IMC India - Proposal to Peace Talks by CP (Maoists) of Nepal

Proposal to Peace Talks by CP (Maoists) of Nepal
By villagespring 07/05/2003 At 16:49

A passable translation of the proposal put forward by the Communist Party Nepal (Maoist) in the current round of peace talks.

THE PROPOSAL PUT FORWARD BY THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF NEPAL (MAOIST) IN THE

TALKS (Initiated April 2003)

A. Preamble:

It is crystal clear that the 250 year old regime of our country Nepal has

now met with a critical crisis, mainly due to the internal contradictions

that existed between castes, languages, regions, etc promoted by the

internal and external regressive class relations. So now the restructuring

of the old regime has become unavoidable. Although the political movements

in 1950 and 1990 tried to address this problem, the experience show that

these revolutions could not deliver desired results. Therefore, the

oppressed groups, classes, communities raised arms in 1996 with an aim of

establishing a new progressive regime in order to catalyse social,

political, economic, cultural and other changes. It is also a clear fact

that the strategic balance between the old regime and the newly emerging

regime coupled with the geo-political situation of the country prompted a

progressive political solution through dialogue. So, both sides announced a

cease fire on 29 January 2003. Accordingly the CPN Maoist negotiation team

has put forward this list of proposals which can be further elaborated as

the dialogue proceeds on.

B. Goals and Objectives:

These are the goals and objectives of the peace talks between the

negotiation teams of the old and the new regime:

1. To put an end to the conflict situation through a progressive political

outlet.

2. To address the regional, ethnic, caste, gender and classical

contradictions through progressive and radical political, social, and

economic changes. And also to develop a democratic and prosperous Nepal by

seeking solutions to the problems associated with the nationality, people's

democracy, and livelihood.

3. To create a strong and pro-people national unity by developing democracy

and nationality as inseparable parts and accordingly protect the national

integrity and sovereignty.

4. To look after the civil and human rights of the poor and lower rank

citizen and to try and to provide essential rehabilitation and compensation

to the victims of the civil war.

C. Implementation of cease-fire and the code of conduct and creation of a

dialogue friendly environment:

Based on the ground reality that most of the rural areas are controlled by

the people's liberation army and only the capital city and the district

capitals and big towns are controlled by the royal army, a 22 point code of

conduct has been signed already, which dictates that neither side launches

armed invasion into the other's territory. Also a dialogue friendly

environment can be created only if both sides make public and release their

detainees. And the old regime has to do away with Terrorist and Destructive

Activities (Prevention and Control) Act (TADA) and similar other black

laws. To create a dialogue free environment, the following activities need

to be carried out within a defined time frame:

1. The whereabouts of CPN (Maoist) central leader Danda Pani Neupane and

other detainees in the police and RNA custody has to be made public by 14

May 03.

2. Politburo alternative member Rabindra Shrestha, and the central

committee alternative members Barn Dev Chhetri, Mumaram Khanal and other

held in RNA barracks and prisons have to be released within 15 days.

3. Within the next 15 days, all the fake court cases should be dissolved

and all the prisoners of ideology should be released.

4. TADA has to be dismissed quickly.

5. RNA should return to the barracks within a week and it should stop

search operations on civilians.

6. A committee consisting of the representation of different national and

international human rights organisations, occupational organisations, and

the civil society should be formed to monitor the implementation of code of

conduct, to check the situation of the disappeared ones and to release the

detainees.

D. Peace process and time table:

The following steps should be taken in order to make the peace process

fruitful and transparent:

1. A facilitator team should be formed with the agreement of both sides and

they need to be included in all the steps of the negotiation.

2. The date and venue of the dialogue should be fixed, through the

facilitators with mutual understanding.

3. As the core issue of conflict is with regard to the regime, the

political agenda should be a priority. The other issues can be slowly

raised.

4. Keeping in mind the fact that such an extreme political liquidity should

not be allowed to exist for very long, the peace process should be taken to

a fruitful solution as soon as possible.

