The Nepali people will not be getting the new constitution anytime soon. Not before the deadline of 30 November expires, or in the next six months or the next year. By now the political “leaders” have themselves realized that to declare a “secular, federal, democratic, republic” was relatively easier than to implement it. No wonder they are scurrying about trying to buy as much as time as possible and to change the focus of the people. To hope that it will be completed next year is to be duped once more by the mirage. Perhaps we were too naïve then to believe in the revolutionary rhetoric of our dear leaders.

As of now, as the one of the chief signatories in the CPA, Puspa Kamal Dahal should be more focused completing the peace process and the writing of the new constitution by balancing out or their terms “neutralizing” the quietly sprouting the rebellion from the radicals within his party rather than going on a US visit to seek funds for the development of Lumbini. But the Chairman is trying to prepare for a return to the hot seat, for which he probably needs to strengthen his image internationally, hence his priority to international visits every now and then. Its got to be either that or another meeting with his handlers from the south, in a country that is a little more inaccessible to the South Asian hack.

Five years after the signing of the CPA, the Maoists and other parties have finally agreed on the number and modality of the ex-combatants to be integrated and rehabilitated. In the CPA they had promised to do so within six months! And they call it a breakthrough.

What is worse is that no one seems to realize that they are only emphasizing on the integration and rehabilitation aspect as if fulfilling that is going to complete the entire peace process. The Commission on Disappeared People and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission have by now been shoved far enough under the carpet.

Ever since the end of the Rana regime, Nepali society has never actually looked back and analyzed itself where it went wrong. No one from the Rana regime were punished for their wrongs. Did the state then compensate all those whose lands the Ranas had usurped? Did we have an evaluation of the Panchayat regime? Our reactionary nature only allowed us to form commissions to investigate into human rights violations that occurred during the Jana Andolan. What about all those corrupt Panchayat officials who caused the system to fail? And what of those years post 1990 when we thought we had a perfectly good democratic system, and yet so many of the people we elected and sent to rule over us betrayed us again? Are these not the same people, albeit in different parties?

Was not Sher Bahdur Deuba the prime minister of the country when Babu Ram Bhattarai submitted his 40 point demand back in 1994? Did Deuba himself not recommend the dissolution of the parliament to the then king and then guaranteed he could hold elections?

Nepali society is far more forgetful than it should be. Perhaps this is why our leaders constantly fail us, because they know that pretty soon the people will forget their mistakes and leave politics to politicians.

Just look at how far our memory goes? We are a nation of hypocrites who pretend to remember the martyrs on martyr’s day and shed alligator tears so we feel our guilty souls are cleansed. Had we wanted to do something in line with the desires of those who died fighting the Rana regime for our freedom, perhaps we would have honored their memory better. Had we really wanted multi party democracy because the Panchayat regime was filled with sycophants and crooks we would have brought them to justice. Had we really wanted justice the movement would not have stopped after the 19 April 2006. We should have been able to punish not just those accused of human rights violations during the people’s movement but also those who caused all the wrongs since 1990/91.

But we have seen how impunity is still reigning in new Nepal. Those who started the war in the name of establishing a new order are now in power. Those who committed human rights violations are now being granted amnesty and even being rewarded. Politicians are still protecting criminals.

Nepal cannot afford to compromise, unfortunately that is what we are doing every second. There is now a clear danger that the state is going to turn into a criminal zone with crooked businessmen and politicians in cahoots with one another. How else did all those big private organizations evade VAT? Didn’t the last finance minister know about it? Did not our honorable Prime Minister himself set a scheme where all those defaulters could voluntarily declare their extra income and get saved from having to pay their fines?

We have already set a precedent. It will take an entire generation to change things. Unfortunately the time of rebellions for the common good has gone. Future generations will be much more individualistic than the current one. It is therefore now that we must act. The people cannot afford to leave politics to politicians alone. Civil society must organize itself once more to raise people’s awareness and ask for their mass participation to pressure political parties to correct the wrong course they are taking. If we do not do this now, the future of Nepal is at stake.