Kathmandu, Nov. 11 - Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ Tuesday said that the government was committed to the rule of law and vowed to end anarchy and impunity.
PM was speaking at the Legislature Parliament taking the special time from the CA Chairman. He urged the Constituent Assembly (CA) members not to cast doubt over the government as nobody was above law.
He also urged the CA members not to forget the historic responsibility of crafting the new constitution and leading the ongoing peace process towards a logical end.
Regarding demand of the Nepali Congress, PM Prachanda stated that there were nine point agreements between the NC and the government after holding dialogues with the party.
PM was answering the CA members’ queries on the murder case of Ramhari Shrestha, Defense Minister’s reply, NC’s demands and other issues. The meeting started about four hours later than the pre-determined time.
He said that his party has already handed over some of the accused in Ramhari case to the police. "The guilty should be brought to book."
The lawmakers demanded reply of the Prime Minister expressing dissatisfaction over the Defense Minister’s answer to them that he had not met with Kali Bahadur Kham ‘Bibidh’, who has been accused in the case.
In his 34-minute speech, Prime Minister Prachanda repeatedly urged CA members to accord priority to peace process and constitution writing and expressed worries that parties were engaged in mud-slinging.
"We are serious about our common responsibilities, the people know us very well and the whole world is watching us," PM Prachanda said, adding, "We cannot deviate from the constitutional track and there is no alternative to consensus."
When ruling party members of CA raised their voices in unison with the opposition members, Prime Minister Prachanda quipped, "A situation has arisen where I should ask who was speaking."
The government was committed to the past agreements with various parties and groups, he said, noting that it was easy to agree and difficult to implement the agreements. "I promised to form a commission on disappeared people in five days
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after assuming the Prime Minister’s post, but three months have elapsed and the commission is yet to be formed," PM Prachanda said. "The work, however, is in its final stage."
The Prime Minister pledged to implement the agreement with NC and said properties seized during the course of conflict would be returned by Mangsir.
RSS further adds: While replying to legislators in the meeting of the Legislature-Parliament today after they charged that the Defence Minister, Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’ has lied to the Parliament by saying that he did not meet Kali Bahadur Kham Magar ‘Bibidh’, a Maoist cadre accused in the murder of businessman Ramhari Shrestha, despite reports in the media that he met with Kham in Chitwan, the Prime Minister expressed the commitment that action would be taken against anyone found guilty by law.
"A CPN-Maoist worker has been handed over to police custody at my initiation after it was found that the person was involved in the murder of Ramhari Shrestha, and also extended cooperation to Shrestha’s family and the government also in the investigations," Prime Minister Dahal said and expressed determination to bring anyone found guilty in the murder incident to book and to guarantee the rule of law in the country.
He said an agreement has also been reached with the Nepali Congress today to scrap the para-military structure of the Young Communist League (YCL) and to immediately return the government physical property, which is under the control of YCL on the basis of the understanding reached earlier. The Prime Minister said the government will itself make the security arrangements for the security of the leaders of the political parties without creating a dual security system for that purpose, the decisions related to the financial and other responsibilities for the Maoist combatants in the camps would be taken on the basis of all-party consensus and the working procedures and terms of reference of the local peace committees would also be decided on the basis of consensus among the parties.
The Prime Minister said agreement has been reached with the Nepali Congress today in connection with giving continuity to the ongoing projects, which have been implemented, from the past and to the provision of providing Rs. 1 million to each member of the Constituent Assembly under the Electoral Constituency Development Programme. He added that the Finance Committee of the Parliament will monitor the different programmes like literacy campaign, cooperatives campaign, among others, provided for in the budget statement.
