Nepal Project

Brief Historical Overview

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Nepal, a nation of twenty-six million people, has long been plagued by political instability. There have been allegations of corruption before and after the 1990 introduction of multi-party democracy. In 1996, the Communist Party (Maoist) withdrew from the democratic polity and began an insurgency to remove the monarchy and prevalent parliamentary disposition. The Maoists quickly gained control of vast rural regions of Nepal. In 2001, a state of emergency was declared, and in 2002, King Gyanendra dissolved parliament. The Maoist insurgency, which began in February 1996, afflicted all seventy-five districts of Nepal and officially ended in 2006 with the triumph of a pro-democracy ‘people’s power’ movement, known locally as Janandolan II. The Maoists initially had support from rural people, particularly youth and Dalits. They funded their activities through extortion. Approximately 40 percent of gun-carrying Maoists were women. Ordinary people lived in fear of both the Maoists and the government. The use of home-made bombs by the Maoists cost the lives of hundreds of civilians. Government reprisals to assumed Maoists supporters were brutal. From 1996-2006, government forces killed 8377 people and ‘disappeared’ 783 people. The Maoists killed 4970 and ‘disappeared’ 105.

On January 29, 2003, the monarch-appointed government and Maoists declared a cease-fire that culminated in two sessions of formal talks as of July 1, 2003. The Maoists who were calling for a new constitutional assembly implied they were ready for negotiations. Protests against the government, changes in negotiation-team personnel, violations of the cease-fire, and arguments over agreements reached in the first two formal discussions made convening a third round of talks between the Maoists and the government difficult. The cease-fire was abandoned on August 27, 2003.

The king’s appointed government changed players several times until February 1, 2005 when the King ousted the former Prime Minister Deuba for a second time, placed most of the elected political leadership under arrest, and cut Nepal off from the world, human rights, and press freedom for nearly ten days. The king stated that the elected government could not deal with the Maoists, as justification for his actions. The political parties and journalists in urban areas were severely affected as the Maoists controlled most of the countryside. Citizens who protested the king's moves were detained and the press and human rights groups were harassed. More than 13,000 people died as a result of the conflict, which saw an increase in violent confrontation especially between the (formerly Royal) Nepalese Army and the Maoist insurgents.

In September 2005, the Maoists declared a unilateral three-month cease-fire. While the cease-fire received the support of many in the international community, the Government of Nepal (GON) stayed silent for days after the cease-fire was declared and ultimately did not reciprocate. During the fall the Maoists and the seven-party alliance (SPA) met and reached a twelve-point agreement of understanding in November 2005. The agreement was an attempt to design a framework for peace, rooted in a basic alliance against the monarchy. While many in the international community heralded this agreement and pressured the king to open a dialogue with the parties to revisit peace talks, the monarchy went on the offensive against the alliance. After a one-month extension of the unilateral Maoist cease-fire in December, they returned to arms and violence increased in the countryside and begun penetrating the previously relatively peaceful Kathmandu Valley.

On February 8, 2006 the municipal elections ordered by the king were boycotted by the SPA and the Maoists. In the weeks preceding the election hundreds of political leaders, human right advocates, journalists and business professionals were detained. The international community termed the elections a sham. The turnout for elections ranged between one to 20 percent in most voting areas, a dramatic decrease from the 90 percent voter turnout in the 1990 general elections.

For nineteen days in April 2006 the pro-democracy movement brought the masses to the streets of Nepal, in spite of a shoot-to-kill curfew. King Gyanendra addressed the nation on the sixteenth day of the protests but his speech fell short of addressing the demands of the mounting pro-democracy movement. He ignored the twelve-point agreement between the Maoists and the SPA. Then the tenor of the protests changed from pro-democracy to overtly anti-monarch. This sentiment deepened with the death of peaceful protestors at the hands of the security forces over nineteen days.

King Gyanendra came before television audiences and in a short statement agreed to re-instatement of parliament on April 24, 2006. An estimated two million people participated in victory rallies across the country on April 25.

