CA amends statute-writing calendar

Kathmandu, Jan 6, The Constituent Assembly Friday amended the constitution writing calendar by giving 25 more days to garner consensus on the contentious issues of the constitution. CA Chairman Subas Nembang told the meeting that the calendar was amended as per the Constitutional Committee recommendation. Now the CC will have time to settle the disputed issues of the constitution by January 29, in place of the earlier deadline of January 5. According to the amended calendar, the CC will prepare the first draft of the constitution between January 30 and February 4 and issue an integrated draft by mid-February. The meeting also formed a draft committee to amend the CA regulation. Yekaraj Bhandari of UCPN-Maoist, Ramesh Lekhak of Nepali Congress, Agni Kharel of UML, Nilam Barma of Unified Democratic Madhesi Front and Jana Kumari Chalise of CPN-ML are members of the draft committee. ‘Speed up peace process’ The opposition lawmakers drew the attention of the government and the main ruling party, UCPN-Maoist, to the delay in pushing the peace and constitution writing processes forward at a meeting of the legislature parliament Friday. Nepali Congress chief whip Laxman Prasad Ghimire demanded clarification from the Prime Minister on why the peace process was not moving forward as expected and why the Maoist party was creating confusion. He said that the Maoist PLA commanders had threatened to obstruct the peace process by putting forth new demands even after the Army Integration Special Committee headed by the Prime Minister had decided on the matters. Ghimire said that the 7-point agreement was not implemented. Maoist sought group entry in the Nepali Army and promulgation of the new constitution under the shadow of weapons, he said. CPN-UML lawmaker Rabindra Adhikari questioned why the process of army integration was halted, why the budget was not allocated for the combatants opting for voluntary retirement and why Maoists were bargaining for high ranks in the Nepali Army. "Such bargaining was against the 7-point pact," he said. He suggested to not interpret the pact at one’s own interest and not obstruct the peace process. He also said Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai would have no moral ground to sit on the chair if he was not serious on the matters. Maoist lawmaker Pampha Bhusal said the problem was not about delaying constitution writing and limited time but it needed to go through a democratic exercise. She said the Maoists would not accept the parliamentary system. Bhusal also said that the present government was not taking the issue of national sovereignty seriously even as the media policy was being formulated by a foreign agency. Meanwhile, the meeting endorsed the intra-government level agreement on Trans Asian Railways Network. The proposal tabled by Minister for Physical Planning and Works Hridayes Tripathi was endorsed unanimously. The meeting also endorsed the International Nuclear Energy Agency’s Law. At the meeting, Minister for Science Kalpana Dhamala presented the regional agreement on Nuclear Science and Technology related research and instruction for discussion. The bill on civil service presented by Minister for General Administration Ram Kumar Yadav was also approved. The next meeting of the House is scheduled for Sunday.