"The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers has begun the process from today [Sunday]," Attorney General Mukti Pradhan told journalist at a reception organized by Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmee at Baluwatar. [break]
In the meantime, the cabinet on Sunday received a home ministry proposal to recommend to President Dr Ram Baran Yadav to pardon Dhungel invoking his constitutional power. As per the Interim Constitution, the president can give amnesty or commute the sentence of a convict upon the request of the cabinet.
"Though pardoning Dhungel was part of the agenda of today´s cabinet meeting, no decision was made after the prime minister said the proposal needs further discussion," a minister told Republica on condition of anonymity.
Shrestha was shot dead by the Maoists at Tarkerabari-7, Okhaldhunga on June 24, 1998, allegedly for spying on the Maoist party. Dhungel who won the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections from Okhaldhunga-2 in 2008, is still walking free as the court verdict has not been enforced.
The Maoist party has been seeking pardon for Dhungel ever since the Supreme Court in 2010 convicted him of the murder. The Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government had resisted pressure from the Maoist party regarding pardoning Dhunel. The Maoists had even tried to pardon Dhungel during the term of the Jhalanath Khanal-led government. Then Home Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara had registered a proposal in the cabinet to this effect. But the cabinet was undecided then as well.
The fresh move to pardon Dhungel has been initiated at a time when human rights groups have been trying to take Dhungel´s case to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council.
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