che_diwas
9th November 2006, 18:00
Monarchy is virtually under suspension, PM will be de facto head of state: Prachanda
Maoist supremo Prachanda today said that yesterday’s historic agreement between the seven-party alliance (SPA) and his party has, in essence, put the monarchy virtually under the state of suspension until constituent assembly polls and made clear that the Prime Minister of the interim government would be de facto head of state.
Maoist chairman Prachanda addressing a press conference organised to...
Addressing his first official press conference in the capital Wednesday evening, Prachanda said the letter of the agreement, which states that the King shall be kept powerless-- without any kind of resources-- “means, in essence, that the monarchy remains under the state of suspension until the verdict of the constituent assembly”.
“The Prime Minister of the interim government will be de facto head of state,” he said, mentioning that Girija Prasad Koirala would also lead the interim government inclusive of the Maoists.
Prachanda announced that he, along with two other senior leaders - Dr Baburam Bhattarai and Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’ - would not join the interim government and that the party had not yet decided who would be leading the party in the interim government. Dr Bhattrai, ‘Badal’, Maoist talks coordinator Krishna Bahadur Mahara, talks team members Dev Gurung and Dina Nath Sharma and other central Maoist leaders were also present at the press conference, which was closely guarded by unarmed Maoist militia.
Prachanda said his party would immediately start preparations for establishment of cantonments to settle the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and informed that the mass meeting scheduled for Friday when he would make his “first official public appearance” at Khula Manch, Kathmandu, has been cancelled. In place of the Friday’s mass meeting, victory rallies would be carried out all over the country until Friday.
Asked about the pressure on local residents of Kathmandu to provide food and shelter to Maoist cadres, the Maoist chairman said there’s been exaggeration of the issue and claimed that the party had no intention to put such a pressure.
Speaking further, Prachanda indirectly lauded India’s cooperation for allowing the 12-point SPA-Maoist agreement take place in its land last November, and revealed that he was likely to informally talk with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and ruling Congress party president Sonia Gandhi during the ‘leadership summit’ slated for November 17-18 in New Delhi.
The Maoist supremo has been invited to attend the summit organised by Hindustan Times, a leading Indian national daily. Indian PM Singh and ruling Congress chief Gandhi are among the high profile invitees of the summit.
Prachanda further said a section of international community, especially the USA, was unhappy with the SPA-Maoist agreement and that there might be conspiracies in future.
On constituent assembly, he said federal system, radical socio-economic transformation along with land reform and inclusiveness in all aspects of political system would be key agendas of his party for the polls.
He also stressed the need to downsize the future National Army, which will also include PLA members and made clear that arms of the PLA would not be destroyed. “We need to restructure the Nepali Army to make it democratic. And, we want to professionalise our PLA,” he said.
The rebel leader, who led the decade-long armed insurgency into a successful peace deal, said Nepal could set a development model in South Asia within 10 years if the political forces become able to change their mindset and utilise the “historic opportunity” yesterday’s agreement has created.
“We have abundant human and natural resources and we can take Nepal on top of South Asian level within 10 years if we adequately mobilise the resources we have,” he said.
SPA government and the Maoists seal the historic deal
The marathon summit meeting between the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) government and the Maoists has finally produced a historic deal paving way for formal entry of the Maoists into the peaceful political mainstream.
The deal lists a timetable as per which the Maoists will be joining the interim government on December 1.
The deal includes agreement on all issues such as fate of monarchy, arms management, interim constitution, interim legislature, interim government and electoral system for Constituent Assembly.
Fate of Monarchy
The agreement states that the fate of monarchy will be determined by the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA).
The properties of late King Birendra will be put under a trust. The ancestral property of current King Gyanendra will be nationalized. The king will be powerless till the fate of monarchy is determined by CA.
Arms Management
The agreement states that the government and the Maoists will sign a Comprehensive Peace Agreement on November 16. Following this, the Maoist army would be sent to cantonments on November 21. Seven big cantonments will be set up each in Kailali, Surkhet, Rolpa, Palpa, Ilam, Kavre and Sindhuli districts and there will be 21 smaller camps.
