Political transitions are a time of confusion. But the post-uprising interregnum is looking more and more bizarre.

The Maoists are no longer a rebel group, they are effectively a parallel government:

. Maoist people's courts are dispensing summary justice even in the capital, side-by-side with government courts
. Maoists are issuing tenders for construction work sometimes for projects for which the government has also called for bids
. The government has a police force, the Maoists have their militia walking around openly
. The country has two armies: the Nepal Army and the 'People's Liberation Army'
. There are DDCs and 'People's District Governments', VDCs and 'Village People's Governments'.

Which is the real government? Perhaps this is why parliament\'s Law and Justice Committee on Thursday condemned the eight-point agreement and moved to get the full house to pass a resolution rejecting it.

This is a direct challenge to the Maoists and their strategy to get into government by passing an interim constitution.

But a joint government will be delayed because the drafting of the interim constitution is itself delayed. The deadline was Friday, 30 June but the committee started work on it only on Tuesday.

After a flurry of dramatic aparliamentary proclamations between 7-16 June to demote the king, delink him from the army and declare Nepal secular, every thing has come to a grinding halt.

The political momentum unleashed by the April uprising was dissipated by the eight-point agreement on 16 June in which the Maoists forced the government to agree to dissolve parliament. Since then, not a single piece of far-reaching new legislation has been passed.