News, Views From Nepal

Yuba Nath Lamsal : Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is the most astute politician of contemporary Nepal. Since 2005 Nepali politics has revolved around Prachanda and his agendas. He led a decade-long armed insurgency, which got partial success. A Comprehensive Peace Agreement was reached between the government of Nepal and CPN-Maoist in 2005 bringing the insurgents into peaceful and competitive politics as well as transforming Nepal from a monarchical unitary state to a federal democratic republic. A new constitution was written by a democratically elected Constituent Assembly that formally institutionalised the newly agreed political agendas. Maoists call it the outcome of the ‘people’s war’, while other parties contradict and claim that the epochal political change owes to the third Janaandolan (people’s movement). Whatever the claims and counter-claims, the political change of 2005 is definitely a historic that has heralded a new era in Nepal’s political history. T...

Yuba Nath Lamsal:- A constitution is a set of rules duly codified in a single document. The constitution illustrates the nature and behaviour of a country. The constitution guides the citizens what to do and what not to do. The constitution also governs relations among citizens and with countries in the global community. In other worlds, the constitution ensures what the second American president, John Adams, called ‘the government of laws and not the government of men’. The constitution specifically says what a government should or should not do in defence of people’s rights, freedom, and well-being. The constitution is, thus, the soul of democratic governance. The history of constitutions in the world goes back to the 17th century, when a tiny European state, San Marino, adopted a constitution. However, the modern and democratic constitution-making process has its roots in the 18th century’s political upheavals in America and Europe. The American War of Independence and the Fren...

Yuba Nath Lamsal: Come September every year, world leaders and diplomats rub shoulders in the UN headquarters in Manhattan, New York. The annual gala event of the UN General Assembly kicks off on the third Tuesday of September, where rhetoric is more of a common phenomenon than concrete actions to tackle the complex global issues. As the 78th General Assembly of the world body is already underway, Prime Minister Puspah Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is set to join this global annual jamboree leading a Nepali delegation where he will address the plenary session. This has been a ritualistic phenomenon every year since Nepal joined the United Nations in 1955. The United Nations was created in 1945 in the wake of the World War II that killed nearly 60 million people and caused devastation of epic proportion. The League of Nations had earlier been formed immediately after the World War I but it failed in its objectives owing to multiple reasons, thus requiring another global body to prevent...

Yuba Nath Lamsal: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda often beams with his typical smiles when the matter of Nepal-India-China trilateral partnership comes to the fore. Prachanda claims to be the progenitor of this idea. He is the one who first floated the concept of trilateral partnership of three Asian neighbours during his visit to China in 2009. But this idea has never surfaced formally on the table of official diplomatic parley. Even Prachanda, now, does not appear too enthusiastic about this concept. China’s initial response to trilateral mechanism between the three Himalayan neighbours was positive and it enthused Prachanda. China may seek to fit the trilateral cooperation mechanism into its signature project — Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China is keen to enter into South Asia’s huge market for which Nepal could be a gateway and trilateral mechanism would be a better platform. But New Delhi’s retort is lacklustre. India wants to go alone bilaterally and is again...

Yuba Nath Lamsal: Leadership is tested in the time of crisis. It is the quality of leadership that steers the nation out of crisis and lead to greater prosperity. Be it domestic turbulences or external threats, the quality of leadership matters. The fate and future of the country and its people rest primarily on the ability, intention and vision of the leadership. It is said that leader is the one who can dream more, think more, see more, do more and give or deliver more than others. Leaders emerge from among the people. As Joseph de Maistre says ‘in a democracy every nation gets the leaders and government they deserve’, people are responsible for having the type of leaders the country gets. Politics is generally taken as a domestic vocation and politicians are required to focus more on internal matters. However, this is not always true. Politics and politicians have equally to do with international relations and foreign affairs. Politics is domestic diplomacy and diplomacy is ...