Kathmandu, September 21:

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bamdev Gautam today said that the government would deal strictly with all those who try to take the law in their hands to serve their party interests.

“The socialist budget cannot be implemented. Neither can the new constitution be written on time if people violate the law,” Gautam, the acting Prime Minister, said at a programme to mark the International Day of Peace, organised by the Ministry for Peace and Reconstruction.

He appealed to all to cooperate with the government to maintain law and order.

“We must not forget that the nation ushered in the republican era after more than 15,000 people sacrificed their lives. People laid down their lives to ensure lasting peace,” he said.

Addressing the function, Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Janardan Sharma said they waged the People’s War for over a decade to bring about lasting peace.

Sharma said the Ministry was established to prepare ground for lasting peace by effectively managing Maoist combatants, providing relief to the conflict-hit people and rebuilding destroyed infrastructure with active people’s participation.

On this occasion, chief of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) Ian Martin called upon all political parties to join hands against conflict, hunger and poverty to ensure lasting peace in the country. He said the peace process would not reach a logical conclusion unless the People’s Liberation Army is integrated with the Nepal Army. Displaced people need to return home with dignity, cases of disappeared have to be resolved, truth commission has to be formed to deal with rights violation during the conflict and the culture of impunity has to be brought to an end, Martin explained.