Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has emphasised the need for making meaningful contribution from all sectors in order to ensure that a new constitution is promulgated in time and the peace process is concluded at the earliest. Inaugurating the Chum Valley Mahotsav in his home district of Gorkha the other day, Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai expressed his happiness over the momentum picking up in the constitution writing and peace process. As observed by the prime minister, the peace process has advanced to a new stage, which has augmented the hope for an early constitution and durable peace in the country. The peace process has indeed advanced steadily, giving hope that the country would get a new constitution within the deadline set for May 27.

The last three-plus years were virtually wasted as far as writing the constitution was concerned because the parties remained preoccupied with their partisan agenda and power game, pushing the main political agenda to the background. It is only after Dr. Bhattarai assumed the office of premiership that the peace and constitution-writing process has picked up momentum. Dr. Bhattarai took a bold decision on army integration, which has won the confidence of the other parties especially the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML. Inability to arrive at a common point on the army integration issue had stalled the peace process for the last four years. Although Bhattarai’s decision on army integration drew flak from the hardliners of his own party, Dr. Bhattarai refused to budge from his determination and acted decisively for the larger cause of the country and the people. As a result, the peace process has advanced swiftly.

The decision of the government has dispelled the prevailing mistrust among the political forces. Now an atmosphere of trust has been created in the political spectrum of Nepal, which has helped all the parties to come together and cooperate. The political parties are narrowing down their differences on various issues and are close to a compromise on all the key issues. Now the hope for a timely constitution has been revived for which the political parties are working overtime. This has made the people more enthusiastic while some elements that want instability and chaos in the country are definitely being discouraged. Peace and the constitution are the two most important tasks that must be completed for stability, peace, democracy and economic prosperity. For this, people’s collective pressure on the parties is still necessary to further expedite the process to ensure that peace will dawn in the country at the earliest.