When there has been no agreement on the form of government, state restructuring and other issues, President Ram Baran Yadav met UCPN (M) chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress president Sushil Koirala, and UML chairperson Jhala Nath Khanal at his residence Shital Niwas. In the meeting, the President asked the leaders to conclude the outstanding issues within March 13, 2012. He urged the leaders to give special emphasis on the peace process.

UML chairperson Jhala Nath Khanal said the peace process was moving forward, discussions were going on about the disputed issues, and there will be a consensus among the parties soon. The leaders said that if even if the work had not progressed on constitution-drafting according to the calendar of events of the CA, it would have no effect on promulgation of the constitution by May 27, 2012.

After meetings with the coordinator of the dispute resolution sub-committee of the Constitutional Committee and chief whips of the political parties, the CA chairperson Subash Nemwang informed that the parties had agreed to conclude the peace process before drafting the constitution. The parties, in the presence of the CA chairperson, agreed to consult the Committee for State Restructuring and Distribution of State Power on the report of the State Restructuring Commission and seek alternate ways to send the report to the Constitutional Committee. CA chairperson Nemwang said the delay in discussing the report of the State Restructuring Commission was due to the failure of the parties in the sub-committee for amending the CA Regulations.

In the meantime, news media reported on the proposal of the Nepal Army on integration to give the rank of up to brigadier general to the senior Maoist combatants. The proposal was taken positively by UCPN (M) but Congress and UML opposed it saying it was against the 7-point agreement. As the ‘media war’ among the parties, the Nepal Army clarified that its proposal does not include giving the rank of brigadier general but only up to the rank of major. According to the Nepal Army, the report is the final shape of the concepts formulated during the tenure of the prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and has been submitted to the present prime minster Baburam Bhattarai.

There was a meeting of the PLA general staff. In the meeting, the PLA commanders expressed their acceptance of the integration process based on the political consensus but suggested the party to claim either the leadership of the directorate or the rank of brigadier general. UML accused the prime minister of being the obstacle to the peace and constitution-drafting and demanded his resignation.

Amidst the clamour for his resignation from within his own party and outside, the prime minister termed those seeking his resignation as being against the peace process and the constitution. National consensus government was supposed to be the main agenda in the UCPN (M) standing committee meeting, but it did not come up for discussion, and there was no agreement among Congress, UML, and UCPN (M).

UML Federal Affairs Department proposed two models of eight and 12 states based on cultural identity and economic capacity. UML also disrupted the parliamentary meeting accusing the government of not ensuring peace and security and demanding judicial inquiry in the murder of its cadre in Siraha.
The government formed a taskforce to study the land transactions carried out by the people’s government during the conflict and make recommendations to the government and appointed UCPN (M) politburo member and former minister for Peace and Reconstruction Janardan Sharma as it coordinator.

Major Developments