HEADLINE NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

House ratifies State of Emergency by two-third majority
Reform programmes, amendment to be proposed in current session

By Ritu Raj Subedi

Kathmandu, Feb. 21: The House of Representatives today voted in favour of the State of Emergency agreeing to extend it by three months until the last week of May.

Lawmakers from the Nepali Congress, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), the Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Nepal Sadbhavana Party voted for the proposal. The National People’s Front, the United People’s Front and Nepal Workers and Peasants’ Party members voted against it.

Speaker Taranath Ranabhat announced that 194 members out of a total of 201 deputies present today at the 205-member Lower House of Parliament endorsed the proposal. Seven Members of Parliament voted against the government move and two Congress lawmakers – P.L. Singh and Laxman Mehta – and one RPP MP Ajaya Pratap Shah were absent.

"The results fulfil the requirement of two-thirds of votes for approval of the State of Emergency," the Speaker declared.

"The approval of the State of Emergency shows that the Nepalese as a whole are united against terrorism," Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba told journalists after the vote.

Before taking the proposal to vote, Prime Minister Deuba assured the House that the government, on the basis of national consensus, would initiate necessary homework and propose amendments to the constitution during the current session of Parliament. "The government will also bring proposals for reforms as suggested by the Nepali Congress president and leaders of opposition parties," Deuba told the House in response to the issues raised by the lawmakers.

"I would like to reassure this august session that orders will be issued in earnest to better manage the emergency period and make it effective as demanded by the MPs," Deuba said, mentioning that Clause 115 (7) of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990 would be invoked for the purpose.

Prime Minister Deuba pledged to immediately adopt constitutional measures for the overall management of the State of Emergency and keep the civil rights secure as well as working towards ending the situation as soon as possible.

"The process of all-party consultations will be activated to keep the press freedom intact and make sure that activists engaged in peaceful politics are not harassed," Deuba said. This, however, will not apply to those "who justify terror."

"Continued reforms are necessary in all spheres of life in a democracy," Deuba said, adding, "therefore, I am firm to start social and economic reforms immediately."

Calling on all political parties and their leaders to come together and work in the interest of the nation, Prime Minister Deuba expressed his commitment to make the administrative machinery responsible to the public, ensure transparency and good governance, and deliver goods and services.

Deuba lauded the serious deliberations and concerns raised by the ruling and opposition lawmakers, who called for amendments in existing constitution and related laws and reforms in policy and programmes to improve the economic, political, social, and administrative fronts.

While addressing all the issues that came up during the earlier deliberations, Deuba expressed confidence that the combined organisational and ideological strength of all the political parties would be instrumental in boosting the morale of the security forces and defeating the terrorists.

Earlier, president of ruling Nepali Congress Girija Prasad Koirala clarified the party’s position on different issues and appealed to the lawmakers to approve the State of Emergency.

"It is known to all that the State of Emergency was the outcome of compulsion in the wake of Maoist terror and killings," Koirala said. "But equally important to us is to identify main problems in economic, social, political and administrative sectors and address them by forging a national unity."

Koirala said: "We should be prepared and committed to amend and improve some of the provisions of the Constitution."

He said that there was no alternative before the political parties having faith in multiparty democracy but to be united.

Stating that alertness and patience are needed during the time of emergency, Koirala, however, said it should be focussed against the Maoist terrorists alone. "It should not be used in curtailing the civil rights and the rights of the political parties."

He further noted that the government should win the confidence of the public by initiating effective and concrete measures to curb corruption. "For this, the government should make legal provisions to seize the illegal property by forming a powerful commission to probe the property of the people who have reached to the highest posts of the country after the reinstatement of the multi-party democracy," he said and added, "They include ministers, lawmakers, and officials of the constitutional bodies, top level bureaucrats and political appointees who should present their property details annually in the arliament."

"The probe should begin from the Nepali Congress itself," Koirala told the lawmakers who welcomed his remarks by thumping on their respective desks.

The time has come to evaluate the policies and programmes implemented for the uplift of the people who are lagging behind in economic, social and gender terms.

Koirala remarked that the government need not hesitate to implement aggressive, concrete and time-bound programmes in this respect. He also reiterated that he had floated the idea of a broader democratic alliance among the parties for drastic reforms in the political, economic, social and administrative fronts.

The Public Service Commission should be free from political interference in recruiting people in all administrative and financial establishments.

He also proposed special programmes for the relief of the victims of Maoist attacks. "The path adopted by the Maoists is wrong and it will only snatch away the people’s rights and weaken and disintegrate the nation."

He said that the current session of Parliament should prove decisive to strengthen the Prime Ministerial system, to implement the report of the high level body for holding free and impartial elections, to limit the cabinet size to ten per cent strength of the MPs, to strengthen the local governance, to control corruption, to solve the problem of the citizenship certificates, to bring special programmes for the socially and economically backward people and Maoist victims.

"To solve these problems, I, as the president of the Nepali Congress, pledge for the amendments and improvement of the Constitution among others from this session of the House."

Leader of the main opposition party and UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal blamed that the government had failed to fulfil its commitments and agreements made with the opposition parties in the past.

"The government could not show honesty and morality to meet its commitments," the opposition leader added.

He demanded that this session should discuss the amendment of Constitution, election government and national government.

Saying that a political outlet to the Maoist problem is necessary, he said that a single session of the House should centre around the origin and solution of the Maoist problem.

He said that the Maoists must lay down their weapons and come to the negotiating table if they are at all interested in consolidating the gains made by the Popular Movement of 1990.

He argued that the State of Emergency was not necessary to mobilise the Royal Nepalese Army soldiers. The army can be mobilised as per the recommendation of the National Security Council, he added.

Opposition leaders also said that the government had failed to justify the meaning of the emergency and blamed the government for its misuse.

Nepal said that the CPN-UML would never compromise with the forces that aimed at ending the achievement of the popular movement of 2046 BS.

He strongly demanded that the government take immediate steps for drastic social, economic and political reforms in the country.

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