In the wake of the pro-democracy movement, the reinstated parliament appointed Girija Prasad Koirala as prime minister. The Maoists declared a cease-fire and the government reciprocated. In May 2006, parliament declared itself the supreme power in the state and a unanimous vote sharply curtailed the king’s powers. In his place, the prime minister was made acting head of state and now holds the historical title of supreme commander of the newly renamed Nepali Army. The king and royal family had their tax exempt status revoked. No longer a Hindu kingdom, parliament declared Nepal a secular state. Women and men were granted equal right to citizenship; previously only men were able to confer citizenship to their spouses and offspring. These legislative changes began to address historic discrimination and structural violence in Nepalese society.

On June 16, 2006, Prime Minister Koirala and Maoist Chairman Prachanda met for the first time and it was agreed that the Maoists would eventually join the interim government. The interim seven-party government and the Maoists continued their peace dialogue which culminated in November with the signing of a peace accord that formally ended the ten-year insurgency. An additional provision of this historic accord was the agreement to lock-up Maoist weapons and an equal number of government weapons and to create cantonment sites for Maoist combatants. On January 23, 2007, a unanimous UN Security Council Resolution 1740 created the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) to implement these objectives.

On January 15, 2007, 83 Maoists were inducted into the interim parliament. On April 2, five Maoists joined the governing coalition as ministers, thus partially completing the Maoists long march to power. The next major political development in Nepal will be the elections for a Constituent Assembly (CA) originally slated to be held in June, and twice postponed until April 2008. Once the CA is elected, the interim parliament will be disbanded, the fate of the monarchy will be determined and a new constitution will be framed preceding general elections for a new parliament.
On September 18, 2007, the CPN-Maoist ministers resigned from the government due to the rejection of its demands, which included the immediate declaration of a republic prior to the Constituent Assembly election planned for November and an electoral system of proportional representation.
After months of negotiations, the Maoists rejoined the interim government after the parliament voted by an overwhelming majority to amend the constitution to declare Nepal a federal republic on December 28, 2007. A total of 270 out of 371 MPs voted in favour to abolish more than 240 years of monarchy; the compromise ended the political deadlock between the SPA and Maoists. Nepal's embattled King Gyanendra, who has been stripped of all powers, will remain the monarch until the amendment has been ratified by a constituent assembly to be elected April 10, 2008.

Throughout 2007, persistent political volatility as well as insurgent activity continued to threaten Nepal’s instability. Though the number of insurgency-related fatalities has remained low and rate of fatalities has decreased since the May 2006 Code of Conduct, subversive activity of the CPN-Maoist continued to grow unchecked across the country. According to the Institute for Conflict Management database, 95 persons have been killed this year (provisional data till Dec. 13), including 55 civilians and 40 Maoists. Since Nov. 2006, according to the Kathmandu-based Informal Sector Education Centre (INSEC), 20 people were killed by the security forces and 22 persons were killed by the Maoist youth wing, the Young Communist League (YCL). The YCL is the Maoists’ revived its militant youth wing which acts as affiliate to provide support and energy to the ‘revolution’ and is presently involved in activities including intimidation, extortion, looting, abduction and attacks. An INSEC report disclosed that 772 people were abducted by the YCL over this period, adding that the Maoists were continuing illegal activities and human rights violations.

On February 13, 2008 the CPN-Maoists celebrated their 12th anniversary revolution in Nepal. Despite the 2006 CPA the Maoists have re-activated their rural governments that were dissolved when the peace agreement was signed.

The ruling Seven Party Alliance (SPA) committee formed the team headed by Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ramchandra Poudyal to respond to fractioning demands from groups such as the Buddhist ethnic group, Nepal Tamang National Liberation Front, demanding autonomy and a republic, and the United Democratic Dalit Liberation Front, demanding proportional representation for Dalits in the impending election and a republic. The government team includes representatives from all the seven parties and is tasked to find early solutions to the political problems that could possibly create major security obstacles in the holding of the CA polls.