Will terrible earthquake bring a fuller democracy in Nepal?

Amid the rubble and homeless in Nepal, the country's political parties appear poised to finally enact a constitution. Has adversity brought opportunity?

|
Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters
A boy walks along the debris of a collapsed temple in Kathmandu on Monday. He's carrying a trident, which is locally called "Trishul", a weapon used by Lord Shiva also known as the god of destruction.

Quake-ravaged Nepal woke to some rare good news Tuesday as long-warring political parties sealed a major deal that could lead to the country's first modern constitution.

Both the ruling party and the opposition Maoists have been at bitter odds for years. But the severity of the earthquake and some 300 aftershocks have provided the impetus for reform in a way not seen in at least seven years, analysts say.

Adversity has provided an opportunity it appears. 

Four major parties in the Constituent Assembly broke the deadlock Monday. They agreed to a new eight-province federal structure and a bicameral parliament where the prime minister is the executive and the president plays a more ceremonial role. 

The deal reached on Monday must first be formalized in the Constituent Assembly before being open to a public comment period. A final vote on the draft – which could make it Nepal’s first post-monarchy constitution – is expected to come in July.

“The quake left major political parties with no choice but to come together,” says Guna Raj Luintel, editor of Nagarik, a daily newspaper. “They needed to agree on the constitution to win the confidence of the international community." He adds that the parties also needed to signal that they could work together toward reform and reconstruction.

Boost in morale

The deal is a much-needed psychological boost after nearly 9,000 Nepalis died in heavy quakes that struck April 25 and May 12. Millions remain homeless, especially in rural areas. Many are fearful of the monsoon rains expected later this month that usually last all summer.

Politics in Nepal have been stymied for seven years. After two elections and six government changes, the country's political parties have yet to agree to a constitution to cap a drawn-out peace process with former Maoist rebels. For 10 years, until 2006, the rebels fought an insurgency that drained the nation’s budget and cost more than 17,000 lives.

In agreeing to the deal on Monday, the Maoists ditched their alliance with some 30 smaller parties. Their move suggested an awareness that the nation now faces bigger problems.  

The four major parties that came together – the ruling Nepali Congress, the Maoists, the Communists, and the Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum – collectively command more than two-thirds majority in the assembly.

Mr. Luintel says the message from the four parties is, “’Trust us. We can work together. We can deliver.’”

The opposition, he points out, does not have the popular support to hinder the deal.

Cautious optimism

“Given the calamity,” Luintel says, “they will know better than to obstruct the constitution-drafting process." Given that Nepal is already suffering from the quake, he adds that any who attempts to block the deal be seen as "insensitive tormentors."

 "I think the opposing parties also have no choice but to play a constructive role,” he says. 

Ordinary citizens have welcomed the new federal idea, but cautiously.

“This is definitely good news. Finally, things seem to be moving ahead,” said Jagat Das Shrestha of Tahachal, a local Kathmandu neighborhood, who lost a brother in the April 25 quake. “But we will have to wait and see whether the agreements result in a constitution, or our leaders find new points to disagree on in the coming days. We have had so much bad experience that it’s better to be cautiously optimistic,” he said.

Final damage estimates are due in mid-June ahead of an international donors’ conference to be held in Kathmandu June 25. The National Planning Commission says the country lost nearly $10 billion in infrastructure and some 500,000 structures. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Will terrible earthquake bring a fuller democracy in Nepal?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2015/0609/Will-terrible-earthquake-bring-a-fuller-democracy-in-Nepal
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe