Kathmandu, February 26:

Maoist lawmaker Lokendra Bista, from whom a weapon was seized by the police at the Singhadurbar gate recently, today blatantly said that he was still carrying his pistol while going to attend parliamentary proceedings.

“I am still carrying my pistol with the permission of the United Nations,” he said. He was attending an all-party meeting called by Speaker Subas Nembang to discuss the management of arms at the Parliament Secretariat today.

CPN-Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara said, “He (Bista) must have said so spontaneously while speaking, but that is not the case.”

Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula, meanwhile, said: “That must not be true.”