Prime minister versus president

Unexpected political developments have, again, dragged Nepal towards uncertainty and chaos. On 3 M ay, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal made a unilateral decision to sack Chief of the Army Staff Rukmangud Katawal, despite opposition from all non-Maoists in the coalition cabinet. A few hours later, President Ram Baran Yadav issued an order to General Katawal, asking him to "continue in his office in his capacity as per the Interim Constitution, 2007, and the existing law." Most of the discontent and political activities that have taken place since then have been a direct result of these two power moves.

The following day, Prime Minister Dahal announced his resignation. He described the move by President Yadav as unconstitutional and a result of foreign influence. A few hours after the resignation, a Kathmandu-based television station, Image Channel, broadcast a videotape from January 2008, showing Dahal (aka 'Prachanda') telling his People's Liberation Army (PLA) commanders how the Maoist party had double-crossed all stakeholders to the peace process. Dahal described the tactics that the party intended to use to take over state power, through indoctrination of the national army, wholesale integration of Maoist fighters into that force, and use of violence and money to influence the Constituent Assembly elections. The Maoists had also, the Maoist chairman claimed, duped the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) into accepting almost three times more people into the cantonments than the Maoists actually had fighters. (Following its creation in January 2007, one of UNMIN's central responsibilities had been to verify who would and who would not be accepted into the seven major cantonments set up to house the former Maoist cadre. UNMIN eventually verified 19,206 such cadre; in the videotape, however, Prachanda said the real number had been only 7000 to 8000.)