KATHMANDU, July 23

Experts have suggested a thorough review of parts of foreign and security policies incorporated in the preliminary draft of the constitution, calling for special mention of country’s relations with its neighbours in the constitution. They have also demanded that the constitution must clearly state that ‘the country’s territory shall not be allowed to be used against any of its neighbours’.

In a close-door interaction in the capital on Thursday, former ambassadors, retired generals, lawmakers, think tanks and advisers of the President and the Prime Minister came up with suggestions, seeking their insertion in the final draft of the constitution.

They also took serious exception to some ‘political jargons and phrases’ in the draft and concluded that it was prepared with a ‘defensive mindset’, which they said need to be corrected, said Rajan Bhattarai, a CPN-UML lawmaker and Chairman of the Nepal Institute for Policy Studies, the organiser of on Thursday’s event. President Ram Baran Yadav’s legal adviser Lalit Basnet said that the drafters of the document had failed to follow the basic constitutional/legal principles, mainly due to the lack of constitutional experts’ inputs in the process.

Stating that the role of the Nepali Army has been undermined in the draft, Basnet warned that ‘it could lead to the birth of new Charles Taylor (a former Liberian dictator) in Nepal’, according a former ambassador who participated in on Thursday’s interaction.

President Yadav’s political adviser Hari Sharma pointed that the document has serious lapses in writing and offered lot of rights without stating the citizen’s duties.

Nischal Nath Pandey, Executive Director of the Centre for South Asian Studies, expressed his reservations on the provision mentioned in Article 55 (m,2), which states that the ‘treaties and agreements shall be entered into based on equality and mutual benefits by reviewing the treaties concluded in the past’.

“Constitutional provision to review past treaties could imply that we have to now immediately send a letter to Britain to return our territory lost due to Sugauli Treaty of 1816,” Pandey commented. “And in the event of government’s failure to do so, there will be a writ in the Supreme Court against the government for violating the constitution.” Prime Minister Sushil Koirala’s foreign affairs adviser Dinesh Bhattarai suggested that the country’s air-space should also be protected as it has clearly mentioned the same in the context of territory and borders. He also opined that the constitution should clearly state that the foreign policy shall be within the exclusive purview of the federal government. “Even in the loosest form of federalism like in Switzerland, foreign policy is the exclusive preserve of the national government,” added Bhattarai, who is a former ambassador of Nepal to Switzerland.

Lt Gen (Rtd) Balananda Sharma stated that the role of Nepali Army has been undermined in the draft and suggested that the army chief must be included as an ex-officio member in the National Defence Council to be headed by the prime minister. He also suggested that there should be a post for national security adviser. They also expressed their reservations on wordings that ‘the country shall execute its independent foreign policy’. They said that such parlance could give a false impression as to whether the country’s country’s foreign policy in the past was dependent.

Concerns raised

• The draft is full of political jargons and phrases and has been prepared with a ‘defensive mindset’, which need to be

corrected

• The drafters of the document failed to follow the basic constitutional/legal principles, mainly due to the lack of constitutional experts’ inputs in the process

• The document has serious lapses in writing and offered lot of rights without stating the citizen’s duties

• The provision mentioned in Article 55 (m,2), which states that the ‘treaties and agreements shall be entered into based on equality and mutual benefits by reviewing the treaties concluded in the past’ is flawed

• The role of the Nepali Army has been undermined in the draft. The he army chief must be included as an ex-officio member in the National Defence Council

• There should be a post for national security adviser

• Phrase like ‘the country shall execute its independent foreign policy’ could give false impression