The Brief's Daily Analysis
We should be thankful to our leaders for keeping Nepal alive in the international media. After the Gadhimai massacre only a gimmick like the cabinet meeting on Mount Everest could ensure that.
Or, is it because of the journalists, who are busy queuing for a ride to Kalapatthar with the ministerial folks? A hundred of them showed up at Nepal Tourism Board press conference yesterday asking for a ride.
It’s probably healthy for the journalists to cheer-lead the Everest meet. Things are too depressing otherwise.
The country is in expectation of a fuel crisis. All privately-owned fuel stations in Kathmandu have been forced shut by the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal Petroleum Workers’ Union. All nine Nepal Oil Corporation depots in the country were closed for the sixth consecutive day today. The union wants the Petroleum Dealers’ Association to fulfil their 16-point demand.
The two parties haven’t even sat down to discuss their grievances yet. But, whatever the chances of agreement before, the chances are even slimmer now since it has been linked with the Maoists' third round of protests. All Nepal Revolutionary Student Union kicked of the new phase of protests today by bringing young schoolchildren to the streets. They must be really thankful to Tribhuvan University for raising the student fee ten-fold last month and giving these young minds a cause to fight for.
There are a lot more with grievances, and those that will take to the street this month are: Saptakoshi flood victims, journalists, teachers, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, youth, sportsman, war victims, orphans and more. Let’s just say the calendar is jam-packed.
But forgetting civilian supremacy for a second, the Constituent Assembly can’t agree on whether the country should go for a presidential or parliamentary system of government. Maoists want the president to be directly elected by the people. Nepali Congress wants the prime minister to be elected through a majority vote in the lower house. UML wants a ceremonial president and the prime minister to be directly elected by the people.
There is so much disagreement going on,the Maoists cannt even stay agreed to their earlier decision to elect the state chief minister with a majority of the provincial parliament, if and when that is formed. Yesterday they decided that the chief minister should be elected directly.
If all of this seems like too much despair, we should try to find happiness in the small things. And, there is some good news–at least for the animals. And no, it has nothing to do with Gadhimai. Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has ordered National Trust for Nature Conservation to accelerate the construction of a new zoo in Suryabinayak, Bhaktapur. The new zoo will be bigger than the one in Jawalakhel and animals will be able to roam freely. From climate change summit on the Mount Everest to a new animal-friendly zoo in Suryabinayak, the prime minister must be pretty happy he has something to show for his six months in the office.
He said, she said:
“The formation of a High Level Body will tantamount to a move aimed at weakening the CA and thus would be taken as an unconstitutional act.” – Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chiarman Kamal Thapa
"There is no relation between the high level political mechanism and resolution of political deadlock as well as constitution writing." – Nepali Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba