PM adamant on Dhungel amnesty, Says US has begun process to remove UCPN-M from terrorist list

NNN

KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai today hinted that his government will not withdraw the Cabinet decision seeking presidential amnesty for Maoist lawmaker Bal Krishna Dhungel, whom the Supreme Court has convicted of murder of Ujjan Kumar Shrestha in Okhaldhunga in 1998. 

“Nobody will be spared if we dig into cases of the conflict era. So, the government has taken this decision cautiously,” PM Bhattarai told reporters at the Tribhuvan International Airport upon arrival from the 17th SAARC meeting held in Addu City of the Maldives, defending the decision as right. 

“Those who have been ‘earning dollars’ in the country by reviving cases of the conflict era have been trying to mess up with peace and constitution drafting processes,” Bhattarai said. He further said the government will move ahead in line with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the latest seven-point agreement. “Extraordinary situations call for exceptional decisions,” Bhattarai argued adding that the Dhungel amnesty decision is directly related to peace and constitution-drafting processes. He said protest and criticism are part of democracy, adding that the government has not taken the protests of opposition parties otherwise.

Before PM Bhattarai’s departure for the SAARC summit, the Cabinet had decided to seek presidential amnesty for lawmaker Dhungel and expanded the Cabinet turning it into a 46-member team, the largest Cabinet after the peace process. Various sections of the society have been criticising the decisions.

PM Bhattarai said he allayed the concerns of executive heads of SAARC member-states on Nepal’s peace and constitution-drafting processes during the meeting. He said the SAARC leaders appreciated progress in the twin processes.

Further, