Saturday, June 28, 2008

Terai parties again obstruct CA proceeding; next CA meeting Sunday afternoon

Terai-based parties obstructed the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly (CA) today as well, demanding that the constitution amendment bill tabled in the CA address the issues raised by them.

The CA's legislative meeting, which started at 6:00 pm, had to be cancelled within minutes as Madhesi CA members came to the rostrum and started chanting slogans.

The CA meeting started seven hours behind schedule with the seven parties engaging in a discussion on the Terai parties' demands that include 'single Madhesh province' and 'group entry' of Madhesis into the army. Next sitting will take place at 2:00 pm Sunday.

The seven parties failed to arrive at a conclusion on these demands, but all of them stated that they were against the 'one Madhesh' demand.

Since Thursday, key SPA leaders had held separate meetings with Madhesi leaders in a bid to convince them to allow smooth functioning of the Assembly. Madhesi leaders, on the other hand, have declared that they will continue to block the Assembly's proceedings unless the demands are met.

The Terai-based parties had obstructed the CA meeting on Thursday, demanding that the government come up with a new amendment bill based on the agreements reached with them in the past.

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