Will think twice before endorsing it: Bhattarai

KATHMANDU: Chairman of the Constitutional-Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee Baburam Bhattarai on Wednesday said the drafters of the preliminary constitution incorporated provisions beyond the mandate of the CPDCC and the agreements reached between the parties and signing a constitution that intended to snatch away people’s rights would be like signing one’s death warrant.

Bhattarai made this remark after receiving a memorandum from President of Federation of Nepali Journalists Mahendra Bista on Wednesday. According to Bista, Bhattarai told his team that CPDCC had agreed to mention ‘full press freedom’ in the constitution’s clause but the word full was dropped in the draft.

“Some provisions were deleted and added arbitrarily during the drafting. This is not just a betrayal but a crime,” Bista quoted Bhattarai as saying. “If people’s rights are snatched away like this to establish the rights of the elites, then signing the constitution would mean signing one’s own death warrant.”

Bhattarai assured the FNJ that he would try his best to ensure full press freedom.

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