THE CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY AND CURRENT politicalUPDATE OF NEPAL
1769: NEPAL BECOMES A UNIFIED NATION STATE AND A HINDU KINGDOM AND1846-1950: AUTOCRATIC RULE OF RANA FAMILY.1950: POPULAR REVOLT SUCCEEDS IN REMOVING RANA REGIME AND INTRODUCING MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY WITH CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY, 1960: KING DISSOLVES PARLIAMENT REMOVES ELECTED PRIME MINISTER, AND BANS POLITICAL PARTIES. THERE IS NO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, CONVERSION IS ILLEGAL, AND CHRISTIANS ARE HARASSED AND IMPRISONED, 1975: KING BIRENDRA CROWNED “DIVINE EMPEROR” OF ALL HINDUS, 1990: PRO-DEMOCRACY DEMONSTRATIONS ESTABLISH MULTI-PARTY PARLIAMENT, FORCING KING TO BECOME CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCH.
STATE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIAN CONVERTS ENDS, 1996: COMMUNIST PARTY OF NEPAL (MAOIST) BEGINS WHAT IS TO BE A 10-YEAR CIVIL WAR, 2002: KING GYANENDRA DISSOLVES PARLIAMENT, REMOVES PRIME MINISTER, RULES AS ABSOLUTE MONARCH, DECLARES EMERGENCY, AND DEPLOYS THE ARMY AGAINST THE MAOISTS. POLITICAL PARTIES START STREET PROTESTS AGAINST UNCONSTITUTIONAL RULE OF KING.2006: MASS PEOPLE’S MOVEMENT AND DEMONSTRATIONS FORCE KING TO RESTORE PARLIAMENT. PEACE AGREEMENT SIGNED WITH MAOISTS.
DEMOCRATIC SECULAR REPUBLIC ESTABLISHED.2008: ELECTION OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY (CA), 2012: CA FAILS TO MEET EXTENDED DEADLINE TO DRAFT AND PROMULGATE NEW CONSTITUTION AND IS DISSOLVED, LEAVING PRESIDENT, ADVISED BY CARETAKER CABINET, TO RULE BY DECREE. MARCH 2013: NON-POLITICAL GOVERNMENT FORMED UNDER CHIEF JUSTICE. ELECTIONS FOR NEW CA ANNOUNCED FOR 19 NOVEMBER 2013
CURRENT POLITICS OF NEPAL
NEPAL IS A FEDERAL REPUBLIC DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY .A FEDERAL REPUBLIC WAS ESTABLISHED IN MAY 2008 WHICH ENDED 240 YEARS OF MONARCHY RULE IN NEPAL. THE POLITICS OF NEPAL FUNCTIONS WITHIN A FRAMEWORK OF A REPUBLIC WITH A MULTI-PARTY SYSTEM. CURRENTLY, THE POSITION OF PRESIDENT (HEAD OF STATE) IS OCCUPIED BY BIDHYA DEVI BHANDARI. THE POSITION OF PRIME MINISTER (HEAD OF GOVERNMENT) IS HELD BY SHER BAHADUR DEUBA.EXECUTIVE POWER IS EXERCISED BY THE PRIME MINISTER AND HIS CABINET, WHILE LEGISLATIVE POWER IS VESTED IN THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY.
WHILE GOING BACK TO THE HISTORY, NEPAL HAS FACED MANY UPS AND DOWNS IN POLITICS.IN 1951; THE NEPALI MONARCH ENDED THE CENTURY-OLD SYSTEM OF RULE BY HEREDITARY PREMIERS AND INSTITUTED A CABINET SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. REFORMS IN 1990 ESTABLISHED A MULTIPARTY DEMOCRACY WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF A CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY. AN INSURGENCY LED BY MAOISTS BROKE OUT IN 1996. THE ENSUING 10-YEAR CIVIL WAR BETWEEN MAOIST AND GOVERNMENT FORCES WITNESSED THE DISSOLUTION OF THE CABINET AND PARLIAMENT AND ASSUMPTION OF ABSOLUTE POWER BY THE KING IN 2002.