E. Agenda of the talks:

1. Main political agenda

As the issue of regime is the key issue of the conflict, the political

agenda should be the priority. The key issue should be formation of a new

progressive regime and a new progressive constitution to define the regime

as the 1990 constitution has now become almost null and void and the

country is now operating in a constitutional vacuum. So the main issues

will be the method of formulating the new constitution and identifying its

contents. Although there are some strong points in the 1990 constitution

(such as multiparty competition, timely election, rule of law, press

freedom, freedom of speech, etc) there are some grave faults and

imperfections (such as so-called unchangeable points, contradiction between

the royal regime and sovereignty, dissolution of the true democracy of the

poor and the oppressed groups, regions, castes under the British "formal

democracy", etc). Therefore, it is essential that the method of formation

of a new constitution and the contents of the constitution have to be more

progressive than that of the 1990 constitution. Taking into consideration

the new wave of awareness of the people of the 21St Century and the new

strategic power balance created by the 7 years of people's war, there is no

possibility of going behind the 1990 or sticking at the mere outcomes of

the 1990. The following things should be taken into consideration while

formulating a new constitution:

a. The process or method of formulating a new constitution:

1) With the consent of the revolutionary force and all the other parties, a

broad round-table conference should be organised.

2) That conference should formulate an interim constitution without

crushing the democratic rights enshrined in the 1990 constitution and

reflecting a new political power balance and an interim government should

be formed under the leadership of the revolutionary party.

3) The interim government should conduct an election to a constituent

assembly within six months. The CA will be inclusive of different groups,

castes, regions and communities. CA will form a new constitution.

b. Minimum contents of the new constitution:

1) The people should be fully sovereign and the regime should fall entirely

upon the hands of the people.

2) As a supreme representative of the people, an elected people's house of

representatives will be formed which will include representatives from all

sectors and groups, such as women, dalit, janajatis, ethnic minorities,

linguistic groups, different religions, regions, etc. All the organs of the

regime will be accountable to this house of representative. Accordingly,

there will be representation of different groups in the government as well.

3) The provisions will be such that with a two-third majority in the

people's house of representatives or with a national referendum, any point

in the constitution can be changed.

4) The Royal Nepal Army (RNA) and the People's Liberation Army should be

unified by making certain structural changes and the unified national army

should brought under the control of the elected people's representatives.

5) The widely supported civil and democratic rights, such as multiparty

competition, timely election, right to franchise, rule of law, freedom of

press and speech, personal and human rights and civil rights should be

guaranteed.

6) A regional and ethnic self-governance should be implemented to give

people the right to self-determination.

7) The country should be made a fully secular state.

8) Education, health and employment should be established as personal

rights. All citizen should get free and readily available basic education

and health services.

9) A new "land relation" should be formed on the basis of "one who works

for the land owns the land". A just land distribution law should be

enforced. The industrial development should be geared towards the nation's

self-sufficiency. A conservation policy should be formulated in order to

protect the national capital and resources.

10) An independent foreign policy should be implemented by eradicating the

1950 Treaty with India and all the other asymmetrical treaties and based on

the principal of non-alliance and Panchasheel (literal meaning 5

traditional disciplines) A two thirds majority in the people's House of

Representatives should ratify all the treaties with the foreigners.

c. We believe that the parties who believe in the progressive political

outlet can come to an agreement on these progressive outlets. However, it

is impractical to forecast all the contents of the new constitution as the

Constituent Assembly will be carried out without any pre-conditions. We

want to clarify that the political forces can go to the people with their

views before the election to a constituent assembly.

2. National and socio-economic questions:

1. All the treaties, agreements, military assistance, presence of foreign

military personnel, and their activities in the name of controlling

terrorism should be stopped immediately.

2. The open Indo-Nepal border should be controlled and managed properly.

All the cross-border encroachments should be stopped. There should be a

system of work permit while employing a foreigner.

3. Gurkha recruitment, a national black mark should be stopped. And the

Nepalese should be given an honourable job within the country.

4. The foreign monopoly on the national industries should be stopped. The

national industries and the inland industrialists should be promoted. The

foreign debt should be wiped out within a certain time period.

5. The foreign encroachment and internal destruction created in the name of

NGOs and INGOs should be stopped and. The policies imposed by the

international financial institutions should be declared null and void.

6. A united and concerted water resources policy should be implemented. The

entire nation should be electrified by giving priority to the smaller and

medium scale power plants.

7. The debt of all the landless and the poor should be cancelled and they

should be provided with an employment.

8. All the landless people should be rehabilitated and provided with land

and employment. Kamaiya, Haruwa, Charuwa and such other discriminatory

practices should be dismantled.

