Kathmandu, September 11

Three major parties — the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML and the Unified CPN-Maoist — today  decided to halt the constitution-making process for two days and invite the protesting forces to sit for talks.

The protesting forces,  the United Democratic Madhesi Front and Tharuwan/Tharuhat Joint Struggle Committee, however, rejected the talks offer again, saying they were not against talks but they could not hold dialogue without the government withdrawing the Nepali Army, normalising situation in the Tarai districts, providing compensation to the kin of those killed in police firing and free treatment to the injured persons.

A meeting of the three parties also decided to defer the voting on the clauses of the constitution, scheduled to begin today, till Sunday.

UCPN-Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai told THT that withholding the voting process at the CA, the three-party meeting urged the parties that left the CA to come for the talks.

Bhattarai said they made continuous efforts for six hours to bring all the major parties to a decision to halt the constitution-making process so as to hold negotiations with the protesting forces.

Rajendra Mahato, chairperson of Sadbhawana Party, a constituent of UDMF, and Raj Kumar Lekhi, a member of Tharuwan/Tharuhat Joint Struggle Committee, rejected the talks offer, saying the major parties’ offer of talks was just a farce.  “How can we hold talks with the government when the security forces are dragging people out of their home and killing them. Only today they killed four people.

Among the injured protesters, six might not survive,” Mahato said. He said the protesting forces were not against talks but the government needed to prepare grounds for it by meeting some key demands. The government, he added, must commit that it would honour the past pacts signed with Madhesi and Tharu forces.

Bhattarai said there was an apprehension in the major parties that delaying the constitution-making process might derail the process and the CA might not be able to deliver a new constitution.

“I believe that if a brief pause in the constitution making process helps resolve constitutional issues, we must try but we must not halt the process indefinitely,” Bhattarai added.

Bhattarai said the three parties were positive about incorporating the word ‘proportional’ before ‘inclusion’ in the right to social justice clause of the draft constitution. He said the three parties were also discussing to make population the major basis for delineation of election constituencies.

“If we agree on this principle, then the hills and Tarai can compensate some sparsely populated mountain districts,” Bhattarai added.

UCPN-M negotiator Narayan Kaji Shrestha said he demanded clarification from the leaders on how the word ‘proportional’ would be incorporated in the draft — through amendment proposal before the promulgation or through amendment to the constitution after the promulgation of the constitution.