YEAR-LONG LICENCE TO LIVE
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal along with other Constituent Assembly (CA) members in the CA hall at midnight Friday/Saturday during the CA session to amend the Interim Constitution.
Photo by: NARENDRA SHRESTHA
The three major parties—UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML—averted the looming constitutional and political crisis late Friday night with an agreement on the extension of the term of the Constituent Assembly (CA) for a year.
When the government bill proposing the extension was tabled in the House by Minister for Law and Justice Prem Bahadur Singh, the midnight deadline was just five minutes away.
Of the 585 members attending the House session, 580 voted for the amendment bill. Four from the royalist parties and lawmaker Baban Singh voted against the term extension. The amendment process completed after President Ram Baran Yadav certified the bill endorsed by the House.
The House session scheduled for 8 a.m. in the morning convened at 11:43 p.m. following the delay in consensus among the parties. Maoist lawmakers Dev Gurung and Ek Raj Bhandari and Nepal Sadhbhawana Party (Anandidevi) lawmaker Sarita Giri withdrew their notices of disapproval following the agreement.
Though top leaders of the major parties remained busy in intra-party and cross-party negotiations inside the CA building the whole day and late into the night, the agreement was born at the 11th hour.
The agreement was possible after there was an informal understanding among ruling parties and the Maoists that Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal would “resign within five days”, according to a UML leader.
However, the agreement signed by top leaders of the major three parties did not state any timebound commitment.
It states the prime minister of the current coalition will resign once there is consensus among parties to carry forward the pending issues related to taking the peace process to its logical end.
“We have not yet dwelt upon the leadership and the equation of the new government,” said Nepali Congress leader Krishna Sitaula. “Discussion on the package deal and a new government will start tomorrow.”
The ruling parties have proposed a six-point package deal to the main opposition, the major component of which includes time-bound commitment to complete the integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants.
Later, Prime Minister Nepal said, “We should forge consensus and utilise the extended time-frame to write the new constitution.”
Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the agreement on extension of CA and formation of a national unity government was a victory for peace and the constitution.
The Holy Grail of consensus
We are committed to moving ahead with consensus and cooperation to take the peace process to a meaningful conclusion, to carry out all the remaining works related to the peace process, and to accomplish the historic responsibility of completing the task for writing the new constitution.
Though a significant progress has been made in the constitution-writing process, it has not been completed yet. Therefore, we have agreed to extend the tenure of the Constituent Assembly by one year.
Based on the agreement to fulfil these responsibilities and works as soon as possible, we are ready to form a national consensus government and for that, the prime minister of the incumbent coalition government is ready to resign without delay.
Signed by
UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal
Nepali Congress Vice President Ram Chandra Poudel
CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal
Posted on: 2010-05-29 08:29
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Abin
Shit! The note is lost. I had better avoid extemporising. ...have been told not to blab.
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