Nembang tabled the proposal at a meeting of the CA´s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) where parliamentary party leaders from UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML and Madhesi People´s Rights Forum-Democratic -- Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Ram Chandra Paudel, Jhalanath Khanal and Bijay Gachchhadar respectively -- were invited seeking details about the progress made in the peace process and constitution writing.[break]
"We endorsed the chairman´s plan of action on statute drafting," Paudel told reporters after the meeting at Singha Durbar Thursday.
In his action plan, Nembang has called for completing army integration by April 12 and laying groundwork for resolving disputes in constitution writing simultaneously. Leaders from NC and UML have been insisting that army integration should be completed before entering into the thorny issues in constitution writing.
"Prepare grounds for political agreements by April 12 and concentrate all efforts on resolving the disputes through the Constitutional Committee (CC) and the [dispute resolution] subcommittee in the next five days starting April 13," reads Nembang´s proposal tabled at the meeting.
He has proposed that remaining disputes, if any, should be decided through vote in the full sitting of the CA in two days starting April 18.
He has urged the leaders to prepare the integrated draft of the new constitution by incorporating all the thematic reports by April 27 and endorse the draft from the CC and the full sitting of the CA by May 4. "Public deliberations on the draft should be held until May 13," read the Nembang´s proposal.
After this the draft and the feedbacks received from the public will be discussed in the CA and the full sitting of the CA will forward the report along with its directives for revision to the CC. The CA will hold clause-wise deliberations over the bill and it requires to be endorsed by two-thirds majority of the CA.
The BAC meeting was called after a ten-day deadline given to the CC for resolving disputes expired Tuesday. The BAC has been entrusted by the CA to allocate time to the CC for resolving the disputes in constitution writing and preparing an integrated draft of the new constitution.
Saying that this is the final extension of the deadline given for the CC, Nembang expressed dissatisfaction over the leaders´ failure to expedite the peace process and constitution writing.
- Dispute resolution by April 17
- Vote on unresolved issues (if any) on April 18, 19
- Preparation of integrated draft by April 27
- Public deliberation over the draft until May 13
He reminded the leaders that there has been no progress in statute drafting -- except for preparing a report on state restructuring by the government-formed commission -- since the CA´s term was renewed last time in November.
Following CA term extension last time, the CA amended its own calendar of events thrice and then entrusted the BAC with the responsibility of allocating time for the CC.
After that, the BAC has altogether given 50 days for dispute resolution but the CC wasted the duration without resolving a single issue.
Some of the major thorny issues in constitution writing include the system of governance, judicial system, state restructuring and electoral system. Work at the CC and the dispute resolution subcommittee have come to a virtual halt with NC and UML leaders insisting that there should be tangible progress in integration of former Maoist combatants into the Nepal Army before advancing the constitution writing.
Leaders including Dahal, Paudel and Khanal at the BAC meeting reiterated their commitment to promulgate new constitution by May 27. Dahal said there will be no hiccups in statute drafting in the days to come.
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