BILASH RAI

The High Level Political Mechanism may as well be floating high above the Nepali nation for all it has achieved in the last month. After much-publicised early wrangling about who should be in it and who should not, and whether such a mechanism is even necessary (or legitimate), it is at a standstill.

At ground level, the major political parties have not resolved their differences. Constitution-writing is continuing apace, even though the drafts from the Constituent Assembly's thematic committees are marked as much by the notes of dissent they contain as by the fact that they have actually been completed.

Some call for the May 28 deadline to be extended, but there is a feeling that the deadline will actually be met through typically Nepali eleventh-hour negotiations. What kind of fractious constitution will make its way to the Nepali people by the end of this is as worrying as the doomsday predictions for missing the deadline.

Let's hope the High Level Political Mechanism comes down to earth before the hot air runs out.

READ ALSO:
A healthier nation - FROM ISSUE #489 (12 FEB 2010 - 18 FEB 2010)
Federal realities - FROM ISSUE #489 (12 FEB 2010 - 18 FEB 2010)