System not a separate system but a subsystem of society, it should be understood as integral part of operation of functioning of state. It rests on the ground of rule of law. An effective criminal justice system plays a crucial role in the protection of human rights in a wider context than just the rights of suspects and those subjected to criminal justice. The criminal justice system can regulate the process of judicial decisions making and therefore has an impact on the prevention of crime and the treatment of criminality. It thus protects ordinary people from the effects and harm of crime.

More legalistically a criminal justice system can be defined as a scientific decision making entity in which components such as the police, prosecutors, courts and correctional institutions strive for a more secure and safe society, and for the protection of personal liberty.

But today the notion of criminal justice system is misunderstood. Underestimating equal importance of these components and the protection of rights of suspects, accused and also general people the cultural of impunity started in Nepal. At this juncture, this manual aims to strive the importance of human rights in criminal justice system. Realizing the vital role of public authorities or law enforcement agencies such as courts of law, prosecution authorities and the police force for the establishment of a crimeless society, maintaining a more effective criminal justice system protecting the human rights of all, representatives of all the stakeholders present here accept it as an invaluable document to safeguard human rights in the criminal justice system of Nepal.  

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Workshop for CA Members on Local Self Governance in New Constitution 

KSL organized two workshops for Constituent Assembly (CA) members to discuss on Structure, Power and Functions of Local Governance System in the new Constitution. Altogether 60 CA members participated in the workshops which were organized on 29th and 30th of November, 2009 at Indreni Complex, New Baneshwor. The workshops were aimed at drawing the attention of the CA members towards need of ensuring local governance as the primary element of democracy as well as guaranteeing the 'ownership' of people to the new constitution. In the workshop the booklet prepared after incorporating the suggestion and comments from the advocacy and awareness campaign was presented. Assoc. Prof. H.K. Rana and Assoc. Prof. Kumar Ingnam had made presentation on the workshops.

Guests of the Programme

The first day programme was chaired by Hon'ble Ram Bahadur Thapa Magar. Hon'ble Minister for Youths and Sports Ganesh Tiwari Nepali appeared as a chief guest and Hon'ble Krishna Sapkota, Hon'ble Onsari Gharti Magar and Hon'hle Mahendra Yadav were guest speakers of the programme. Similarly, Hon'ble Mahesh Chaudhari chaired the second day workshop while Hon'ble Gagan Thapa, Hon'ble Deepak Karki and Hon'ble Sharad Singh Bhandari appeared as the guest speakers of the programme. Top

Welcoming the participants in the programme, Prof. Dr. Yubaraj Sangroula highlighted on the activities carried out by KSL on the issues of the local self governance. He mentioned that the concept paper is an outcome of the advocacy and awareness programme conducted by the KSL in collaboration with local partner NGOs working with MS Nepal and Action Aid Nepal on ten districts of Nepal. The campaign was conducted by the students of KSL and Nepal Law Campus in Baglung, Kapilvastu, Banke, Parsa, Terhathum, Siraha, Palpa, Dolakha and Rasuwa. The campaign was carried out as a part of the project activities under 'Advocacy Campaign for Structure, Powers and Functions of Local Governance System in the New Constitution' he added. Talking about the Local Self Governance Act of Nepal he portrayed the real scenario of local self governance which was only guaranteed in Act but has not been realized as the essential tools for ensuring people's ownership upon local resources.

Participants of the Programme

Assoc. Prof. H.K. Rana and Assoc. Prof. Kumar Ingnam provided the conceptual framework on the local self governance and the concept paper. The presenter provided the general scenario of the federal state and the importance of local self governance. They mentioned that Nepal is moving towards federal state where there will be central, provincial and local government. Hence, there needs to be clear demarcation of the function, power and role of these tiers. However, these three tiers of government work in coordination with each other. Focusing mainly about local self governance, Assoc. Prof. H.K. Rana mentioned that for the proper and efficient use of the local resources, local governance need to be autonomous and people need to be empowered for the use of their local resources. Only the local self governance can make democracy functional at the grassroots level. In local governance, local people themselves use, manage and exploit the resources. The revenue collected can be used for their development and to exercise their autonomy, he added. Highlighting the political, social and administrative right of local self governance, Assoc. Prof. Kumar Ingnam mentioned central and provincial government must have certain obligation i.e. development obligation, environmental obligation, obligation to judicial protection and distribution of economic resources, etc. Top

Speaking at the program the guest speakers pointed out on the following issues; inclusiveness should be incorporated in local self governance, it need to take the guardianship of every organ, and good governance should be the essence and elements of the governance. While empowering local self governance we need to address the following specific characteristics of Nepal i.e. linguistic diversity, cultural diversity and geographical diversity. Additionally administrative, judiciary and religious right can only be ensured if political, economic and security rights are guaranteed.

