Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Ram Chandra Poudel And The Supreme Court Judges


What has Ram Chandra Poudel got to do with the Supreme Court Judges? Not much personally, but a lot symbolically. Like that first guy on the moon said, "A small step for a man, a big step for mankind."

Activist Judges Could Save The Day

I think these Supreme Court judges should similarly go after the Chief District Officers in Kathmandu valley who basically turned the lifting of the emergency at the end of April into a major league farce and postponed possibilities of national reconciliation. And they should go after the inappropriately named Information Ministry so as to facilitate freedom of press. And they should also address the grievances of the lawyers, their professional kith and kin.

If the Supreme Court justices could thus ensure the basic freedoms and rule of law, they will end up doing more for national reconciliation than any international player could hope to do, and I am talking the major world powers here.

The Supreme Court has to come to the realization that stretching Article 127 like it were a rubber band is not constitutional. Restricting basic freedoms when the country is no longer under emergency rule can not possibly be constitutional. That is precisely why emergencies come with automatic term limits.

P.S Donald Camp, a man whose official title is not a word, not a phrase, but an entire sentence, a run-on one too: the United States' Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs.

In The News

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