KATHMANDU, April 20: Yet another controversy involving the Nepal Army (NA) was the main reason for putting off a scheduled meeting of the parliament. On Monday, lawmakers from the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) walked out of the House session in protest against “ the government interference in the state army and the judiciary”. [break]
Speaker Subas Nembang announced the postponement of the House meeting until Tuesday after NC Vice President Ram Chandra Poudel told the House that his party would boycott Monday’s meeting.
This is the seventh time that the regular House meeting has been postponed since the Winter Session commenced on March 29. The House meeting has been convened just twice after six continuous postponements. A joint political mechanism of the five ruling parties is meeting to discuss the renewed House impasse and other contemporary issues, according to Minister JP Gupta.
“The government has tried to demoralize and sabotage the national army by seeking clarification from the army chief,” Poudel told the House, while deploring government attacks on the press, the judiciary and the bureaucracy. After the NC protest, the House couldn’t conduct any official business. “The (ruling) Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is still acting like a rebel,” said Poudel.
Challenging the Maoists to translate into action the commitments they have made, Poudel said the Maoists’ attempts to destroy the country have worried his party. “The Maoists are on the path to capturing and subsequently destroying the state by abandoning the path of peace,” said Poudel, calling the “government attack on the army and judiciary” serious.
“Mere political speeches are not enough,” he added. “The Maoist government is hell-bent on eliminating the army leadership. We, on the other hand, are executing the responsibility of a responsible opposition by alerting the government, which already mistrusts us.”
tilak@myrepublica.com
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