NC, RJP-N end House obstruction
Kathmandu, January 9
Lawmakers from the Nepali Congress and Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal ended House obstruction after Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara ordered the government to answer the lawmakers’ queries and make Justice Girish Chandra Lal-led commission’s report on Madhes agitation violence public.
NC lawmakers had been demanding that the government respond to lawmakers’ questions. On Sunday, NC lawmakers had stalled House proceedings after the prime minister refused to take questions from the opposition. Today, RJP-N lawmakers also threatened to disrupt House proceedings if the government did not agree to make the Lal commission report public.
It was only after Mahara directed the government to respond to the opposition’s questions that the NC ended House obstruction.
Before that Mahara allowed NC Chief Whip Balkrishna Khand to speak. “We should not be compelled to obstruct House proceedings. The speaker should not run the House while opposition parties stall the House proceedings. The government should be accountable to the House,” Khand said. “We have posed several questions to the government, but the government has not responded. It is surprising that the government avoided lawmakers’ questions,” Khand said and added that his party would obstruct House proceedings if the government did not respond to lawmakers’ questions.
Speaker Mahara then ruled that the government respond to lawmakers’ questions.
Ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) lawmaker Rameswor Ray Yadav, who is also a member of the parliamentary Business Advisory Committee, said the prime minister would respond to lawmakers’ queries on issues of public importance on Sunday.
After the NC ended House obstruction, RJP-N lawmakers stalled House proceedings demanding that the government make the Lal commission’s report public. RJP-N leader Laxman Lal Karna said Lal commission’s report should be released immediately so that people could know who was guilty of rights violation and violence. “If the government does not present the probe commission report, we will be compelled to take serious steps,” Karna told the House. Mahara then directed the government to make the report public.
Lal-led probe commission had submitted its report to the then prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on 15 December 2017. The government had formed the commission on 18 September 2016 to investigate killings and violent incidents that took place during protests in the Tarai. The commission began its investigation on 17 October 2016.