NepalNEPAL: Government and Politic
Jang Bahadur Rana, founder of the Rana line of prime ministers, who
reigned from 1846 to 1877
THE DRAMATIC EVENTS of the beginning months of 1990
marked a
watershed in Nepal's political system. The quest for a
multiparty,
representative form of government had begun on December
15, 1960,
when an unprecedented royal coup d'état dismissed the
constitutionally elected government of Bishweshwar Prasad
(B.P.)
Koirala. King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev abrogated the
constitution and suspended all guarantees of fundamental
rights and
political activities. The traditional partyless
panchayat
(see Glossary) system of local and national assemblies
imposed by
fiat was found unsatisfactory in the face of the Nepalese
desire to
secure legitimate political and human rights and establish
accountability in government.
Monarchical opposition toward political parties or
groups had
been so vigorous that the centrist Nepali Congress Party,
the
oldest political party, carried on its activities from
exile in
India. Other political parties, including the splintered
leftist
groups, either operated from abroad or were disbanded.
Although
political parties were banned and at times their leaders
were
incarcerated or forced to go underground, they remained a
vital
force in sensitizing and mobilizing public opinion against
government authoritarianism.
The Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD),
popularly
known as the prodemocracy movement, finally succeeded in
early 1990
in restoring democratic rights denied for decades by the
powerful
palace clique. In April 1990, tens of thousands of
Nepalese marched
on the royal palace in Kathmandu, demonstrating against
King
Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, who was traditionally
revered as an
incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. Police and troops
shot and
killed many of the marchers. As shock waves reverberated
through
Nepal, long an oasis of civil order in South Asia, the
king quickly
scrapped the panchayat system, lifted the ban on
political
parties, and formed an interim government from among the
ranks of
the veteran opposition leaders under the premiership of
Nepali
Congress leader Krishna Prasad (K.P.) Bhattarai.
The interim government, which represented the spectrum
of
public opinion, was directed to conduct fair and free
elections
within a stipulated period under a new constitution framed
by an
independent constitutional commission appointed by the
Council of
Ministers--the Constitution Recommendation Commission.
Although the
constitution was proclaimed from the throne, its
development,
unlike past constitutional edicts, was through a
democratic process
in which the interim Council of Ministers served as a
legislature.
Nepal's human rights records--poor before the success of
the
prodemocracy movement--also improved.
During the prodemocracy movement, a range of political
parties
acted in concert and rapidly commanded the loyalty and
imagination
of the overwhelming majority of the urban population. This
unprecedented expression of national unity and the
government's
subsequent attempts to suppress the movement triggered the
reactions of major and regional world powers including the
United
States, Japan, and India, and international financial
institutions,
such as the
World Bank (see Glossary) and
Asian Development Bank (see Glossary).
Their timely expressions of concern and
threats to
reevaluate their commitments of economic and technical
assistance
both bolstered the movement and served as a damper against
the
monarchy's continued use of excessive force to contain it.
Strategically wedged between China and India, Nepal has
always
been fearful of foreign intervention and has tried to
maintain
equal distance from these two powerful neighbors in a
continuing
effort to protect its sovereignty. Nepal's choice not to
align with
any superpower facilitated grants of economic assistance
from
diverse sources, including the United States, the Soviet
Union,
India, China, and Japan. Nepal maintained a high profile
in various
international organizations and activities and was a
charter member
of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC--see Glossary).
Although the vast majority of the Nepalese population
was
illiterate, Nepal's printed media has been influential as
well as
strident. Before the introduction of the 1990
constitution, which
guarantees freedom of expression, several stringent
publication and
censorship laws limited freedom of expression.
Data as of September 1991
|