Finally the programme forwarded the following specific suggestions from participants:

• There need to be inclusion in local self governance;

• There should be clear distinction of rights and power between central, provincial and the local government;

• Local government should be implied with power to control and use natural resources within its territory without interference from the state;

• Local governments should be entrusted with autonomy to execute tax policy by itself;

• All local officials should be provided with security and facilities;

• Each local government should be monitored by the center;

• There should be check and balance between center and local level of governments;

• The constitution should guarantee co-existence and ensure participation of all in local development;

• Representation of minorities and women should be ensured by the constitution;

• Local governments should be autonomous in basic necessities with the assurance of right to self determination

KSL is organizing a "Live TV Discussion Programme" from ABC Television from 2-5 pm on 9th of December, 2009 to discuss on the issue and draw political parties' attention and commitment to incorporate the issues in the new constitution.    

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2nd Regional Partner Meeting of the Asia Pacific Master of Human Rights and Democratisation

A team of Prof. Dr. Yubaraj Sangroula, Assoc. Prof. Geeta Pathak, Assoc. Prof. Prakash K.C. and Asst. Prof. Bhoj Raj Bhatt participated in a week long 2nd Regional Partner meeting of the Asia Pacific Master of Human Rights and Democratisation (MHRD) and Training of Trainers (ToT), 2009. The programme was held from 26-31 October, 2009 at Bangkok, Thailand. The programme was organized by Centre of Human Rights Studies and Social Development, Mahidol University, Salaya Campus. Also present in the meeting were faculties from University of Mahidol, Thailand; University of Gadjah Mada, Indonesia; University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and University of Sydney, Australia.

Prof. Dr. Yubaraj Sangroula presenting his paper at the Programme

The programme was divided into two parts; on first two days 26th and 27th Steering Committee Meeting was organized and on later day from 28th -31st Oct ToT was held. On Steering Committee Meeting, different procedural matters of proposed MHRD program, Application and Degree Approval Process, Scholarship Assessment, Promotion and Student Recruitment Process, Grading, Internship and Dissertation have been discussed. In the second part of the programme, a ToT was organized on different areas of Active Learning Techniques and Cross Cultural Learning and a conclusion was made to adopt unanimous Teaching Technique in MHRD programme.Top

Furthermore, the meeting also proposed the name of the members for five Task Teams which was approved by MHRD Steering Committee. The task teams are Degree Promotion and Student Recruitment, Compilation of Human Right and Democratisation Case Studies and Resource Materials, Second Semester Electives, Thesis Handbook Task Group, Internship Task Group. Assoc. Prof. Geeta Pathak chaired the Internship Task Group while Prof. Dr. Yubaraj Sangroula, Assoc. Prof. Prakash K.C. and Asst. Prof. Bhoj Raj Bhatt are member of Task Group for Second Semester Electives, Task Group for Compilation of Human Right and Democratisation Case Studies and Resource Materials, Task Group for Thesis Handbook respectively.

As per the mandate each of the task group shall convene a meeting on a regular basis, and at least once a month, on a date set and agreed upon by the members of each individual group. The chair of each group shall provide monthly progress reports to the Academic Director who will convey such reports to the Steering Committee. The work assigned to each group shall be implemented in accordance with the relevant mandate and timeline.

These task groups have distinct function and responsibility. The task group on Degree Promotion and Student Recruitment shall draft a promotion strategy for recruitment of students for the first intake of students in July 2010. It performs its activities in consultation with the partner universities. This group will work to develop targeted publicity and public relations strategies to promote the programme to key target markets. Similarly task group on Compilation of Human Right and Democratisation Case Studies and Resource Materials is responsible to compile a comprehensive set of case studies and other relevant resource material pertaining to human rights and democratization in the Asia Pacific.  A final set thus prepared will be integrated into the curriculum/reading list and made available to all students enrolled in the program.

