Draft committee gets four more days

Leaders inconclusive on key contentious issues

KATHMANDU, Aug 18: The Constituent Assembly (CA) meeting on Tuesday gave four days more for its Constitution Drafting Committee to revise the draft constitution on the basis of suggestions offered by the Constitutional Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee (CPDCC).
CA Chairman Subas Nembang announced the deadline extension at the CA meeting, Tuesday.

The full CA meeting gave additional time to the drafting committee as it couldn’t finalize the draft within the five-day deadline that expired Monday.

Leaders of the major political forces had earlier agreed to make changes in the number and boundaries of the provinces, the citizenship provisions and the electoral model, among other issues.
The draft constitution prepared earlier has a provision for eight provinces but the political leaders have now decided to reduce this to six provinces following public feedback from across the country.
On the basis of the same political agreement, the CPDCC had prepared its report and forwarded its recommendations to the drafting committee for making changes in the draft constitution.
But the drafting committee is still unable to finalize the draft as discussions among top leaders concerning demarcations are still underway while people in various parts of the country have intensified their protests demanding changes in the proposed demarcations.
Meanwhile, a meeting of top leaders from major political parties held at Singha Durbar remained inconclusive when it came to resolving some of the remaining disputes.
CPDCC Chairman Baburam Bhattarai said that they couldn’t resolve disputes related to citizenship due to objections mainly from the Madhes-based political parties.
“When we tried to ensure gender-based equality, we couldn’t overcome conservative, patriarchal mindsets despite our relentless efforts,” said Bhattarai. “In this matter, we found our Madhesi friends more conservative.”
He, however, accused leaders from “democratic and left” parties of being more rigidly against retaining the secular status of the country under the new constitution.
“As everyone knows, the issue of demarcation [of provinces] is the thorniest. Various alternatives were floated at today’s meeting,” he said. “We have agreed to resolve these issues by tomorrow.”
NC Vice-president Ram Chandra Poudel said they haven’t made tangible progress on how to settle the demarcation disputes.
UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the leaders’ latest discussions have concentrated more on how to address the concerns of various sides agitating in several parts of the country.
Chairman of Madhesi People’s Rights Forum-Democratic (MPRF-D) Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar informed that they have discussed various issues concerning the demarcation dispute.
“The recent protests show that people in various parts of the country aren’t happy with the six-province model. So we are thinking about resolving this in a package,” said Gachchhadar.
Political agreement among the leaders is crucial as the drafting committee can finalize the draft constitution only after the special committee of these same leaders takes the decision on the contentious issues and offers its suggestions. The 73-member drafting committee is awaiting the decision.
Once the drafting committee finalizes the draft constitution, the full CA will endorse it through a two-thirds majority for promulgation.