Addressing the parliament meeting on Thursday, chiefs of Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist) among other parties urged the agitating groups to exercise restraint while putting forth their demands. They also urged the agitating parties, communities and groups to participate in the historic constitution-making process and help institutionalize the achievements so far.Prime Minister and NC President Sushil Koirala appealed to the agitating groups not to obstruct the statute drafting process and to seek a solution through dialogue. "As our dream to write our own constitution is about to come true, it would be inappropriate to try to establish demands through protests," said Koirala.
He assured that the genuine demands would be addressed and that the new constitution would guarantee equality to all.
"The new constitution is not something to be written in stone. It is amendable and it is just a beginning of the process to institutionalize people's rights," he said.
UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli urged the public to refrain from protests and not to get swayed by emotions. He further assured that their genuine concerns would be addressed before promulgation of the new statute. "We will register amendments to the draft constitution to address people's concern," Oli said.
Recalling the failure of the first CA, UML Chairman Oli said the current CA will not fail, although various groups are attempting to foil the process. He also urged the government not to use excessive force against protesters.
UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal maintained that the situation may go out of control if parties failed to manage dissent. Dahal also appealed to the people to refraining from any activity that may help anti-constitutional elements.
Hinting at political forces led by Mohan Baidya and Netra Bikram Chand, Dahal said, "The six-province model is being opposed by the same forces, who tried to foil past agreement to delineate the country into 11 provinces," he said. Dahal was of the view that stakeholders of the 16-point agreement should responsibly implement past agreements for promulgation of the new constitution.
Expressing his party's commitment to promulgate the new constitution from the CA, RPP-N Chairman Kamal Thapa urged the government and leaders of major political parties to address the demands raised by people across the country.
MPRF-D Chairman Bijay Gachhedar said his party has accepted the draft constitution keeping in view the broader interests of the country, despite his reservations over some of the issues. He also urged the political parties to pay attention to the demands raised by Tharu and other indigenous communities.
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