E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, DEC 29 -

A day after the Supreme Court rejected the request made by the government and the Legislature-Parliament to revise its verdict that bars the Constituent Assembly (CA) from opting for next tenure extension, leaders of the major parties have reiterated their commitment to complete constitution drafting within the May 28 deadline.

The Dispute Resolution Subcommittee led by UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal expressed concern over the apex court’s decision and stressed the need for upholding the supremacy of the parliament. The half-an-hour meeting also reiterated its commitment towards 61 contentious issues resolved by the subcommittee so far and pledged to forge consensus on remaining 14 outstanding issues in the near future.

“We reaffirmed our commitment to complete the constitution making within the stipulated time and discussed that the review petition was not filed to seek fresh extension,” said subcommittee member Laxman Lal Karna. “We have raised our voice for the supremacy of the parliament. We decided to move the court to stop the reservations from spreading in roads,” he added.

During the meeting, CA Chairman Subas Nembang told party leaders that promulgation of the constitution within the May 28 deadline would be the “best and intellectual option” to avert the looming crisis. He stressed the need of rapid progress and urged leaders to abide strictly by the calendar introduced for statute drafting.

The subcommittee responsible for resolving all contentious issues of constitution making apart from state restructuring is locked in indecision in recent days following serious differences within the Maoist party. The hard-line faction led by Mohan Baidya has been obstructing in the endorsement of compromise reached between top leaders.

“I want to confirm the support from our party towards all the issues that have been resolved by the subcommittee so far,” Dahal told reporters. He said a taskforce headed by Laxman Lal Karna would find a meeting point on outstanding disputed issues and submit its report to the subcommittee’s meeting on Friday. The contentious issues will be referred to the CA after discussion in the Constitutional Committee if the subcommittee fails to find a meeting point within Friday. During Tuesday’s meeting, Dahal admitted that statute drafting is still a challenging work.

“We don’t have sufficient time now. The Maoist party will not backtrack from the previous agreements,” a source quoted Dahal as saying. “The peace process will soon see a breakthrough. It will reach an irreversible point and constitution making will also advance.”

Frustrated by reservations from hardliner leader Dev Gurung, only top leaders were allowed to attend Wednesday’s subcommittee meeting. NC Vice-president Prakash Man Singh substituted NC Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Poudel and CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal attended the meeting as a replacement of Madhav Nepal who is out of the country. Khanal committed that the parties will make significant progress within the remaining five months and could extend the CA term if the process cannot complete despite sincere efforts.

On Wednesday morning, PM Baburam Bhattarai phoned Nembang and discussed ‘legal alternatives’ to proceed ahead with the review petition. Both government and parliament are preparing to file application at the bench demanding revision of the apex court’s refusal to register the review petition.

Posted on: 2011-12-29 08:35

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