‘We will not keep the country in crisis’
Barsha Man Pun ('Ananta') of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is a member of the Constituent Assembly as well as a member of the party's Central Secretariat. He was deputy commander of the People's Liberation Army during the decade-long war, and is still responsible for overseeing Maoist combatants in the seven major cantonments spread throughout the country. He recently spoke with Himal Southasian about the current political crisis in Nepal, the constitution-drafting process and the recently released controversial video of now acting Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ('Prachanda'). The following is a translation from the original Nepali.
Many of the other parties are accusing the Maoists of having fired the army chief, Rukmangud Katawal, for political reasons rather than in an attempt to bolster civilian control over the military. How would you respond to this?
It is clear from the prime minister's resignation that we were not motivated by politics. After the cabinet decision was not implemented, after the president took the unconstitutional step [of telling General Katawal to remain in his position], the prime minister felt a moral obligation to resign. At that time, there were already two army chiefs, two power centres. The prime minister could have taken a stand and ordered his chief to work. If that had happened, there could have been bloodshed, revolt or even civil war. Such a stance would have proved the other parties right in saying that the Maoists were taking a political decision. Why did we not do that, and instead resigned from the government? The resignation makes it clear that the party was not motivated by politics. The firing of the army chief was absolutely to establish civilian supremacy. Because that was not allowed to happen, the party was ready to quit the government.