“This meeting directs the prime minister to take initiatives to furnish details about the types of weapons the government imported after the CA election and all the dates when it received the arms within a week to the committee,” SAC Chairman Ramnath Dhakal said. Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Home Minister Bhim Rawal were also present in the meeting. [break]
The committee said transparency was necessary to dispel mistrust among the political parties and to create an environment of trust and cooperation among the parties. The SAC has suggested the prime minister to take consent of other parties while taking decision on sensitive issues like national security.
Maoist lawmakers had fiercely criticized the government claiming that the weapons imported from India a couple of weeks ago was to suppress their party. They also demanded that the imported weapons be kept in UN-monitored containers. However, they dropped their demand after the prime minister and home minister assured them that the weapons, explosives and logistics were meant for training and regular operation of the Nepal Police and Armed Police Force.
“You (Maoists) needn´t worry at all. You are with us in parliament. You have not created any trouble for the country. We want to make the police force stronger to contain mushrooming armed outfits,” Nepal said while trying to convince Maoists in the meeting.
The Maoists had to backtracked from their demand when both the prime minister and home minister argued that the government headed by UCPN (Maoist) and previous government headed by Nepali Congress (NC) president Girija Prasad Koirala had also imported similar weapons after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed in 2006. “It is essential. The previous governments imported arms and we followed the suit,” Rawal said.
Fill the vacant posts in constitutional bodies
The committee also directed the prime minister to fill the vacant posts in all the constitutional bodies within a month.
The government has not yet been able to appoint members and chiefs of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, Public Service Commission and Office of the Attorney General.
Some of the posts in the statutory organs have remained vacant for the past three years. The prime minister had informed the lawmakers in the committee´s previous meeting that he failed to appoint members in the commissions despite his continuous efforts as the opposition leader didn´t attend the meeting of the constitutional council, the only authority to recommend the members for constitutional bodies.
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