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Major Events in Nepal
By KTM Reporter in Kathmandu
On May 11, 2008, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, Deputy of Maoists’ Chairman Prachanda presided over the meeting of the representatives of the 25 political parties elected to a Constituent Assembly (CA) hosted by the nine-member task-force representing the seven-party alliance at the parliament secretariat, Singhadurbar, Kathmandu.
All the representatives of the 25 political parties elected to the Constituent Assembly for crafting a new people’s constitution voiced the need for all-party consensus on crafting a constitution and forming a new government.
Presiding over the meeting Dr. Baburam Bhattarai said, “The constitution should be written forging consensus among all small and big parties; today’s big party may turn into a small one tomorrow and vice versa so we will not underestimate any parties. We should be able to present a new model and show that even 25 parties can go ahead by maintaining harmony” as quoted in “The Rising Nepal” of May 12, 2008
Vice-president of the Nepali Congress (NC) and Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Paudel said, “We do not have any option other than to forge consensus on running the country and writing a constitution.”
Speaker Subash Nemwang said. “Technical preparations were on to make arrangements for holding the Constituent Assembly meetings and the major political parties were locked in consultations to determine the rules for the CA meetings.”
General Secretary of NC Bilamendra Nidhi and Communist party of Nepal-Unified Marxist and Leninist (CPN-UML) leader Jhalnath Khanal said that their parties were committed to honor the past agreements and to a broad-based political consensus. General Secretary Nidhi warned of a deep political crisis in the country if the first sitting of Constituent Assembly failed to endorse Nepal a republic as declared by the Interim Legislature-parliament.
Representatives of the smaller political parties warned the large parties of not underestimating them and their issues. “We will revolt again, if the past agreements are not honored,” representatives of the small parties said. Most of the smaller parties are of regional, caste and community oriented.
On May 12, 2008, Prime Minister of the Interim Government Girija Prasad Koirala set the day ‘May 28, 2008’ for the first sitting of the newly elected Constituent Assembly pursuant to the Article 69 (1) of the Interim Constitution of Nepal of 2007. It will be held in the Hall of the International Convention Center at New Baneswore, Kathmandu at 11:00 A.M. The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly is to endorse the proclamation of Nepal a republic done by the Interim Legislature-Parliament on December 29, 2007.
On May 12, 2008, one of the members of the Central Committee of the NC told the reporters that the Central Committee of the NC made the following decisions:
• Amend the Interim Constitution to replace the requirement of the two-third majority for forming and dissolving a government with a simple majority.
• Join the government to be headed by the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) on conditions of dissolving the Young Communist League, Prachanda resigning from the position of the commander of the People’s Liberation Army if he wants to head a new government, and destroying or surrendering the arms and ammunition possessed by the People’s Liberation Army.
The central committee members pleaded Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala for not being hungry for power and for the position of the first president of republic Nepal.
On May 12, 2008, former Home Minster in the king’s government, Kamal Thapa went to see Maoists’ Chairman Prachanda and his Deputy Dr. Baburam Bhattarai at the Prachanda’s residence to convey the message of the suspended King Gyanendra and to learn more about the Maoists’ proposal for the honorable exit of the monarch.
Mr. Thapa also told the Maoists that the king wanted the Maoists to uphold the understanding he had reached with the seven-party alliance on April 11, 2006 to end the autocratic monarchy but to retain the monarchy in general; the king also wants to stay on as a king with even only the cultural and religious rights.
Chairman Prachanda once said that if the king voluntarily left the palace then he would have a respectful place and could even be active in politics. Dr Baburam Bhattarai also said that the king could be given cultural rights if he cooperated with the Maoists on leaving the palace. However, Dr Baburam Bhattarai clarified that the press distorted what he said, and said that he was not for keeping the monarchy in any form.
On May 12, 2008, a divisional bench of the Supreme Court of Nepal in the ruling of a case of the killing of 36 laborers by the army personnel in Kalikot in 2002, instructed the Government of Nepal to craft an Act for punishing the security personnel for using excessive forces, and investigate the killing of 36 laborers and prosecute the security personnel involved in the case.
On May 13, 2008, speaking to the reporters Chairman Prachanda said that his party has sent a letter to the suspended king to vacate the palace before the first sitting of the Constituent Assembly on May 28, 2008; there shall not be any remnants of the monarchy in Nepal thereafter.
On May 13, 2008, the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) announced two prices of diesel: one for regular consumers that line up for it, and another for the consumers that do not want to line up for it. The regular consumers will pay Rs 56 for a liter of diesel; and the privileged consumers will pay Rs 65 for a liter of diesel. NOC has increased the price of aviation fuel by 17%. The international price of crude oil has touched the record high of US$ 127 per barrel after Iranian president announced the reduction of production of crude oil in his country on May 13.
On May 14, 2008, Spokesperson for US State Department Tom Casey told reporters in Washington DC that the Nepalese Maoists have never been on the foreign-terrorist-organization list of the US government but they are on the terrorist-exclusion list that is meant for consular issues such as visas and other kinds of matters. Spokesperson Tom Casey also acknowledged the meeting of the US Ambassador to Nepal Nancy Powell with the Maoists’ Chairman Prachanda on May 01, 2008, and said that the meeting was primarily for securing the commitment of Prachanda to give continuity to the US humanitarian programs launched through various organizations in Nepal.
On May 15, 2008, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood told the reporters in Kathmandu that the Government of India has invited Chairman of the Maoists Prachanda to visit India. The visit will take place at the appropriate time.
On May 16, 2008, talking to the Radio Nepal the newly elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist and Leninist (CPN-UML) Jhalanath Khanal said that no force could stop the Constituent Assembly from endorsing Nepal a republic in its first sitting on May 28, 2008.