The task group for Second Semester Electives will coordinate the development, design and teaching of second semester elective units of study to be offered at each partner university, and based on such efforts; produce a final list of electives available to students enrolled in the program. Similarly, Thesis Handbook Task Group will draft a MHRD Thesis Handbook for the Human Rights and Democratization Dissertation unit. This handbook will at least include introduction to/overview of unit of study; information on partner universities; information on faculty (staff) and prospective supervisors; research areas; class and assessment details; required readings; expectations of students; objectives and learning outcomes; information on and, where appropriate, links to online resources; assessment criteria; instruction on submission of written work and academic honesty; research guide, etc. Likewise, the Internship Task Group will develop guidelines for the second semester elective Human Rights and Democratization Internship. 

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Interaction Programme on Situation of Legal Aid in Nepal

KSL organized interaction programme on Situation of Legal Aid in Nepal on 8th November, 2009 at KSL. The programme overviewed on Nepalese labour law including briefing of situation of legal aid in Nepal. Chinese delegates Ms. Yu Hui, and Ms. Wang Fang of Beijing Legal Aid Office for Migrant Workers (BLA); Bjarne Andreasen, International Project Manager, The Danish Institute for Human Rights, and Assoc. Prof. Geeta Pathak were present in the program.

Asst. Prof. Prem Chandra Rai, KSL overviewed on the labour laws including foreign employment laws, working journalist laws in Nepal. Over viewing the scenario he mentioned that Nepal do not have provision of unemployment allowance, enough security provision at working place. The country need to immediately incorporate this as the main agenda of present constitution making in Nepal. Speaking at the program Ms. Yu Hui informed that Chinese Government provides unemployment insurance for the future security of the Chinese people.

Meanwhile, the delegates also visited the Clinical Legal Education Program (CLEP) at KSL that has been working since 2007 providing legal aid to vulnerable, disadvantage group of the society. At the occasion, brief interaction with paralegals and interns was made. Ms. Ankita K.C., paralegal highlighted on the recent development of CLEP. Students of KSL have been working as interns in Appellate Court, Patan for the year 2008-09. Top

Prior to this, delegates including Assoc. Prof. Geeta Pathak also visited Kolkata from 2nd-7th Nov 2009 for a study tour. During the visit, the delegates were informed about the following specific issues;

1. Labour rights and legal protection for internal migrant workers;

2. The situation of internal as well as overseas migrant workers in Nepal and India, and legal aid assistance for them and their family members;

3. Legal services for disadvantaged or vulnerable groups (in particular, for groups who face problems due to industrialization and urbanization);

4. Information on and insights into the legal aid systems in Nepal and India (including the opportunity to observe the provision of legal aid and attend a court hearing involving a practising legal aid lawyer);

5. Experiences of Nepali and Indian legal aid service providers in providing legal aid for disadvantaged or vulnerable groups and combating poverty.

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Field study to Melamchi

Students of LL.B. 1st year conducted four days field study on political, social, economical and cultural condition of Melamchi, Sindhupalchowk from 19th-22nd November, 2009. Prof. Dr. Yubaraj Sangroula, Executive Director, KSL accompanied the students. The aim of the study was to compare the situation of rural and urban people analyzing the political and socio-economic aspects.   

The study tour was scheduled for field visit and interaction programme. The students were also divided into three groups to carry out research on political, social and economic situation of the people. The students conducted research in Katunjey, Danuwar basti and Melamchi Bazaar. At the mean time students also visited Indreshwori Uchha Madhyamik Vidhyalaya, Melamchi Khanepani Aayojana, “Shree Janajagriti Madhyamik” "Hamro Gaun Pariyojana” orphan home. The observation visit at organic farming, bio-gas production and hydro-electricity (solar) was also made.

Prof. Dr. Yubaraj Sangroula and KSL students

The people residing in research area are found to be struggling for the fulfillment of basic needs. The source of income of the people is market, haat bazaar. People are found to be less aware about the laws. Some of them revealed that laws are made for high class people. The LL.B 1st year students donated books for Indreshwori Uchha Madhyamik Vidhyalaya. The students studying at grade 9 and 10 do not still have enough books while the exam of SLC is quite near.  Some of the problems find out by the research are increasing number of drop out students due to family pressures and unawareness of the importance of education, compulsion of local people to travel a long way to Melamchi bazaar for small treatment due to lack of health facilities at the locality. Similarly, fifty percent of the children in the VDC were not found attending the school despite ample encouragement to attend the school.

