I/II. http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=CA+gets+new+lease+of+life+in+dying+hours+of+House+&NewsID=245554
<http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=CA+gets+new+lease+of+life+in+dying+hours+of+House+&NewsID=245554>CA gets new lease of life in dying hours of House Last Updated : 2010-05-29 1:51 AM *Arjun Bhandari/ Prakash Acharya* KATHMANDU: The parliament today passed the Eighth Amendment Bill to the interim constitution to extend tenure of the Constituent Assembly by one year with a two-thirds majority. Of the 585 lawmakers present in today’s session 580 voted in favour of the Bill while only four lawmakers from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal and one independent member, Baban Singh, voted against it. The Bill has amended Article 64 of the interim constitution replacing the existing “two years” with “three years”. President Dr Ram Baran Yadav authenticated the Bill immediately after the House passed it. With the amendment to the Bill, the Constituent Assembly will remain in effect for the next one year within which the constitution-making body has to adopt a new constitution. Earlier, the three major parties – Unified CPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress and CPN-UML – had spent the whole day brainstorming on the contents of the three-point agreement that ultimately paved the way for the extension of the Constituent Assembly. The Maoists wanted to mention that Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal would step down within a specific date while the NC and CPN-UML refused to do so. The ruling partners had insisted that the PM would resign only after detailed plan of action was worked out on peace and constitution-making processes. Sources said the PM would probably tender his resignation within five days if the parties clinched a deal on peace and constitution-making processes. Later, the parties agreed that the PM would step down after implementation process of the peace process began and action plan of the constitution-drafting process was agreed upon. Before the Bill to amend the Interim Constitution was tabled in the House by Law Minister Prem Bahadur Singh, some of the parliamentary regulations were suspended to ease the process of passing the Bill. No theoretical discussion was held, neither the lawmakers were given time to lodge amendment proposal to the Bill. House passed the Bill as was proposed by the cabinet. Maoist lawmaker Dev Prasad Gurung and NSP (A) Sarita Giri, who had lodged separate “protest notices” to oppose the Bill, withdrew them, saying they did not have to discuss them as the parties had already forged a consensus. After the passage of the Bill, the PM said he would devote his time and energy on the peace and constitution-drafting processes. Maoist chairman Prachanda said passage of the Bill had “defeated those forces who wanted to derail the peace and constitution-drafting processes.” “This Bill has ensured the fact that the peace process and constitution making process will move ahead smoothly,” he said. NC vice-president Ramchandra Paudel said all the parties must best utilise rest of the time for the above mentioned twin goals. UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal said they would hold a high-level meeting of the parties on Sunday to determine the future course of action. He said it would not take more than two weeks to form the national unity government. He said a person of any party who commanded confidence of all the parties would become the next PM on consensus basis. II. http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Three-point+pact+ends+stalemate&NewsID=245556 Three-point pact ends stalemate Last Updated : 2010-05-29 3:04 AM *Himalayan News Service* KATHMANDU: The three major parties agreed to extend the term of Constituent Assembly for a year at the eleventh hour after they reached a three-point agreement that requires the Prime Minister to step down at an appropriate time soon. The agreement does not state when Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal will step down, but states that he will tender his resignation the day the three major parties sign a “package deal”. According to the three-point agreement signed by Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, NC Acting President Sushil Koirala and CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal, the Prime Minister is ready to resign immediately to pave way for the national consensus government. The three parties have also expressed commitment to embark on the path of consensus to accomplish the remaining work to lead the peace process to a logical conclusion and draft a new constitution. Emerging from the meeting following an agreement on the premises of CA, NC spokesperson Arjun Narsingh KC said the three parties agreed to extend the CA term by a year and accomplish all the remaining tasks concerning peace process and constitution drafting process mentioned in the peace agreement in a package. KC added that the parties had ironed out differences on all contentious issues, including formation of national consensus government, power sharing, managing the Maoist combatants and weapons, disbanding YCL’s paramilitary structure and returning the properties seized during the time of conflict to their rightful owners. Standing committee member of UCPN-Maoist Giriraj Mani Pokhrel confirmed that the three parties had inked a three-point agreement. Earlier, PM Nepal had consultations with President Dr Ram Baran Yadav. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
