KATHMANDU, JULY 6
The government said it had decided to withdraw the Citizenship Bill as it aimed to forge consensus on a sensitive issue like citizenship.
Minister of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu said this to the media while briefing about a session of the House of Representatives today.
He said the July 5 meeting of the Council of Ministers had decided to withdraw the Bill.
"The government's understanding is that any decision based on majority-minority provisions over the sensitive issue of citizenship would not be in the collective interest and more political discussions were necessary to deal with it unanimously," he said.
According to him, decisions regarding different aspects of citizenship in the past had failed to find acceptance from all quarters.
Primarily there are some issues regarding citizenship on the basis of marital status. "The issue is also connected with civic rights and it should be dealt with unanimously and without any disputes at the top political level."
"Amendment proposals have been received over some issues of the Bill," he said, adding that prior to this, Home Minister Balkrishna Khand and Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Govinda Prasad Sharma had held talks on the issue with the chiefs of various political parties.
It may be noted that a proposal to amend the Nepal Citizenship Act, 2006 was registered as a government bill on 7 August 2018 and the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee on 23 June 2020 had presented its report to the House following deliberations on the report.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 7, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
