KATHMANDU, March 11: Top leaders from major political forces on Sunday suggested to Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai to share their draft proposal on removing constitutional difficulties in forming a new government and holding elections with the chief justice even though the leaders are yet to resolve contentious issues.
The leaders at the interparty talks on Sunday decided to share the proposal and seek advice if any from the chief justice, who has been proposed as the prime minister of the election government.
“Today [Sunday] we suggested to the prime minister to share the draft proposal on removing constitutional difficulties with the chief justice,” Nepali Congress Vice President Ram Chandra Paudel told media persons while emerging from the interparty talks. “We want to share the proposal with the chief justice mainly to seek his [chief justice] technical advice.”
Some articles in the interim constitution should be amended and some new provisions added through the order of the president to form a new government and to create grounds for fresh election as there is no parliament.
For this, the parties have reached an understanding to invoke the statutory provision on removing constitutional difficulties through the order of the head of state. Invoking the provision has become necessary even to make appointments in the constitutional bodies, including the election commission, because commissioners in the constitutional bodies can be appointed only after conducting parliamentary hearings. Top positions in the constitutional bodies have remained vacant for a long time now.
Leaders from UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML and United Madhesi Democratic Front (UDMF) have been holding talks on the proposal of forming an election government under the leadership of chief justice but have failed to settle differences on some contentious issues.
Though leaders involved in the parleys have been claiming for the past several days to have settled disputes, they have so far failed to seal the deal.
The leaders have failed to settle disputes on a key provision on forming Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), determining ranks of the former Maoist combatants joining the Nepal Army and voters´ registration.
While UCPN (Maoist) is for including a provision on granting general amnesty to those involved in human rights violations during the Maoist insurgency, NC and UML leaders have stood against it. The opposition parties have said those involved in serious human rights violations cannot be given blanket amnesty.
Leaders said they have reached an agreement on ways to settle the issues and instructed four leaders to prepare a draft to this effect and present it before the top leaders at the meeting on Monday. “Khimlal Devkota of UCPN (Maoist), Ramesh Lekhak of the NC, Agni Kharel of CPN-UML and Jitendra Dev from the UDMF have been entrusted with preparing a draft for this provision,” said Deputy Prime Minister Narayankaji Shrestha.
Similarly, ruling Maoist leaders have been lobbying for the posts of a colonel and two lieutenant colonels for senior most Maoist combatants who are undergoing training in the national army. But NC and UML leaders have argued that the posts cannot be simply awarded through a political agreement.
Another bone of contention in the talks is criteria for some tens of thousands of voters who were enlisted during the voters´ registration campaign in 2008 but do not possess citizenship certificates. The commission is updating the voters´ list with photographs and thumbprints but has citizenship certificate mandatory for the purpose. While leaders from Madhes-based parties have argued that those already listed in 2008 should automatically be registered, leaders from other parties are for registering them only after distributing citizenship certificates.
Asked if they were optimistic about finalizing the deal by Monday, both Narayankaji Shrestha and Ram Chandra Paudel minced their words. "Let´s be hopeful," they said.
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