9. The farmers should be provided with good quality seeds, irrigation and

the potential market.

10. The abrupt and continual price hike of the petroleum and other basic

needs should be controlled. The wage labour and the salaries of the

employees should be increased.

11. An effective instrument should be formulated to quickly punish the

corrupted, smugglers and those who receive graft.

12. A national and scientific education system should be implemented. A

joboriented education system is to be formed. The commercialisation and

privatisation of the education should be immediately stopped.

13. The free health service should be made available to specially the rural

areas.

14. Special services to the disabled, the elderly.

15. All discriminations on women should be stopped.

16. Equal rights to dalit by eradicating the problem of untouchability.

17. The minimum wage and fixed hour work (40 hours per week) should be

implemented effectively. The employees also should be included in

management of the factories.

18. A solid programme should be implemented for the welfare of the youth.

19. Ensure intellectual independence and occupational conservation of the

professionals, such as literatteur, doctors, engineers, etc so that they

can best deliver their services to the people.

20. The production and distribution of documents that spread open western

cultural pollution.

21. Infrastructure development in the villages should be carried out

rapidly.

22. The rights and privileges of Nepalese working in the foreign lands

should be ensured.

23. Those killed in the different revolutions for the country should be

declared martyrs and the murderers should be punished.

24. All the pro-people demands put forward by the pro-people organisations

should be addressed immediately.

3. The issues of human rights and compensation and rehabilitation:

1. A high-level human rights commission should be formed with the

involvement of the representatives of the human rights organisations to

carry out an independent investigation of the human rights abuses and to

punish the perpetrators.

2. The families of the martyrs should be immediately supplied with relief

supports and compensation.

3. Those injured in the civil war should be treated freely.

4. Those displaced in the civil war should be rehabilitated in their

original locality or somewhere else.

F. Programme and Monitoring:

Those issues agreed by both parties during the peace talks should be

implemented within a certain time frame and an evaluation team should be

formed to check if the agreements have actually been implemented.

Signed by: Baburam Bhattarai Co-ordinator Negotiation team, CPN

Email:: villagespring (at) yahoo.com
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Comments

Maoists r to be killed

Indian 08/05/2003 22:27

Maoists bastards need to be butchered , no talks with commie mother fuckers . Maoists in india are Anti Indian and Anti Hindu , they are traitors . Indians need to fuck communist bastards .

Death to communism

Self Determination -- or Serfdom?

Richard 12/05/2003 19:56

richard@ecovillage.ithaca.ny.us

"Indian's" comments make me feel hopeless and frustrated. I'd like him to read the aspirations listed above, imagining that they were written by anyone OTHER than a communist. Pay attention to what they say, rather than who said it.
I think most of us know about the misuse of power under regimes or revolutionary fronts which call themselves Communist. We hear about it often enough through the propaganda of Capitalism. But do those abuses get mentioned alongside the injustices perpetrated by the governments of the "Free" world? Hardly ever.
If we are not allowed to dream of anything better than the status quo, we'll continue on the slippery slope toward the reinstitution of serfdom, and there's not much hope for the planet.

largely good, some worries

zzz 15/05/2003 02:12

zachary_wolff@yahoo.com

http://www.dons.net.au/~nevre/zach

This resolution shows promise. However, I have some worries regarding problems we have seen in the past with Maoist regimes. For example, point 2.20 "The production and distribution of documents that spread open western cultural pollution." First, this is only a noun phrase an doesn't give us a predicate to say what should be done about the production and distribution of these documents. However, judging by the language ("cultural pollution"), it seems that a negative view is taken and some restrictions are to be enacted. This is written despite an earlier claim (1.5) that guarantees free speech. I have a premonition of another cultural revolution, albeit on a much smaller scale. Also worrying is the comment (2.7), "The country should be made a fully secular state." This is particularly worrying as freedom of religion is never mentioned in the document. Finally, I am frightened by provision 2.23, which states, "Those killed in the different revolutions for the country should be declared martyrs and the murderers should be punished." Score-settling is not the way to lasting peace. In short, while adoption of this resolution would be a clear improvement over the current situation in Nepal, it carries with it the possibility for abuse that is inherent in Maoism. Only a non-hierarchical system of governance can avoid these problems.