Brief History of the Conflict in Nepal

On February 4 1996, the CPN (M) presented a list of 40 demands to then Prime Minister Deuba. The list included, among others, demands for a secular republican state and a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution. It was accompanied by the threat that the CPN (M) would initiate a "people's revolution" if the demands were not met within two weeks.  On February 13, 1996, 4 days before the ultimatum expired, the CPN (M) launched their "People's War" with a series of attacks on police posts in several districts. The ultimate goal, as stated by the Maoists, was to overthrow ‘the hegemony of the feudal ruling classes’ and to replace it with the rule of the proletariat.

In the first years of the insurgency, the Royal Nepal Army was not mobilized to fight the Maoist rebels, who were able to establish control in large areas of rural Nepal. 2001 was a pivotal year for the conflict. The massacre of the royal family, allegedly by the crown prince Dipendra, saw King Gyanendra succeed his deceased brother to the throne. A July 2001 ceasefire was broken in November by coordinated Maoist attacks; the government declared a state of emergency which was to last until May 2002 and the security forces were given a mandate to fight the Maoist rebels. Then Prime Minister Deuba advised the King to dissolve parliament, and was himself dismissed by the King a few months later on grounds of inability to hold elections. Successive rounds of prime ministers and cabinets installed by the king occupied government offices. A second ceasefire began in January 2003 but collapsed seven months later. In the next four months alone over 1,000 people were killed, and 2003-2004 is said to have been the most deadly period of the conflict.

On 1 February 2005, King Gyanendra issued a royal proclamation, announcing that he would make use of his emergency power for a second time to stage a royal coup. Following his statement he dismissed the government, dissolved parliament and took full control over the country. Like the previous emergency, the royal take-over in 2005 was associated with the suspension of individual rights and personal freedoms that had been guaranteed in the constitution of 1990, including the right to peaceful public assembly, the right to information and to freedom of expression. Restrictions were particularly aimed at the press and reflected in strict censorship of the media. Any information reaching the public (be it through print, radio or TV) had to get prior approval from either the royal government or the military associated with it. Large numbers of political party leaders, student leaders and other key members of civil society were arrested.

In April 2006, an alliance of seven parties and the Maoists organised national strikes. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Nepal to protest against the direct rule of the king. After three weeks of mass popular demonstrations, to which the security forces responded with a violent crack-down, King Gyanendra was forced to hand power back to the people, reinstate parliament and invited the Seven Party Alliance to implement its roadmap, including election of a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution (International Crisis Group Asia Report N-115, 10 May 2006).

On November 21 2006, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed between the coalition government and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). In January 2007, 73 Maoists were sworn into a 330-seat legislature, a new interim constitution was promulgated and in April 2007 an interim government was formed, including the Maoists into mainstream politics.

However, the political situation remained fragile and the peace process experienced a number of setbacks. Following the promulgation of the interim constitution on 15 January 2007, long-standing unrest in the southern Tarai region escalated into weeks of violent protests. The main demands put forward by the leaders of the Madeshi movement included the amendment of the interim constitution, greater autonomy for the region and proportional electoral representation of marginalised groups. Renewed clashes broke out in the Tarai in September and in the same month, the Maoists walked out of the government in light of ongoing disagreements with the other parties over the issue of abolishing the monarchy. The constituent assembly election scheduled for November 2007 was postponed, but the Maoists rejoined the government after parliament approved the abolition of the monarchy in December.

In April 2008, elections for the constitutent assembly were finally held, despite earlier concerns that the elections were under threat yet again in light of ongoing violence and political instability, particularly in the Tarai. The Maoists became the largest party in the constituent assembly but did not gain an outright majority. In May 2008, Nepal was declared a republic and King Gyanendra was forced to leave the palace shortly after.

Despite the initial success of the Maoists during the elections, there continued to be disagreements within the interim government over the issue of the next head of state. Latest developments confirm that the political situation in the country remains fragile. Following the election of Ram Baran Yadav as the first President in July 2008, the Maoists, whose candidate lost the vote and who were blocked by an alliance of their rival parties, announced they would leave the government and go into opposition. Meanwhile it remains to be seen whether the election of both a President and Vice President from the Medhesi ethnic group is more than a token gesture of increased representation for the country’s multiple ethnic groups.

Whilst the peace process appears to be heading into the right directions, there remain a number of questions for the future of the peace process, among them the question of continuing impunity for perpetrators of human rights abuses during the conflict. As stated by Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch: "Peace without justice is likely to be illusory. In Nepal, human rights abusers named by a high-level commission in the early 1990s were those who came back to implement the king's authoritarian and, at times, violent rule in 2005. Nepal's leaders should address the abuses of the past to avoid repeating them in the future."