PRO-DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT IN NEPAL

Joint Declaration Common Agreement And Commitment

The following is the text of the joint declaration adopted by seven political parties of Nepal if reiterate their united resolve to restore democracy, bringing about lasting peace and guaranteeing human rights.

WE all know that at present the people and the nation are passing through a difficult time. The violence and anti-violence acts, created after the Maoist’s armed conflict, has left more than 12 thousand Nepalis dead. Many Nepalese have been maimed, gone missing, and displaced. Instead of resolving the problem, the king has forcefully usurped the power and started his direct rule through the February 1 Proclamation. After the King’s regressive move, the situation in the nation has become all the more complex as the nation is further trapped in the rebels’ armed conflict. While the people’s basic rights have been suspended and the political leaders, activists, journalists, human rights workers and other advocating democracy have been arrested and imprisoned the nation is also witnessing divisions in political arena.

With the formation of the unconstitutional Royal Commission for Corruption Control, a process of assassination of character of the political leaders and workers has started. Press has been controlled. The people are oppressed by the state’s illegal prohibitory orders and other kind of oppressions. All these have seriously damaged the image and prestige of Nepal in the eyes of the international communities. Though the authority has been forced to lift the state of emergency some weeks ago, the overall situation in the nation has not improved.

The king’s February 1 proclamation, aimed at enforcing his direct rule, was an extremely undemocratic, unconstitutional and regressive move, which has further agitated the political parties and the people from all cross sections of the society. The seven political parties have thus felt it necessary to have a peaceful, joint and yet powerful movement against the king’s February 1 move. On this backdrop, the seven political parties have made a declaration of the common agreement and commitment to guide the nation forward by restoring democracy, bringing about lasting peace and guaranteeing human rights.

A BRIEF APPRAISAL OF THE PAST

The Popular Movement of 1990 had brought about historical changes in the nation, taking the process of development of democratic culture and national progress to a newer height.

The nation has witnessed noticeable progress in the exercise of democratic rights, expanding the rule of law and the process of decentralisation, changing the system of distribution of resources and construction of infrastructure for education, health, communication, electrification and potable water. However, there were some hindrances and shortcomings when it came to make progress for women, ethnic and indigenous minorities, Dalits; Madhesis, backward regions and classes and the poor as the task of making democracy more intense, effective, expanding, growing and all inclusive remained unfulfilled. During the period, the Parliament has been able to work effectively in the area of good governance and corruption control. Despite all this however the problem of corruption continued. We also acknowledge that we had some weaknesses in managing the violent armed conflict. We also failed in realising the danger of regression and becoming alert about such danger on time.

Having self censured ourselves for our past weaknesses and mistakes and having vowed not to repeat them in future, and to the protect the achievements of the Popular Movement of 1990 and make the process of democracy and the task of nation building all the more effective, we express our joint commitment to take our joint efforts further.

1.  Democratic path and No to extremism

Right now, the country is enduring the brunt of rightist extremism, a direct outcome of the king’s direct rule, and the leftist extremism of the CPN Maoists. The pains and problems of the people and the nation cannot be resolved unless and until the nation is absolved from these two forms of extremism, which can only be attained by guiding the nation towards the democratic path after setting up the constitutional and the representative system of governance in the nation. Democracy and the representative system of governance are the basis for the national consensus for all the forces active in the national politics at present.

2. End of king’s authoritarian rule-Need of the Hour

The direct rule of the king has not only undermined the supremacy and the spirit of the constitution and the parliament but has also pushed the nation towards the authoritarian rule. The savage enforcement of ancient form of authoritarianism even at the dawn of the 21st century has seriously damaged the image and prestige of Nepal and Nepali people in the world. The release of all political prisoners, freedom for the people to use their basic rights, freedom to the press, creation of the conducive atmosphere where all political parties can remain active, the end of the authoritarian rule by making the constitution active and the resumption of the rule of people’s representatives are essential to take the nation towards the democratic polity based on values and spirit enshrined in our constitution.

The right to rule the nation should be vested in the people alone. In the absence of parliament, political parties that still enjoy the mandate of the people and that have played historical role in bringing about changes and overall development of the nation, are the true representatives of the Nepali people.

3. Reinstatement of Parliament for The Rule Of People’s Representatives

The authoritarian rule has been imposed on the nation by taking advantage of the present situation when the nation is without the people’s representatives. The direct rule of the king has torn apart all values and spirit of the constitution. At the same time, deterioration in the security situation has given rise to the fear of insecurity among the masses and this will not allow the elections for the people’s representatives to be held in a free, fair and impartial manner.