The arms of the Maoist army will be separated and put under single lock system; its key given to Maoists and the cantonments will be monitored by the United Nations through Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) and siren alarm, which will be set off if there is any unauthorized tampering of the lock.
The UN will start verifying arms and monitor it from November 16 itself. Similar quantity of arms of Nepali Army (NA) would also be put under single lock system.
Interim Constitution, Legislature and Government
The Interim Constitution will be promulgated on November 26. It will be promulgated by the House of Representatives, which would then be dissolved.
An interim legislature will replace the House of Representatives, which would then adopt the interim constitution. The interim legislature will have 330 members – Nepali Congress (75 seats), Unified Marxist Leninist (73 seats), and Maoists (73 seats). In fact, 209 sitting MPs of the House of Representatives and National Assembly will be nominated by their respective parties to the interim legislature. These will not include pro-regression parliamentarians. Apart from them, the Maoists will nominate 73 members and 48 members will be chosen from civil society, professional organizations and various party organizations.
The interim government will be led by current Prime Minister and president of Nepali Congress (NC) Girija Prasad Koirala. It will be formed on December 1 including the Maoists.
CA Elections
The agreement states that the CA election would be held within mid-June 2007. The CA elections would be held on the basis of mixed proportional procedure.
There will be 425 members of CA – 205 will be elected directly on the basis of existing electoral constituencies. Another 204 members will be nominated by various parties on the basis of their proportional strength seen during direct elections.
The Prime Minister will nominate 16 remaining members of the CA.
Meanwhile, the UML has written its Note of Dissent on two points in the agreement. It has stated that the party believes holding referendum was the best way to decide about the fate of monarchy. Likewise, it also stated that election to CA should have been held on fully proportional representation system.
Other points of agreement include determining 1990 as the cut-off year for providing citizenship.
The agreement was signed by Maoist chairman Prachanda on behalf of his party. Likewise, on behalf of SPA, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, NC (Democratic) president Sher Bahadur Deuba, People's Front president and deputy Prime Minister Amik Sherchan, general secretary of Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP-Anandidevi) Bharat Bimal Yadav, president of Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) Narayan Man Bijukchhe, Leftist Front leader CP Mainali have signed the agreement. The summit meeting ended at 1:15 am on Wednesday.
Maoist supremo Prachanda today said that yesterday’s historic agreement between the seven-party alliance (SPA) and his party has, in essence, put the monarchy virtually under the state of suspension until constituent assembly polls and made clear that the Prime Minister of the interim government would be de facto head of state.
Maoist chairman Prachanda addressing a press conference organised to...
Addressing his first official press conference in the capital Wednesday evening, Prachanda said the letter of the agreement, which states that the King shall be kept powerless-- without any kind of resources-- “means, in essence, that the monarchy remains under the state of suspension until the verdict of the constituent assembly”.
“The Prime Minister of the interim government will be de facto head of state,” he said, mentioning that Girija Prasad Koirala would also lead the interim government inclusive of the Maoists.
Prachanda announced that he, along with two other senior leaders - Dr Baburam Bhattarai and Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’ - would not join the interim government and that the party had not yet decided who would be leading the party in the interim government. Dr Bhattrai, ‘Badal’, Maoist talks coordinator Krishna Bahadur Mahara, talks team members Dev Gurung and Dina Nath Sharma and other central Maoist leaders were also present at the press conference, which was closely guarded by unarmed Maoist militia.
Prachanda said his party would immediately start preparations for establishment of cantonments to settle the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and informed that the mass meeting scheduled for Friday when he would make his “first official public appearance” at Khula Manch, Kathmandu, has been cancelled. In place of the Friday’s mass meeting, victory rallies would be carried out all over the country until Friday.
Asked about the pressure on local residents of Kathmandu to provide food and shelter to Maoist cadres, the Maoist chairman said there’s been exaggeration of the issue and claimed that the party had no intention to put such a pressure.
Speaking further, Prachanda indirectly lauded India’s cooperation for allowing the 12-point SPA-Maoist agreement take place in its land last November, and revealed that he was likely to informally talk with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and ruling Congress party president Sonia Gandhi during the ‘leadership summit’ slated for November 17-18 in New Delhi.
