Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, May 18:

Leaders of the seven agitating political parties today said reinstatement of the dissolved House of Representatives (HoR) was a starting point before resolving the constitutional crisis and the Maoist insurgency.

They made it clear that the reinstatement of the Parliament was the only option for them to bring the derailed constitutional process back on track as there was no immediate possibility of holding fresh parliamentary polls given the ongoing Maoist violence.

Addressing an interaction organised by the Martin Chautari, central member of the Nepali Congress, Mahesh Acharya, said the revived Parliament would settle the constitutional stalemate and even go for an election to a constituent assembly if that helped bring the Maoists to mainstream politics.

He claimed that it was possible to find a peaceful solution to the Maoist problem based on the “common agreement and commitment” put forth by the seven parties on May 8. He said the parties had agreed to form an all-party government accountable to the Parliament.

CPN-UML central committee member Pradip Gyawali said the post-February 1 scenario had taught them a lesson that the achievement gained in 1990 was “incomplete” and that they needed massive progressive reforms in socio-economic sectors to make democracy sustainable at the grassroots level.

“The democratic forces have also realised that they failed to share the fruits of democracy with the people,” Gyawali said.

Central committee member of the NC-D, Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat, said they had made

it clear that the King’s authoritarian rule and the Maoists’ one-party communist dictatorship were both unacceptable to the people.

“Before the King’s February 1 move, we also had a belief that constitutional process can be reactivated by holding fresh parliamentary election. But the King’s move has proved it otherwise,” Mahat said.

Pari Thapa, vice-chairman of the Janamorcha Nepal, said the alliance demanded the restoration of Parliament based on the principle that it was the only institution which could exercise the people’s sovereignty in real sense.

“But House revival alone is not enough. We must clearly tell the people what we actually want after the House has been revived,” Thapa said, adding it was the existing state structure that encouraged “structural violence” in society.

Thapa said the seven-party alliance’s peaceful agitation would make the King and the Maoists agree on the former’s political road map, not vice-versa. Thapa, however, conceded they would fine-tune their political agenda with feedback from the people.

Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandi Devi) leader Sarita Giri said centralisation of power was the main reason behind the failure of hard-earned democracy.

“Post-February 1 period taught us that the Parliament is necessary to check the King’s ambition,” she said. She said it was not a big deal to bring the monarchy within the constitutional limit if the parties succeeded in bringing the Maoists to mainstream politics.