Kathmandu, November 16, 2006

The signing of the much-awaited Comprehensive National Peace Treaty between the government and the CPN-Maoist was postponed today due to “lack of time.”

The two sides were scheduled to sign the Treaty today as agreed on November 8.

Following hour-long consultations with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist supremo Prachanda at the former’s residence at Baluwatar, talks teams of both the sides agreed to finalise the treaty and the draft of the interim constitution on November 21.

According to a joint press statement issued by the Home Minister and convener of the government talks team, Krishna Prasad Sitaula and Maoist talks team leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the treaty would be signed on November 21 as they needed extra homework to finalise the drafts of the peace, ceasefire and human rights accords.

Maoist leader Dr Baburam Bhattarai, who also attended the meeting with the PM, told this daily that the signing of the treaty was deferred as they required more time to finalise it.

“The Prime Minister and Prachanda mutually agreed to defer it till November 21,” he said. “Let us not make haste but take time to finalise it,” Bhattarai quoted the PM as saying.

Bhattarai said that the signing of the treaty was not possible without addressing the causes of the insurgency.

Domestic violence ‘on the rise’

A 19-year-old Tamang girl, who went to the Women’s Cell in Kalimati to seek a divorce paper in October, also lodged a complaint against her 21-year-old husband, Choden Tamang, accusing him of beating her.

She showed scars on her hands due to the beating. She said she ran away from Dillichaur-4, Jumla, and came to her uncle’s place in Kathmandu to seek help as Choden unleashed violence even on her parents and broke her younger sister’s leg.

“I would have tolerated him if his violent activities were limited to me.” She said: “Life would be better for me if I divorced my husband, who beats me anywhere, anytime.” However, it is not an isolated case.

Records kept at the Women’s Cell in Kalimati show that most of the complaints lodged at the cell are related to instances of beating by husbands.

Out of 907 complaints lodged at the Women’s Cell in 2005-06, 830 were related to domestic violence. Out of 1,070 complaints lodged at the cell in 2004-05, 996 were related to domestic violence.

Of 830 complaints lodged at the cell in 2003-04, 752 were related to domestic violence. Another women, who filed a complaint against her husband in October, said she had been enduring her husband’s violent behaviour and irresponsible manners for years.

Hoping that one day he would take up responsibilities and begin taking care of his family, she tolerated him for almost seven years.