Submit your Article

President Bidya Devi Bhandari’s bid for a second term is all but certain to be successful after CPN-UML central committee meet­ing decided this week to nominate her for the position. Two factors seemed to have worked in Bhandari’s favor—that she is close to Prime Minister KP Oli and that she has only served two years in office (the constitution stipulates the President’s tenure to be five years long). Former prime minister and senior UML leader Jhala Nath Khanal was also an aspirant to the post.

Following the UML central com­mittee decision, Bhandari filed her candidacy for presidency with the election officer at the federal par­liament. Her candidacy was pro­posed by senior UML leaders Mad­hav Kumar Nepal, Subas Nembang, Iswor Pokhrel and Maoist leader Onsari Gharti.

The presidential election is slated for March 13. Bhandari’s victory is almost certain as the ruling coalition led by the UML holds a majority in the federal as well as the provincial assemblies whose members will vote in the election.

It was the first democratic prime minister of Nepal, BP Koirala, who took the initiative to establish diplomatic relations with Pakistan. Nepal’s outreach to Pakistan was in line with Koirala’s stated policy of strict neutrality in foreign policy conduct, or ‘non-alignment’. Some even speculate that Koirala’s decision to establish diplomatic ties with China and Pakistan, both in 1960, led to his ouster in a royal coup later in that year. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, in this reading, lent his full support to the dictatorial ambitions of King Mahendra, the coup plotter, to make Koirala pay for the ultimate crime of cozying up to India’s ‘enemies’. It is a dif­ferent story that King Mahendra would himself later cultivate Pakistan (and China) in order to balance Indian influence in Nepal. This is why, soon after usurping all executive powers, King Mahendra made an official visit in 1961 to Pakistan, where he was widely hailed as a “sagacious statesman”.

Such is the brief history of Nepal-Pakistan relations. With the SAARC in a coma and bilateral trade minimal, Nepal and Pakistan have not had much to discuss in recent times. “This is why the [recent Nepal] visit of Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi so troubles me,” says Keshab Bhatta­rai, a geopolitical analyst. “What other purpose will it serve save for antagonizing India?”

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli may have his own calcula­tions in playing host to Abbasi, says Bhattarai, but it is a “risky strategy that could easily backfire”.

But in the view of CPN-UML’s Rajan Bhattarai, who is also the proposed foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Oli, Abbasi’s trip was a simple case of a friend of Nepal wanting to visit and the host government obliging him. In the high-level talks between the two governments during the visit, “we discussed ways to revive SAARC,” he says.

India has not taken kindly to past suggestion of both Nepal and Pakistan that China be inducted as a full SAARC member. Abbasi’s visit, supposedly centered on SAARC, could thus make India suspect Oli’s intent.

There is no reason for such suspicions, argues Bhattarai, the UML leader. “Yes, regional issues were discussed, but we also discussed bilateral matters like boosting trade and exchange of students.” Abbasi invited Oli to visit Pakistan and the Nepali prime minister promised to visit “at a mutually con­venient time”, according to Bhattarai. That, in his view, is the long and short of it.

That however won’t stop tongues from wagging long after Abbasi has left Nepal.

Kathmandu: Preparations are almost complete for the first historic session of Nepal’s federal parliament formed following the completion of House of Representatives and Prov­ince Assembly elections last year. The session is scheduled to take place at the International Conven­tion Center, New Baneshwor at 4.00 pm on March 5. Earlier, on February 20, the President, on the recom­mendation of (new) Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, had summoned the parliament session on March 5 in accordance with the Nepal’s Consti­tution Article 93 (10).

Nepal’s federal parliament is bicameral and the upper house con­sists of 59 members (56 elected from the February 7 National Assembly election and three nominated by the President) while the lower house has 275 members (165 elected from first-past-the-post system and remaining 110 from proportional representa­tion system). RSS

A draft directive whereby citizens can directly petition the provincial parlia­ment has been endorsed by the Province 3 provincial assembly. The passage of the proposal marks the beginning of a new practice in Nepal’s parlia­mentary system.

Rajendra Pandey, chairperson of the Draft Committee of Provincial Assembly Directive 2074 BS, comprising members of seven political parties represented in the provincial assembly, had tabled the proposal last week.

The draft states: “If any Nepali citizen resid­ing in the concerned province feels aggrieved by a decision of the Cabinet, the government or a non-governmental entity, he or she can directly petition the parliament, pro­vided the petition is signed by 100 Nepali citizens and approved by three members of provincial parliament”.

“It is a new practice in Nepal,” said Pandey. “Earlier, a complaint submitted by a commoner was discussed in the [national] assembly only if the parliamentary committee it was submitted to deemed it important enough”.

It was a long process. But now, “ordinary citizens have a quicker way to have their concerns addressed.”

By Krishna Saru Magar | Hetauda