The Maoist supremo has been invited to attend the summit organised by Hindustan Times, a leading Indian national daily. Indian PM Singh and ruling Congress chief Gandhi are among the high profile invitees of the summit.
Prachanda further said a section of international community, especially the USA, was unhappy with the SPA-Maoist agreement and that there might be conspiracies in future.
On constituent assembly, he said federal system, radical socio-economic transformation along with land reform and inclusiveness in all aspects of political system would be key agendas of his party for the polls.
He also stressed the need to downsize the future National Army, which will also include PLA members and made clear that arms of the PLA would not be destroyed. “We need to restructure the Nepali Army to make it democratic. And, we want to professionalise our PLA,” he said.
The rebel leader, who led the decade-long armed insurgency into a successful peace deal, said Nepal could set a development model in South Asia within 10 years if the political forces become able to change their mindset and utilise the “historic opportunity” yesterday’s agreement has created.
“We have abundant human and natural resources and we can take Nepal on top of South Asian level within 10 years if we adequately mobilise the resources we have,” he said.
SPA government and the Maoists seal the historic deal
The marathon summit meeting between the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) government and the Maoists has finally produced a historic deal paving way for formal entry of the Maoists into the peaceful political mainstream.
The deal lists a timetable as per which the Maoists will be joining the interim government on December 1.
The deal includes agreement on all issues such as fate of monarchy, arms management, interim constitution, interim legislature, interim government and electoral system for Constituent Assembly.
Fate of Monarchy
The agreement states that the fate of monarchy will be determined by the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA).
The properties of late King Birendra will be put under a trust. The ancestral property of current King Gyanendra will be nationalized. The king will be powerless till the fate of monarchy is determined by CA.
Arms Management
The agreement states that the government and the Maoists will sign a Comprehensive Peace Agreement on November 16. Following this, the Maoist army would be sent to cantonments on November 21. Seven big cantonments will be set up each in Kailali, Surkhet, Rolpa, Palpa, Ilam, Kavre and Sindhuli districts and there will be 21 smaller camps.
The arms of the Maoist army will be separated and put under single lock system; its key given to Maoists and the cantonments will be monitored by the United Nations through Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) and siren alarm, which will be set off if there is any unauthorized tampering of the lock.
The UN will start verifying arms and monitor it from November 16 itself. Similar quantity of arms of Nepali Army (NA) would also be put under single lock system.
Interim Constitution, Legislature and Government
The Interim Constitution will be promulgated on November 26. It will be promulgated by the House of Representatives, which would then be dissolved.
An interim legislature will replace the House of Representatives, which would then adopt the interim constitution. The interim legislature will have 330 members – Nepali Congress (75 seats), Unified Marxist Leninist (73 seats), and Maoists (73 seats). In fact, 209 sitting MPs of the House of Representatives and National Assembly will be nominated by their respective parties to the interim legislature. These will not include pro-regression parliamentarians. Apart from them, the Maoists will nominate 73 members and 48 members will be chosen from civil society, professional organizations and various party organizations.
The interim government will be led by current Prime Minister and president of Nepali Congress (NC) Girija Prasad Koirala. It will be formed on December 1 including the Maoists.
CA Elections
The agreement states that the CA election would be held within mid-June 2007. The CA elections would be held on the basis of mixed proportional procedure.
There will be 425 members of CA – 205 will be elected directly on the basis of existing electoral constituencies. Another 204 members will be nominated by various parties on the basis of their proportional strength seen during direct elections.
The Prime Minister will nominate 16 remaining members of the CA.
Meanwhile, the UML has written its Note of Dissent on two points in the agreement. It has stated that the party believes holding referendum was the best way to decide about the fate of monarchy. Likewise, it also stated that election to CA should have been held on fully proportional representation system.
Other points of agreement include determining 1990 as the cut-off year for providing citizenship.
The agreement was signed by Maoist chairman Prachanda on behalf of his party. Likewise, on behalf of SPA, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, NC (Democratic) president Sher Bahadur Deuba, People's Front president and deputy Prime Minister Amik Sherchan, general secretary of Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP-Anandidevi) Bharat Bimal Yadav, president of Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) Narayan Man Bijukchhe, Leftist Front leader CP Mainali have signed the agreement. The summit meeting ended at 1:15 am on Wednesday.