"The committee has taken a very serious note regarding the sensitive issue," said SAC on Friday while seeking information from the Defense ministry on whether experts were consulted before the sale of the old military weapons ten years ago. [break]
The committee took up the sale of the antique arms following media reports that alleged the then government of selling the arms of archeological value dirt cheap.
The Nepal government in 2000 decided to sell 430 tons of the 200-year-old military antiques to the US-based military collector, International Military Antiques, to purchase modern weapons to take on the then Maoist rebels during the insurgency.
The reports also revealed that the guns made by the first Nepali scientist Gahendra Sumsher were also auctioned off for around US $5 million.
The committee members taking part in the Friday´s discussion arrived at a decision to take necessary steps to bring back the sold weapons and conduct an investigation into the sale to book those involved in the deal.
Some members were of the view that the sale of antique arms was "bigger" than the Sudan scam, one of the biggest corruption scandals in Nepal´s history.
Maoist lawmaker Barsha Man Pun demanded that Defense Ministry conduct the investigation to dig out facts regarding the sold weapons. Maoist lawmaker Dinanath Sharma even went on to demand execution of those involved in the deal, labeling them as "real traitors".
CPN UML lawmaker Pradeep Gyawali said that the sale of antique weapons for peanuts has undermined the image of the country. "Those weapons represent our history," he said.
However, Prakash Saran Mahat, NC lawmaker said that no one should be charged as criminal before a detailed investigation is carried out. "It is necessary to investigate whether or not the sold weapons were of archeological importance." He also argued that it was impossible to preserve weapons produced at a mass scale forever.
Defense Minister Bishnu Poudel has committed before the SAC members that his ministry would probe into the arms-sale issue.
Similarly, Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Chattra Man Singh Gurung said the Nepal Army was unaware about the sale of antique military weapons. "Nepal Army had no knowledge of the sale of the weapons until reports surfaced in the media. We will begin an investigation," the army chief told the committee.
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