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Participation in 15th South Asian Teaching Sessions on International Humanitarian Law

Asst. Prof. Kapil Aryal participated in the 15th South Asian Teaching Session on International Humanitarian Laws held from 10-17th November, 2009 in Visakhapatnam, India. The programme was jointly organized by ICRC and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar College of Law, Andra University, Visakhapatnam, India. The program discussed on diverse issues on international humanitarian laws. Asst. Prof. Aryal made country presentation on 'Efforts Made by Nepal for the Protection, Promotion & Implementation of IHL'. Fourty-five participants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka had participated in the programme. Asst. Prof. Aryal was accompanied by representatives from Nepal Army, Nepal Armed Police Force and the Supreme Court of Nepal.

Mr. Kapil Aryal receiving Certificate from Christopher Harland,
Regional Legal Advisor to ICRC

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Speech Competition

Kathmandu School of Law (KSL), in managerial involvement of student interns of LL.B. 5th year, organized Speech Competition for the second group of LL.B 1st year on 1st November, 2009. KSL organizes these programmes every year as its annual programme which mainly targets the students of LL.B. 1st Year

The speech competition was aimed at enhancing the eloquence capacity of the students. Altogether, fourty students participated in the competition. The participants put forward their views on contemporary issues of Nepal which included Democracy, Politics and Human Rights. In issue of ‘Foreign Policy’, the participants were of the view that “Current Foreign Policy will just elope out Nepal from the world Atlas; therefore, it is urgent to renew its old and outdated foreign policy.” “Till today Nepal is running without any boarder policy, this revel out the condition of foreign policy and diplomacy of Nepal.”

Further speakers of the topic ‘Utilization of Resources’, tactfully highlighted that, “Nepal can utilize its basic potentiality in full length, but decision are to be made collectively between local communities and government. Similarly the speaker further mentioned economic transformation cannot be possible unless political stability does not prevail. This has also affected the youth of the nation. Government's ineffective plans and policies has distracted the youth to find out their vision. 

In the speech competition, Ms. Prabika Sintakala and Ms Karuna Parajuli of LL.B. 1st Year were awarded with Best Performance of the Day Award. Similarly, the panel of judges also selected the final list of participants for the second round of speech competition.

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Blood Donation Campaign at KSL

KSL organized a blood donation campaign on 27th of November, 2009 at its premises. Altogether 70 people including staff, teachers and students participated in the campaign. KSL organizes this campaign every year to mark the Global Activism on Violence Against Women.  

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Feature Article

- Yubaraj Sangroula, Ph.D.

The course of transition in Nepal has become longer and complex. The post CA political gimmick is in no way different to the past. Horse-trading in making and unmaking government has raised its head again. The present events in politics of Nepal will have devastating impact on making of constitution and transformation of conflict. The gradually floating gimmicks in and around political parties are playing crucial role in 'deforming' the political spirit and value the Interim Constitution has aspired for. Efforts from certain corner of international community have become dense to 'define Nepal as failed or failing state'. While the state of Nepal is not so alarmingly uncontrollable, why such propaganda is being hatched is not known.

In this context, let me make some propositions:

(1) Military force in any country is a professional body; hence no combatants can be assimilated in a national army until and unless the combatants are 'fully depoliticized'. It means that the government of Nepal must initiate process to professionalize combatants by training and other necessary courses. But political parties of Nepal have already made a mistake. They agreed to form a government under Maoist leadership before the issue of de-politicization of the combatants was agreed or talked about.  While CPN Maoist made some efforts to detangle the combatants from the party, it did not fully transfer under the government. The result was, therefore, a party in government with national military under it and also with its own party military. This mistake was a common mistake of all political parties in the CA.

