The direction of the national developments has not changed much over the past couple of years. The one-decade-old Maoist insurgency remains unresolved. The February 1 step was taken to ‘end violence’ and to ‘strengthen multiparty democracy and constitutional monarchy.’ But the international reaction has been less favourable than expected. Some of foreign aid has been suspended, which will necessitate a revision of the national budget. But at home, the confrontation between the two principal parliamentary forces has intensified. The five parliamentary parties have announced that they will start their protest programmes beginning today. Besides, the Nepali Congress has announced a weeklong protest programme of its own, under which it is reported to come out in the open and court arrest.

The Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, the two biggest constituents of the new five-party alliance, have stressed the need for agitation to win “full democracy.” However, they have left the phrase undefined. The new alliance includes NC-D, whose president and sacked prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba held a press conference on Saturday soon after his release from house arrest. Deuba said that an ‘all-party government and an inclusive democratic system with sovereignty vested in the people’ formed the basis for national consensus aimed at resolving the crisis. In the past too, following the October 4, 2002 step, the political parties had launched an ‘anti-regression movement’ on and off, but it did not make much impact. The party leaders, after receiving a ‘positive signal,’ abandoned the movement more than once, only to be disappointed.

This lack of resolution and their past wrongs have only lowered public confidence in the political parties. The people are not against the restoration of democracy. But to win back public trust, the political parties and their leaders, it seems, should do something special, say, a public self-criticism, pledging to improve their ways and making their objectives clear, and starting an internal self-purification process. Deuba, for example, has shown no sign of doing this, though he has played an important role in creating the present political mess. Replying to a question, Deuba said that because Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala had talked of removing him from power, he recommended the dissolution of the Lower House. But political leaders and parties need to rise above such narrow considerations. Besides, all domestic political forces should realise that given the state of the conflict and various domestic and international factors, only a political settlement of all disputes within a fully democratic framework holds the key to a lasting peace and a real national reconciliation.