Analysis Of Mohana Ansari's Criticism Of The Government Of Nepal

I wish to address Mohana Ansari 's and India 's criticism of the government of Nepal, the government 's response to such criticisms, the attitude of some international non-governmental organizations to these two events, and reaction of Nepali intellectual to them.

Ms. Ansari, a member of the National Human Rights Commission, criticised the government of Nepal in the 31st session of the United Human Rights Council. Prime Minister K. P. Oli expressed his dissatisfaction with the Ms. Ansari and the NHRC about the statement. Subsequently, the NHRC sought international support to preserve its turf, and the Human Rights Watch issued a statement to this effect.

India expressed its dissatisfaction with the new constitution of Nepal by urging the

Democracy is not perfect. Actually, it is designed to be imperfect with many checks and balances built into the system. The NHRC, NGOs, international organizations have been created to ensure that no government becomes so overarching that it begins to seek perfection through dictatorship.

Democracy works best when all actors know how to remain within their limits and learn how to remind those who stray away from their limits. Unfortunately, Nepal is one of those few countries where its principal actors have never accepted their limits and taken the reminder to remain within them

That leaves the case of the NHRC and Mohana Ansari. I do not know the details of the case. But having worked with the United Nations for nearly 16 years, I understand the correct procedure. If Mohana Ansari wished to criticize the government in the UN Human Rights Council, she should have first sought the government 's response on the issues she wanted to raise. If it was unhappy with the response, then should have presented her case as well as the government 's respone together.

If Ansari and the NHRC did not follow the correct procedure, then they were clearly in the wrong. In that situation, it was the prime minister 's obligation to caution them to follow the procedures or face legislative measures ranging from change in legislation to amendment in the constitution. Neither the government nor the NHRC should be above the constitution and due process.

However, no publicly funded organization, no matter how independent of government, should wash the dirty linen in public without reflecting both sides -- in this case, in international forums. Mohana Ansari seems to have crossed the