(2)   In transition, the two military forces nurture utter dislike of each other as they have a history of fight face to face in the past. Obviously, in the integration process, each wants to prevail over the other. This circumstance generates 'suspicion' against each other. The gravest mistake in this course was to 'allow CPN Maoist to command Nepal Army too'. Both military should have been brought under the command of a "Committee" of the CA specially to be constituted for this purpose. The Combatants and Nepal Army both should have been governed by the "Military Committee" thus formed in the CA. This would have diverted the present situation of Nepal, and the peace process would not have been affected. However, none of the political parties gave consideration to this need.

(3)   Instead of forming democratic and left alliances by political forces, they have to think in a way to facilitate the integration of the armies by consensus, and for this the 'CA is the only option left'.  Some people argue that they should be handled by UN. This proposal will pose nothing but a problem. We already have widely seen the performance of UNMIN. Of course, such idea will generate jobs for so many people from so many countries, but eventually it will place Nepal in disadvantageous position. The political parties should, therefore, unite on the basis of agenda not on the basis of political ideological polarization. The responsible political leaders should strive for 'forming a powerful committee' in the CA to look after both the military until the new constitution is not promulgated and the issue of integration is fully addressed. However, this possibility is frustrated by those who don't like democracy in Nepal. This group comprises of former collaborators, extremists from both the left and right wings of politics, arms-mafias, and power mongers. The challenges are thus big.Top

(4)   The formation of national government should not be based on distribution of 'ministerial berths'. It should be guided by the 'agenda' for transformation of conflict and ending of the transition as soon as possible. The CPN Maoist must think of 'not possessing the combatants' as if its private army, whereas the other parties should also give up a psyche that the Nepal Army is their only favorite. The peace in Nepal depends on 'logical address' of the integration of Maoists, and, to facilitate this process toward logical end, CPN Maoist should be ready to handover the combatants to the committee to be formed by the CA. The combatants should not carry any emblems that define them as Maoist army so that other parties would be able to treat the combatants as part of the prospective national army. It however doesn't mean that the 'children and non eligible people' will also find place in the national army.

Why this process is obstructed in Nepal? Obviously, some people are keen to lead the process to a deadlock and make Nepal gradually slide to 'a position of failed state'. One must not overlook that 'some people across the border are engaged in defiling the peace process in Nepal'. Definitely, there are people across the borders who, just for their vested interest, don't want to see accommodation of CPN Maoist in Nepalese politics. Inside the country, there are people who, for their vested interests, want to instigate enduring conflict and prove that CA is not a right solution. Inside the CPN Maoist, there are still people who have romantic dream of 'capture' of powers absolutely, which is nothing but a myth. They definitely can fight some more years, but eventually to loss. CPN Maoist failed to politically educate its ranks and files to accommodate in the changed context, and, hence, the turmoil is still going on everywhere. These mistakes should be addressed by the party itself. But those mistakes should not be made a basis for others to 'alienate CPN Maoist' from the political process. It is a political force, whether someone like it or not. It is a biggest party today in the CA, whether some one like it or not. To ignore its existence and size in the Nepalese politics will bring devastating effect on the peace process. Top

On the other hand, CPN Maoist also must realize that once they have come back to the political competition, they have to abide by laws made by their own involvement. They must respect the constitution and the principles of the rule of law. A separate rule by their ranks and files will not be acceptable to the Nepalese people. Those who have been running to materialize their political gimmicks for coming into powers by pushing the history into a corner will be facing contempt in history itself. They should, therefore, refrain themselves from pushing the country into a ditch of conflict again. The Nepali Congress and UML must deeply understood that 'CPN Maoist will be an absolute power if they fail to make themselves as viable political parties'. If they become able to grow well by winning the hearts of people, nobody can stop them being important powers in the country. Today, they are loosing their weights and intelligentsia not because they have no potentiality, but because they fight internally; they are greedy for the powers and they have not been able to stop corrupt people within and around them. Most importantly, the do not believe on their own disciplines and ideologies. Also, they have failed to be the hope of new generation. Hence, their survival starts by their ideological and conviction regeneration. Let us hope that they will emerge as viable alternatives to CPN Maoist democratically with conviction of working together with all. If they fail to generate hope of new generation on them, no powers in any parts of the world will secure their position in the politics of Nepal. I do have a faith and conviction that Nepali people will not let their nation become a 'failed state'. They will protect it. Why don't, then, we take the present scenario itself a 'potential' for new Nepal.

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