Kathmandu, November 8:

A section of the constitutional experts today blamed the monarch and the political parties who had formed governments at different times for making repeated attacks on the constitution.

They were of the opinion that the current situation was a consequence of repeated violation of the constitution by the monarch and the political parties in the past fifteen years.

A day before the 15th Constitution Day, a member of the 1990 constitution drafting committee, Nilamber Acharya, accused the King for making hardest attacks on the constitution while he defended the party-governments saying those violations were minor and could be treated from within the constitution.

“There is no treatment when the King violates the constitution,” Acharya said at an interaction suggesting that the King must stop from becoming active to ensure a conducive environment to open dialogue with the political parties.

He also added that there can be no compromise with the King in the current situation.

Saying that the King cannot be a judge, he also suggested the King to return to the constitutional process for reconciliation.

Acharya, however, said that the constitutional values were still alive and would remain alive. “Let’s be clear that the royal institution will not remain if this constitution is thrown away,” he said.

Senior advocate Sindhunath Pyakurel labelled the constitution as unsuccessful to address diverse demands of diverse section of the society.

“This constitution has failed to acommodate the demands and desires of the country,” Pyakural said raising concern over the government’s ignorance towards reciprocating to the Maoists’ ceasefire.

Former attorney general Sarbhagya Ratna Tuladhar accused the political parties for violating the constitution for their vested interest. “The demand of the reinstatement of House of Representatives is one such example,” he said.

Advocate Bhimarjun Acharya said Articles 72 and 127 of the 1990 Constitution were the most used articles in the last fifteen years. While Article 72 has been used some 100 times, 127 has been used over 20 times, he said.

The first violation of the 1990 constitution was done by the then prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala by misusing the Article 126 on the issue of the Tanakpur Treaty.

Former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was the prime minister who violated the 1990 constitution the most, Acharya said, adding, the best way out of the current constitutional deadlock is to bring out a new constitution.

King’s Constitution Day message

KATHMANDU: King Gyanendra has said the nation has paid a price to learn that a representative polity cannot be activated in the absence of peace and peace itself will remain elusive if patriotism is not made the focal point. In a message to the nation on the occasion of Constitution Day, the King said a conducive environment has been created in the last eight months to initiate the process of free and fair elections, ensuring a meaningful exercise in democracy. The genesis and growth of terrorism directed against democracy has its root in the growing disillusionment among the people as a result of the lack of sincere efforts towards consolidating the multiparty democratic exercise by upholding the directive principles and policies of the Constitution. — RSS