• NC favours MCC agreement • CPN-MC wants amendments
KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 7
Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand today briefed the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party meeting that he would tell the meeting of the House of Representatives tomorrow about the diplomatic note the government had sent to the Government of India through Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the Darchula incident and the findings of the probe committee.
Media outlets had reported that Darchula resident Jay Singh Dhami went missing in the Mahakali River after Indian SSB personnel detached a cable the youth was using to cross the river on July 30.
Nepali Congress Whip in the HoR Pushpa Bhusal told mediapersons after the NC Parliamentary Party meeting that Khand, who is also a Nepali Congress lawmakers, briefed the meeting about the diplomatic note that the government had sent to the Government of India. Khand told the meeting that Nepal had demanded compensation for Dhami's family and urged the Indian government to take responsibility for the education of Dhami's dependants, and book those responsible for the incident.
According to Bhusal, the NC parliamentary party leader and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba told the meeting that Nepal had signed the MCC agreement after following many steps and taking part in the competitive process. He told the meeting that the processes for signing the agreement had moved ahead in the past when more than one coalition governments ruled the country.
"MCC agreement was not signed all of sudden but after completing multiple processes after a long time," Bhusal quoted Deuba as telling the meeting.
Bhusal said the meaning of the PM's message was that almost all the political parties of Nepal were involved in the process of signing the MCC agreement.
Some Nepali Congress lawmakers said the grant assistance that Nepal would get under the MCC agreement would be vital for Nepal's power trade and hence it should not be a controversial issue.
PM Deuba also directed NC Parliamentary Party members to play their role effectively in the Parliament.
Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Gyanendra Bahadur Karki will present the ordinances issued by the government in the past, including the Political Party Act (Amendment) Ordinance in the first meeting of the Parliament scheduled for tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Chair of CPN-Maoist Centre Pushpa Kamal Dahal told a meeting of the party's youth wing, Young Communist League of Nepal, that his party would support the parliamentary ratification of MCC agreement only after some amendments were made in the agreement. "We are not in favour of supporting the agreement in the current form," YCL leader Ram Prasad Sapkota quoted Dahal as telling the meeting today.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 8 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