We believe that reinstatement of the dissolved parliament is not only the need of the hour but also the common demand of all Nepali people. An active and live parliament is essential to absolve the nation from the present crisis, to make the constitution more active and effective, to hasten the democratic and development process in the nation, to restore lasting peace by managing and finally ending the violent bloody conflict. The existence of an active parliament is also necessary for achieving the political, economic, social and cultural well being of the people.

4. Some Important Agenda for Resolving Crisis

The reinstated parliament, by obtaining the extensive support from the political parties and the civil society, would accomplish these goals:

1. A government accountable to the parliament: The reinstated Parliament would work to constitute an all-party government having a consensus of all concerned. Such a government will be accountable to the Parliament and will work to resolve the crisis created by all forms of conflicts, to bring political stability and hastening the much needed progress.

2. Management of the violent conflict and restoration of lasting peace: The management of the armed Maoist conflict and the restoration of lasting peace are two main necessities for the nation. The all party government and the parliament will have two main agendas --- making the people sovereign and restoring lasting peace by managing the armed conflict through forward looking political solutions. By hammering out common democratic solutions for the nation’s various political, economic, social and cultural issues, a conducive atmosphere will be created for the Maoists to take part in the peaceful process of ending their conflict. In this context, by making all parties to the conflict agree to a code of conduct to respect human rights a friendly and conducive environment will be created so that all active and responsible participants in the process of peaceful settlement of the conflict including the political parties and other members of the civil society can contribute positively to end the conflict.

3. Commitment for forward-Looking Programmes: While moving ahead towards the process of democratisation and managing the conflict and or reaching a political solution for bringing about lasting peace, the continuation and preservation of the values that uphold the supremacy of the sovereignty of the people is of paramount importance. We are committed to our belief that the source of state power lies in the people and that the parliamentary multiparty democratic system will ensure the rule of law and the independence of judiciary. Likewise we endorse the provision of national referendum on issues of national importance, accountability of the army towards the people’s elected government and the restructuring of the state machineries to make it more participatory and representative. We also believe that the only system which is inclusive and encompasses the rich social, cultural, geographical, racial and liguistic diversities in the country can be strong.

We also express our full commitment to granting autonomy to local bodies, good governance and administration, establishment of the fully transparent economic administration, effective control of corruption, reservation of seats for women, dalits, marginalised indigenous people, Madhesis, and people from economically backward regions and the resolution of citizenship problem by defining appropriate base year, implementation of the concept of proportional development, equal opportunity for the development of individual and management and availability of health and education for all and transparent, democratic and responsible conduct on the part of political parties. We commit to include all the above mentioned issues into the structure of the new constitution.

4. End to the Quandary On constitution: The constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal-1991 has postulated that the sovereignty of the state power lies solely in the people and that the use of such sovereign power will be executed as per the constitution. This is certainly the main achievement of the Popular Movement of 1990, which we can not allow to be “hijacked” under any pretense. We commit ourselves to make the people all the more powerful and fully sovereign.

To bring all the political powers into the mainstream of national politics, the issues plaguing the constitution should be resolved on the basis of a common agenda. We express our commitment that we will remain open and ready to constitutional assembly and all democratic procedures to end all forms of conflict in the nation.

5.  The Basis of Forward Looking Progress is the Constitution of Nepal-1991. By regarding the constitution of Nepal-1991; we pledge to find an exit to the nation’s political crisis and to move ahead towards gaining the forward looking progress.

6.  To organise National Elections: By resolving constitutional issues, national elections will be held within a certain period. International monitoring and assistance can be sought to ascertain that the national elections are peaceful, free, fair and impartial. We firmly believe that our common agreement and commitment would be a way out in ending the national crisis. The most important goal of the peaceful people’s movement is to establish full democracy in the nation. The authoritarian rule can only be ended through such a movement. To achieve our goal, we, the political parties as mentioned below, after having constituted the common programmes and the code of programmes and the code of conduct, express our commitment for the peaceful movement. 1) Nepali Congress-Girija Prasad Koirala, president; 2) Nepal Communist Party (UML)- Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary; 3) Nepali Congress (Democratic)- Gopal Man Shrestha, acting president; 4) Janmorcha, Nepal, Chitra Bahadur Ale, acting chairman; 5) Nepal Workers and Peasant’ Party – Narayan Man Bijukuchche, Rohit, chairman; 6) Nepal Sadbhavna Party (Anandi Devi) – Bhogendra Thakur, leader; 7) Samyukta Bam Morcha, Nepal, CP Mainali, chairman.