SEVERAL WEEKS OF MASS PROTESTS IN APRIL 2006 WERE FOLLOWED BY SEVERAL MONTHS OF PEACE NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN THE MAOISTS AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, AND CULMINATED IN A LATE 2006 PEACE ACCORD AND THE PROMULGATION OF AN INTERIM CONSTITUTION. FOLLOWING A NATIONWIDE ELECTION IN APRIL 2008, THE NEWLY FORMED CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY (CA) DECLARED NEPAL A FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC AND ABOLISHED THE MONARCHY AT ITS FIRST MEETING THE FOLLOWING MONTH. THE CA ELECTED THE COUNTRY'S FIRST PRESIDENT IN JULY.
BETWEEN 2008 AND 2011 THERE WERE FOUR DIFFERENT COALITION GOVERNMENTS, LED TWICE BY THE UNITED COMMUNIST PARTY OF NEPAL-MAOIST, WHICH RECEIVED A PLURALITY OF VOTES IN THE 2008 CA ELECTION, AND TWICE BY THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF NEPAL-UNITED MARXIST-LENINIST (UML). AFTER THE CA FAILED TO DRAFT A CONSTITUTION BY THE MAY 2012 DEADLINE SET BY THE SUPREME COURT, THEN PRIME MINISTER BABU RAM BHATTARAI DISSOLVED THE CA. MONTHS OF NEGOTIATIONS ENSUED UNTIL MARCH 2013 WHEN THE MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES AGREED TO CREATE AN INTERIM GOVERNMENT HEADED BY THEN CHIEF JUSTICE KHIL RAJ REGMI WITH A MANDATE TO HOLD ELECTIONS FOR A NEW CA. ELECTIONS WERE HELD IN NOVEMBER 2013, IN WHICH AND THE NEPALI CONGRESS WON THE LARGEST SHARE OF THE SEATS IN THE CA AND IN FEBRUARY 2014 FORMED A COALITION GOVERNMENT WITH THE SECOND PLACE UML AND WITH NEPALI CONGRESS PRESIDENT SUSHIL KOIRALA AS PRIME MINISTER.
NEPAL IS HISTORICALLY A HINDU KINGDOM
BUT DURING THE LAST TWO DECADES IT HAS EVOLVED INTO A MODERN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC. BEFORE 1990, NEPALESE WERE NOT PERMITTED TO CHANGE THEIR RELIGION, AND CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY WERE SEVERELY HARASSED AND IMPRISONED. A DECADE-LONG MILITARY CONFLICT WITH MAOIST COMMUNIST FORCES ENDED WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, BUT THE PEACE PROCESS HAS YET TO PRODUCE A CONSTITUTION. CIVIL RIGHT SOCIETY AND HUMAN RIGHT ORGANIZATION ARE ADVOCATING FOR THE NEW CONSTITUTION TO GUARANTEE EVERY PERSON THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE OR CHANGE THEIR RELIGION OR BELIEF, AND TO COMMUNICATE IT TO OTHERS, WHICH DRAFT PROPOSALS WOULD ENDANGER. THERE IS ALSO A NEED TO SAFEGUARD HARMONIOUS COEXISTENCE BETWEEN PEOPLE OF THE MANY DIFFERENT FAITHS WHICH EXIST IN NEPAL.
FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND EXPRESSION OF FAITH
AT PRESENT, THERE IS NO SYSTEMATIC DISCRIMINATION OR ORGANIZED SUPPRESSION OF MEMBERS OF MINORITY RELIGIONS. BUDDHISTS AND MUSLIMS HAVE GENERALLY BEEN TREATED WITH RESPECT, AS HAVE MEMBERS OF LOCAL TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS. BUT RELIGIONS WHICH ARE NEWER TO NEPAL, SUCH AS THE CHRISTIAN AND OTHER NEW RELIGION HAVE NOT ALWAYS BEEN TOLERATED. MILITANT MOVEMENTS WITH LINKS TO INDIA WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR RELIGIOUSLY-MOTIVATED KILLINGS OF CHRISTIANS IN 2007 AND 2008.
A KEY ISSUE NOW IS THAT THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF MUST BE PROTECTED FULLY IN THE NEW CONSTITUTION. THE MANDATE FOR THE CONSTITUTION IS THAT IT MUST BE FULLY CONSISTENT WITH UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED HUMAN RIGHTS, INCLUDING THE CONVENTIONS APPROVED BY NEPAL, BUT THIS IS NOT THE CASE WITH DRAFT PROPOSALS ON THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF.
