According to President´s Personal Secretary Lalit Basnet, the House session has been summoned for 4 pm under Article 51 (1) of the Interim Constitution. [break]
The president´s move comes shortly after Prime Minister Nepal recommended to him to summon a regular House session in the wake of the main opposition party UCPN (Maoist) putting forth the condition that they would not sit for negotiations until a fresh House session is summoned as agreed earlier among the big three parties.
On Thursday, the Maoists had withdrawn their proposal for a special House session following a two-point agreement to summon a regular House session without any further delay and give priority in the new session to the ongoing process of forming a new government.
Altogether 187 lawmakers belonging to the Maoists and six fringe parties had filed a petition at the President´s Office for a special House session under Article 51 (3) of the Interim Constitution, arguing that a session had become necessary to elect a new prime minister, amend parliamentary regulations and discuss other urgent matters.
The demand for a special House session followed the government´s decision to prorogue the ongoing session on November 20 after the Maoists assaulted Finance Minister Surendra Pandey in parliament in a bid to obstruct the government from unveiling the budget for fiscal year 2010/11.
The government´s decision to prorogue the House session had left the process for electing a new prime minister incomplete as lone prime ministerial candidate Ram Chandra Paudel failed to secure a majority even after 16 rounds of voting.
At the three-party meeting held in Singha Durbar Monday, the Maoists declined to enter into the agenda for discussion, saying that they could negotiate issues relating to the peace process and government formation only after a regular House session is summoned as agreed earlier. The meeting was held at the call of the NC to discuss bringing the cantoned Maoist combatants effectively under the command of the newly formed Secretariat of the Special Committee.
Earlier, the Secretariat had proposed a total manpower of 371 including former army personnel to take up the monitoring and supervision role currently being carried out by UNMIN. The recruitment process has been put on hold due to lack of Maoist consent.
Talking to media after the three-party meeting, Maoist Vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha said they expressed serious concern over reports that the government was preparing to summon a new House session only after reaching agreement on all contentious issues. “We expressed serious concern over it and proposed that it would be better to sit for negotiations to settle the remaining issues only after summoning a House session,” he said.
Shrestha said they told NC and the UML that the date for the next three-party meeting could be settled through mutual understanding after the session is summoned.
The Maoist leaders walked out of the meeting even as Prime Minister Nepal tried to allay their concerns saying that he was doing the homework to summon a fresh House session at the earliest possible. The prime minister also asked the Maoist leadership not to believe media reports that the government was mulling to summon a session only after reaching agreement on all issues.
NC leader Dr Ram Sharan Mahat alleged that the Maoist refusal to hold negotiations on issue related to combatants management showed that they were not sincere about the peace process. “There is no relation between a House session and issues related to the peace process,” fumed Dr Mahat. “This shows that the Maoists are not serious about accomplishing the ongoing peace process.”
Maoists welcome House session
Maoists have welcomed the government decision to call the winter session of the legislature-parliament for January 9, though they have said the government should have called the session by December 29 as per the agreement reached last Thursday. “The government should have called the session by December 29 as per the agreement. Still, it is good that the House session has been summoned,” said Maoist Vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha.
Shrestha said the Maoists would step up talks with other political parties to form a government at the earliest. He argued that his party, being the largest in parliament, should lead the government, but added that it would also deliberate other options.
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