Statute drafting process stalled

Kathmandu, August 16:

The interim constitution drafting process has been stalled after the government and the Maoist talks teams delayed their suggestions on major issues to the Interim Constitution Drafting Committee (ICDC) headed by former Supreme Court Justice Laxman Prasad Aryal.

“Though the government and the Maoist talks teams have told us that they will provide us their common stand on the major issues as soon as possible, they are yet to do so,” a member of the ICDC, Chandeshwor Shrestha, told this daily today.

“Since this is the case, we are wondering how to go about completing the document,” he said.

Confusion among the panelists on five major political agendas — the King, interim parliament, interim government, the number of Constituent Assembly members and the provision on citizenship — still reigns supreme.

The draft panel has already completed it’s tenure on August 9. It is, however, still doing its job.

The ICDC and the government and the Maoist talks teams had agreed to complete the job only after both the talks teams made suggestions on the issues.

The task force of the seven party alliance is doing serious homework to provide suggestions to the ICDC. However, it is yet to reach a conclusion.

“Definitely it will take time because these issues are major ones and have to sorted out by the political parities,” a member of the task force and leader of the Nepali Congress, Arjun Narsingh KC, said. “However, the main problems will be sorted out soon,” he said. The Aryal panel has, however, completed its work on issues relating to the judiciary and fundamental rights. “We are through with all the provisions regarding the judiciary and the fundamental rights,” Shrestha said.