Workshop on Transformation of STATE

The National Peace Campaign hosted a five-day workshop in Fulbari Resort, Pokhara, Nepal from 26 - 30 November 2003 as part of ongoing seminar with the senior politicians of the country. The politicians who have been regularly participating in the NPC peace seminar for the last one-year had proposed in a previous seminar that there has to be a comprehensive discussion on the issue of state transformation and the restructuring of the state. Based on this, the Pokhara seminar was devoted mainly to the issue of restructuring the state structure and its transformation.

Apart from the politicians participating in the NPC seminars on a regular basis, this seminar was remarkable for the participation of a few more senior politicians from different political parties. The seminar, which was concentrated in terms of the thematic discussions, discussed the need, relevance and various ways of restructuring the state.

The idea and theme of the seminar – Transformation of State – was also derived from and based on the discussion during the seminar in Colombo, May 2003. The resource persons from Sri Lanka, who were directly or indirectly were involved in the peace process, had highlighted the need for restructuring the state structure in the course of resolving internal armed conflict in their country. The participants discussed about the existing political situations and their inherent complexities, together with a focus on finding out possible solutions.

The three major forces have made public their desires on state transformation, but from their own individual perspectives. King's willing to be a ‘constructive’ monarch, 18-point program of the five major political parties and agendas of other political parties, agendas of the CPN (Maoists) with particular focus on the demand for constituent assembly are the expression of methodology of these forces for the transformation of the state structure. These expressions and actions of the major forces indicate that the present state and system of governance cannot continue and cannot resolve the conflict the country is facing today.