CONVERSION
THE ISSUE OF CONVERSION IS CONTROVERSIAL OR EMOTIVE IN NEPAL. ALTHOUGH AT PRESENT THERE EXISTS A GENERAL FREEDOM TO CHOOSE ONE’S PERSONAL FAITH, PUBLIC EVANGELISM AND THE TEACHING OF A NEW FAITH TO THOSE UNDER EIGHTEEN CAN PROVOKE STRONG ANTAGONISM.
DRAFT PROPOSALS FOR THE NEW CONSTITUTION DEAL WITH CONVERSION IN A PROBLEMATIC WAY. THE PROVISION THAT “NO PERSON SHALL BE ENTITLED TO CONVERT ANOTHER PERSON FROM ONE RELIGION TO ANOTHER” LEAVES LITTLE ROOM FOR SEEING RELIGIOUS CONVERSION AS A POSITIVE CHOICE, AND IT IS NOT CONSISTENT WITH NEPAL’S INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS OBLIGATIONS.
FUNERAL OR BURIAL RIGHTS
IN HINDUISM AND BUDDHISM, THE BODIES OF THE DEAD ARE TRADITIONALLY CREMATED, ALTHOUGH THERE IS ONE ETHNIC COMMUNITY, THE KIRATS, WHO BURY THEIR DEAD. THERE IS NO LAND IN NEPAL TRADITIONALLY ALLOCATED TO CHRISTIANS FOR BURIAL. CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS BOTH FIND THEMSELVES SEEKING LAND FOR BURIAL, BUT THIS IS A PARTICULARLY SEVERE PROBLEM FOR CHRISTIAN CHURCHES WHO FIND HINDUS ARE UNWILLING TO SELL LAND IF IT IS TO BE USED FOR BURIAL. IN SOME RURAL AREAS, CHRISTIANS SEEKING TO BURY THEIR DEAD HAVE FOUND THEMSELVES VICTIMS OF VIOLENT REACTIONS FROM LOCAL HINDUS WHO HAVE SEIZED AND FORCIBLY CREMATED THE BODY. THE SUPREME COURT OF NEPAL HAS ESTABLISHED THAT THE STATE IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVIDING LAND FOR BURIAL, BUT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVIDING PROTECTION WHEN THERE ARE OBSTRUCTIONS TO THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD ON CHURCH OWNED LAND.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
SINCE WOMEN HAVE TRADITIONALLY HAD SUCH A LOW STATUS IN SOCIETY, THE DEVELOPMENT AND PROTECTION OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND THE PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN EDUCATION AND ALL SECTORS OF SOCIETY IS A KEY ISSUE FOR THE FUTURE OF NEPAL. GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IS STILL A MAJOR PROBLEM WITHIN THE FAMILY, ON CITY STREETS, AND IN RURAL AREAS. DALIT AND ‘LOW’ CASTE WOMEN ARE PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE. THE REQUIREMENT IN THE 2008 ELECTIONS THAT 33% OF MPS MUST BE WOMEN WERE AN HISTORIC STEP FORWARD, BUT THIS HAS NOT BEEN MATCHED IN OTHER AREAS OF SOCIETY.
IMPUNITY
HOWEVER STRONG NEPAL’S LAWS MAY BE, THEY ARE IRRELEVANT IF THEY ARE NOT IMPLEMENTED PROPERLY. THE WIDESPREAD IMPUNITY FOR THOSE COMMITTING SERIOUS CRIMES IS A MAJOR ISSUE. NO ONE HAS YET BEEN PROSECUTED FOR CRIMES COMMITTED DURING THE DECADE-LONG CONFLICT. SINCE THAT TIME, THE PERPETRATORS OF MURDERS, TORTURES, RAPES AND OTHER SERIOUS CRIMES ARE NOT BEING ARRESTED, PROSECUTED OR CONVICTED. POLICE INEFFICIENCY AND CORRUPTION ARE PARTLY RESPONSIBLE, BUT POLITICAL LEADERS SHOW LITTLE DETERMINATION TO IMPLEMENT THE LAW, AND POLITICAL INTERFERENCE AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL INTO CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS AND PROSECUTIONS HAS BEEN A MAJOR CAUSE OF IMPUNITY FOR CRIMINALS.
G.P.O.BOX 160
KATHMANDU NEPAL