Kathmandu, April 8:

Regular business of the fifth session of legislature-parliament was stalled today after Nepali Congress and ruling coalition partner CPN-UML announced boycotting the House over impunity and non-implementation of the past agreements. The next meeting of the House will resume on Saturday.

Before boycotting the House, NC leader Sobhakar Parajuli said that the government was protecting the persons who are accused of being involved in the murder of Ramhari Shrestha. He claimed that Kali Bahadur Kham Magar, prime accused in Shrestha’s murder, and two others were arrested by Metropolitan Police Circle in Bouddha along with weapons a few days ago. “But the police were forced to free them,” Parajuli said.

CA member of the UML Ramji Prasad Sharma also announced boycotting the House, saying that the Maoists were protecting Sujit BK, accused of murdering Prachanda Thaiba in Butwal on March 26.

Earlier, UCPN-Maoist’s CA member CP Gajurel had said that his government had taken the culture of impunity, price rise and social anarchy as an inheritance of the past governments that ruined the country to this stage. He informed the House that his party had taken disciplinary action against BK as he did not abide by the party’s order to surrender to the National Human Rights Commission. “He is no more our party cadre and the party will cooperate with the police to take legal action on Thaiba’s murder,” he said.

He, however, made it clear that his party did not come to peace process and take part in CA election to abide by the parliamentary democracy. “The parliamentary forces want us to integrate in their mainstream polity. But we want to bring them in our mainstream polity (people’s democracy),” he said, adding, “I would like to remind you, the parliamentary forces, that the People’s War and Jana Andolan II were not only fought against the feudal monarchy, but the parliamentary system as well.” He also accused the NC and the UML of provoking the Nepali Army to boycott the National Games.

Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat of the NC argued that Maoist combatants cannot leave the cantonments, let along participate in the national games, according to peace accord.