KATHMANDU, July 26: Speaker of the House Subas Nembang on Sunday adjourned parliamentary proceedings till 1 p.m. Monday after the Maoist lawmakers shouted slogans in front of the rostrum in protest of the government´s alleged arms deal with India. [break]
Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Maoist´s deputy parliamentary party leader, said that the Maoists would not let the House run its business unless the prime minister immediately addressed the issue. "The prime minister must personally express his commitment that the government would not import arms from India at any cost," Shrestha said.
The Maoist leaders have accused the UML-led government of violating the Comprehensive Peace Accord-2006 by signing a deal on importing lethal as well as non-lethal arms from India during Defense Minister Bidhyadevi Bhandari´s India visit. Bhandari is currently on a week-long visit to India.
Shrestha also demanded that Laxman Raya Yadav, central committee member, Young Communist League (YCL), be declared a martyr along with appropriate compensation to his family. Yadav was murdered by an unidentified group on Saturday.
The Maoists also demanded that the government take effective and immediate measures to tackle the spread of diarrhea in the mid-western districts and control price hike.
PM may address House on Monday
Bhim Prasad Acharya, chief whip of the ruling CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist), said that Prime Minister Nepal could not address the House on Sunday as he wasn´t prepared to address the issues raised by the Maoists. “Prime Minister Nepal probably will address the parliament on Monday. The House is likely to resume smoothly after his parliamentary address," Acharya said.
Maoists call all-party meet
Meanwhile, the UCPN (Maoist) has called a meeting of 25 political parties representing the Constituent Assembly at Singha Durbar on Monday morning to garner support on issues raised by the main opposition. Maoist spokesperson Dinanath Sharma said the party would seek onsensus on their political issues during the all-party meeting.
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