"We demand that the signatory parties make themselves clear before the nation about the controversial provisions and scrap the inappropriate conditions," said a special political proposal prepared by the party secretariat and tabled by General Secretary Ishwar Pokharel for deliberations at the Central Committee (CC) meeting on Tuesday.[break]
Stating that the party was committed to playing a role of constructive opposition, the third-largest party in parliament said it will review its stance on the government after a month.
"We will examine whether or not the prime minister and the UCPN (Maoist) have succeeded in advancing the peace process within 45 days as they themselves had earlier committed to doing. Then, we will do a review of our stance about the government," the proposal said.
But later, most of the CC members who aired their views at the meeting demanded that this provision be removed since it may mean the UML wants to join the government again. "We have suggested removal of this provision," said CC member Ghanshyam Bhusal.
The CPN-UML has come down heavily on some of the terms of the four-point deal, including the one on giving a general amnesty and retracting some cases filed in courts against Maoist cadres during the insurgency and against Madhesi activists during the Madhes-movement despite their sub-judice status.
"It not only violates the spirit of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) but also makes a mockery of the rule of law and institutionalizes impunity," said the UML proposal.
It has said such a proposal would open the door for human rights violations, give impunity to criminals and promote criminality in society even as the Supreme Court, the National Human Rights Commission and other human rights activists have been consistently demanding an end to impunity and not to give political protection to criminals.
The party has also criticized the point in the two-party deal on amending an act related to weapons and curtailing the quasi-judicial powers of chief district officers.
Similarly, the UML has objected to one of the provisions in the deal that commits the two sides to adopting a federal system with the right to self-determination attached. "Such a vague and misleading condition about the right to self-determination might invite its misuse. Therefore, we want to make the party´s concerns public," it has said.
On statute drafting, the party has clearly ruled out any possibility of promulgating a new constitution prior to taking the peace process to its conclusion.
"It has become clear in practice that the statute drafting process can´t make tangible progress without making concrete headway in integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants," it said.
The proposal at the same time said the new constitution must be promulgated from the Constituent Assembly within the remaining time of its extended three-month term.
The UML has described the decision to hand over the arms container keys to the special committee as positive and symbolic but inadequate.
According to a party leader, some CC members suggested to the party leadership to term some of the conditions "detrimental to the country". The leader informed that the proposal, however, will be endorsed by the meeting on Wednesday with minor changes as there were no sharp differences over it among the members.
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