JANA AŠENBRENNEROVÁ
TYING THE KNOTS: Jamuna Neupane and Kumar Rai get married in Sipaghat of Sindhupalchok this week amidst the ruins of their village. Said Jamuna: “You marry whoever you love, there is no caste, or ethnicity, or religion in love. Love can overcome prejudice and crisis.”
Six weeks after the earthquake, the ground has gradually stopped shaking but political tremors in the capital have spread uncertainty about the lifespan of the government while it is preparing for a donor meeting on 25 June.
The National Planning Commission is putting finishing touches to its needs assessment report and has recommended that a new Reconstruction Authority be led by the prime minister. The international community is still hesitant because of doubts about transparency and accountability.
Meanwhile, at Singha Darbar urgent closed door meetings held this week were not to expedite emergency relief to the mountains before the rains, but about regime change and who gets to be in the new government. The four top parties want to rush through a constitution to pave the way for Prime Minister Koirala to step down, make way for the UML’s KP Oli and a government of national reconstruction. Most of the bargaining, we hear, is about plum posts in the new cabinet. Politicians see the crisis not just as a way to command huge budgets, but also to redeem some of their lost popularity.