KATHMANDU, Jan 23: Leaders from the non-Maoist parties at the Constitutional Committee (CC) of the Constituent Assembly (CA) have expressed disappointment after UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal reportedly disowned the previous agreements reached at the dispute resolution subcommittee.
CC members from the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML, among other parties, expressed concern as Dahal at the CC meeting on Sunday insisted that some of the issues reportedly agreed at the subcommittee require further deliberations. Dahal himself heads the CC subcommittee.[break]
When lawmakers from other parties at the meeting complained that Maoist members had backtracked from the past agreements, Dahal argued that CC members were free to discuss the proposals tabled by the subcommittee.
“Today (Sunday) the coordinator (Dahal) himself expressed reservations over some of the issues that had already been settled at the subcommittee,” NC parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Paudel told media persons after the meeting at Singha Durbar on Sunday. “His response has further worried us as he demanded more deliberations on issues that have already been settled.”
According to Paudel, Dahal disowned the agreements on keeping the new constitution silent on land ownership and property ceilings. Likewise, the Maoist lawmakers have stood against the decision to keep the new statute silent on conscription.
Lawmakers said Dahal´s response at the meeting took them by surprise. Earlier, though hardline Maoist lawmakers frequently stood against the subcommittee decisions, Dahal would pacify them.
“It was surprising for us because Dahal, who merely three weeks ago, had said in public that the subcommittee settled all the remaining disputes, except for a few, presented himself as a Maoist leader and not as the subcommittee coordinator,” said a NC leader.
Change in Dahal´s stance at the CC meeting on Sunday has been construed as a significant policy shift as it was only last week that Dahal wrapped up the party´s prolonged central committee meeting by accommodating the party´s hardline faction´s views.
Agni Kharel of CPN-UML described Dahal´s response at the meeting “most disappointing”. He said such a response from top leaders would hinder the statute drafting process.
“The constitution writing process will move ahead only if the coordinator and members of the subcommittee stand by their decisions,” Kharel told Republica. “But the task will be seriously hampered if the coordinator himself raises questions over the past decisions.”
Some of the participants at the meeting construed Dahal´s move fashioned in counter NC´s stance on the system of governance. Maoist leaders have been accusing NC of backtracking from a previous understanding to adopt a mixed model of governance.
CC member Khimlal Devkota of the UCPN (Maoist), however, denied the allegations. According to him, the issues at the subcommittee were categorized under three groups-- those settled, those that needed discussions at the CC and others unresolved. He claimed that it was NC that backtracked from previous agreements and not the UCPN (Maoist).