Normal life hit across Nepal ahead of constitutional deadline
14 Jan 2015 1:38 AM GMT
With the deadline to promulgate Nepal’s new constitution approaching fast, a general strike called by the alliance of 30 political parties led by Maoists parties UCPN-M and CPN-M crippled normal life across the country on Tuesday.
The alliance is pressing for identity and ethnicity-based federalism which the ruling Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) have rejected.
Parties in Nepal have also failed to forge a consensus on key issues like federalism, form of government, models of the judiciary and the electoral system. The sharp division over the intricacies of the new constitution has pushed the deadline for promulgating the new constitution into a limbo.
The self-imposed deadline set by political parties in Nepal is January 22 and the chances of Nepal having a new constitution by that deadline are slim. Political polarisation has heightened and the strike called by the opposition has ignited confrontation.
The Maoist-led alliance boycotted the Constituent Assembly that is tasked to bring out the new constitution. In the absence of Opposition, Constituent Assembly chairman Subash Chandra Nembang received a report from a key constitutional committee which was headed by Maoist leader and former PM Baburam Bhattarai.
Bhattarai did not hand over the report that included an account of the agreements and disagreements on the new constitution.
The alliance is pressing for identity and ethnicity-based federalism which the ruling Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) have rejected.
Parties in Nepal have also failed to forge a consensus on key issues like federalism, form of government, models of the judiciary and the electoral system. The sharp division over the intricacies of the new constitution has pushed the deadline for promulgating the new constitution into a limbo.
The self-imposed deadline set by political parties in Nepal is January 22 and the chances of Nepal having a new constitution by that deadline are slim. Political polarisation has heightened and the strike called by the opposition has ignited confrontation.
The Maoist-led alliance boycotted the Constituent Assembly that is tasked to bring out the new constitution. In the absence of Opposition, Constituent Assembly chairman Subash Chandra Nembang received a report from a key constitutional committee which was headed by Maoist leader and former PM Baburam Bhattarai.
Bhattarai did not hand over the report that included an account of the agreements and disagreements on the new constitution.
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