POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN NEPAL, 2006-07: AN ASSESSMENT

This article provides an assessment of the dramatic and historic political developments that took place in Nepal during the period of 2006-07. It focuses on the successful Jana Andolan II (People's Movement) of April 2006, which brought an end to the direct rule of King Gyanendra and restored parliamentary democracy. The study then analyzes the subsequent peace process with the Maoist insurgents, which led to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord in November 2006 and the entry of the Maoists into an interim government. The research examines the key features of this political transition, including the declaration of Nepal as a secular state and the decision to hold elections for a Constituent Assembly to draft a new republican constitution. The paper argues that this period represented a fundamental and revolutionary transformation of the Nepali state. The analysis concludes by assessing the formidable challenges that lay ahead in the process of consolidating this new, inclusive, and republican democracy.

The period of 2006-07 was one of the most transformative in the modern history of Nepal. This paper provides a detailed assessment of the political developments that reshaped the nation. The study begins with an account of the 19-day Jana Andolan II in April 2006, a massive popular uprising that brought together the mainstream political parties and the Maoist rebels in a united front against the King's autocratic rule. The core of the article is an in-depth analysis of the subsequent, and equally remarkable, peace process. It details the key milestones, from the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord that formally ended the decade-long civil war, to the landmark decision by the interim parliament to abolish the 240-year-old monarchy and declare Nepal a republic. The paper also provides a close examination of the complex and often-difficult negotiations that led to the inclusion of the Maoists in the interim government and the agreement to hold elections for a Constituent Assembly. The findings reveal a political landscape in profound and continuous flux, as the country grappled with the monumental task of dismantling the old state structure and building a new, more inclusive one from the ground up. The paper concludes that while the achievements of 2006-07 were historic, the path to a stable and consolidated democratic republic was still fraught with immense challenges, particularly the difficult issue of army integration and the drafting of a new constitution that could satisfy the aspirations of all of Nepal's diverse communities.