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| Kathmandu Friday April 05, 2002 Chaitra 23, 2058. |
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Lower House passes anti-terrorism Bill
Orders to relax emergency restrictions issued
By Surendra Phuyal
KATHMANDU, April 4:Hours after King Gyanendra
approved orders to relax the state of emergency, the Lower House of parliament on Thursday
passed with a simple majority a controversial Bill aimed at curbing terrorism and
controlling disruptive activities in the country.
The Thursday’s sitting of the House of
Representatives passed the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (control and punishment)
Bill, which was first introduced as a Royal Ordinance at the time of declaring the state
of emergency in the country on November 26, 2001.
Later in the day, the Bill was tabled in the
Upper House, the National Assembly, which is expected to pass it on Friday and send it to
the palace for Royal assent. The Ordinance-turned-Bill is required to obtain the Royal
assent by April 9.
"Because the majority of lawmakers voted
"Yea", I declare that the Bill has been passed," Deputy Speaker of the
House, Chitra Lekha Yadav, said after the voting was over.
Among other things, the Bill authorises security
forces to arrest people without warrant, and provisions a maximum penalty of life
imprisonment with seizure of all property for those involved in terrorist and destructive
activities.
The Bill proposes a special anti-terrorism court
to deal with cases related to terrorism charges. As per the provisions in the Bill, a
monitoring committee headed by a retired justice will look into the grievances of the
general public. It will remain valid for two years.
All lawmakers of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC)
party voted for the Bill. But lawmakers of the main opposition Communist Party of Nepal
– United Marxist and Leninist (CPN-UML), the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), the
National People’s Front (NPF), the United People’s Front (UPF) and the Nepal
Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) voted against the Bill.
While lawmakers of the NPF, the UPF and the NWPP
pronounced their verbal "Nay" votes branding the Bill "black law",
most of the UML lawmakers walked out of the House, although they were present during the
discussions on the Bill earlier. Only about a dozen UML lawmakers were present during the
voting.
Earlier, partaking in the discussions, UML
lawmakers maintained that they were present in the House only to welcome the orders to
relax the state of emergency. Early in the morning today, the state-owned Radio Nepal
announced the government orders to relax emergency, which was sent by the Royal Palace
with some amendments.
The orders allow political parties to hold
public meetings, but that should not directly or indirectly help the terrorists’
campaign and requires permission from the respective District Administration Officer. It
also allows the publication or transmission of news-reports, articles or commentaries, but
that, again, should not aid terrorism.
The five-point orders also provides for the
permanent or temporary transfer or appointment of civil servants in the Kingdom; and it
allows public criticism of the security forces, but that should not de-moralise the
security forces in any way.
The issuance of the orders to better-manage the
state of emergency, as per Article 115 (7) of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal
1990, was one of the two preconditions put forth by the UML while ratifying emergency on
February 21. The other pre-condition, which so far has not been met and is still under
debate, is the amendment to the 12-year-old constitution.
CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal was quick to
comment on the orders. He said in the House of Representatives Thursday, "The orders
discourages comments that could demoralise the security forces. What does it mean? It has
to be clearly elaborated."
Echoing the sentiment of Minister for Physical
Planning and Works, Chiranjiwi Wagle, who is holding the portfolio of Home Ministry in the
absence of Khum Bahadur Khadka, UML lawmaker Pradip Kumar Gyawali, said earlier that the
entire House was shocked to have "such a Bill to vote for".
"Law is just a tool to fight terror,"
he said, emphasising the need to have provisions to pardon those forced into such terror
networks.
Lawmaker of the RPP, Netra Lal Shrestha called
for an end to tendencies that aims to fight terror with harsh laws. Rather, he said,
"terror should be fought by cleansing attitudes and behaviours."
"This is a black law," the NPF leader
Chitra Bahadur KC said, urging political parties not to vote for it, "for it will
ultimately affect each one of us here. Passing it is just like hitting our own legs with
the (proverbial) axe."
Leader of the NWPP, Narayan Man Bijukchhe said
the Bill has infringed upon the fundamental rights of the people, and that "the
situation has turned worse than that of the pre-1990 autocratic Panchayat era".
Most importantly, he said, "the
country’s women folks will bear the brunt of the Bill as the possibility of the
security forces misbehaving and even harassing them remains extremely high."
A vocal critic of the Bill and the former
comrade-in-arms of the Maoist leaders, lawmaker Lila Mani Pokharel of the UPF, however,
could not make it to his bench in the opposition row when the Speaker called his name to
partake in the discussion. He turned up a bit late only to say "Nay" in loud
voice every time the Speaker told parliamentarians to say "Yea or Nay".
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