Nepal in Crisis

Nepal's President Ram Baran Yadav on May 4, 2009 directed Army Chief Gen Rukmangad Katawal, sacked by Prime Minister Prachanda, to continue in office in a faceoff between the two leaders that threatens to escalate the political crisis and derail the peace process.

Soon after Prachanda sacked Gen Katawal on May 3, 2009 accusing him of defying the Government's orders by reinstating eight Generals retired by the Maoist administration, the President told the Army Chief to remain in the post.

According to the President, the dismissal of the Army Chief and the new appointment do not meet the constitutional requirements and due process.

The President's move comes after he asked Prachanda to follow constitutional provisions and seek a political consensus over firing Gen Katawal.

Earlier on May 3, 2009, the Government sacked Katawal and appointed second-in-command Kul Bahadur Khadka as acting Chief of the Army.

Immediately after the Government decision to sack the Army Chief, the cadres from the sister organisations of both ruling Maoists and the opposition Nepali Congress took to the streets. The cadres of Maoists’ sister organisations took out rallies across the country applauding the Government decision whereas the students affiliated to the Nepali Congress demonstrated in Kathmandu and scuffled with the Maoists cadres in some places while protesting against the government decision dubbing it as a premeditated move to establish totalitarianism.

Government in Trouble
Following the decision, Nepal’s political parties have been sharply divided putting the Maoist-led government in trouble and hampering the constitution drafting process that could invite new political conflict before resolving the decade-long Maoist insurgency.

However, ministers from three coalition partners - the CPN-UML, Sadbhavana Party (SP) and CPN (Unified) - boycotted the emergency cabinet meeting protesting against Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s proposal to sack Katawal despite having political consensus. Similarly, ministers from the third largest party, Madhesi People’s Rights Forum, lodged a note of dissent over the decision.

The UML has also urged the Maoists to pave the way to form an all-party national government in order to take the ongoing peace process to a logical end by drafting the new constitution within stipulated timeframe.

However, the third largest ruling constituent, Madhesi People’s Rights Forum that has 51 members in Parliament, is yet to take a decision on whether to withdraw its support to the Maoists-led coalition or not.

Meanwhile, President Yadav, who is the supreme Commander-in-Chief of Army and Patron of the interim Constitution, has urged the Prime Minister not to enforce the decision without reaching a political consensus.

Setback to Ruling Coalition
Amid deepening political crisis over the sacking of the Army Chief by the Prime Minister, the position of the Maoists-led coalition appeared shaky as a key partner withdrew support to the eight-month government.

Prachanda, who is headed for a major confrontation with the Army, faced a major setback when the second largest coalition partner CPN (UML) with 108 members in Parliament, said it was quitting the Government because the Prime Minister had unilaterally sacked the Army Chief.

The CPN-Maoist with 229 seats in Parliament needs the crucial support from MPRF and other small parties to obtain a majority in the 601 member Constituent Assembly tasked to frame a new constitution for the country after it abolished its unpopular 240-year-old monarchy in 2008.

Maoists-Army Strain
The first sign of strain between the Maoists and the Army surfaced in July 2008, when the Army recruited nearly 3,000 new soldiers. Defence minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, also a senior Maoist politician, tried to block this but the Army went ahead after the Supreme Court ruled it was legal. The Maoists clashed again with the Army after Mr Thapa tried to retire eight senior brigadier-generals despite Army Headquarters being keen to extend the tenure of all senior officers by three years. The generals then challenged the government’s decision in court, which ordered their reinstatement.

The Maoists and the Army have also faced off on the question of integration of former rebels in the regular military. The Army has resisted the absorption of exfighters and their commanders as mandated by the 2006 peace agreement, saying they were “indoctrinated”.

Reaction in India
The present crisis in Nepal would also be felt in India, which has repeatedly conveyed to Kathmandu its concerns about the avoidable fallout of the sacking of the Army Chief.

Katawal. After returning from New Delhi, where he was called for consultations, Indian ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood called on Mr Prachanda, Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala and others to ease the standoff that threatened to unravel the political setup post-Constituent Assembly elections of March 2008 and formation of the first republican government in August 2008.