The parties have failed to initiate discussion on developing new calendar of events of the Constituent Assembly (CA) and forming a State Restructuring Commission (SRC) to ensure promulgation of new constitution within the extended one-year deadline of the CA. [break]
The ruling NC and UML reached a three-point deal with the Maoists on May 28, paving way for the extension of CA term. Fresh deadlock among the parties surfaced after the Maoists snubbed talks since Wednesday alleging that the ruling parties failed to secure resignation of the prime minister within five days as per the ´gentleman´s agreement´ reached n May 28.
Nepali Congress (NC) Chief Whip Laxman Ghimire said the deadlock has given rise to worries whether the parties will miss the deadline for constitution writing again. “The political parties must reach consensus to develop a calendar of event of the Constituent Assembly and form a State Restructuring Commission at the earliest,” he said.
Interim Constitution 2007 has made a provision to form SRC to suggest the CA on federal structure, which is one of the most contentious issues in the constitution drafting process.
Ghimire said it would have been better had the parties initiated extensive discussions on these matters and reached consensus by now.
Speaker Subas Nembang met with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Sunday morning and asked him to help resolve the ongoing political deadlock. He asked the prime minister to play a pro-active role to help implement the three-point deal in his capacity as the head of the government.
“Differences have surfaced in the implementation of the three-point deal reached on May 28 night,” Nembang told media persons after the meeting. “I asked the prime minister to play his role to implement the agreement in his capacity as the head of the government.”
Nembang also held meeting with the chief whips of the UCPN-Maoist, NC and the UML Sunday afternoon to discuss the delay in expediting the constitution drafting process. The meeting dwelt on developing a calendar of events of the CA and entire constitution drafting process.
There are differing opinions coming from the political parties whether to develop a CA calendar of seven months, eight months or 10 months.
The CA has forwarded reports prepared by only three of the 11 thematic committees to the Constitutional Committee (CC) so far. NC Chief Whip Ghimire said the parties must reach consensus on whether to submit the reports to the CC without resolving the differences or after resolving them.
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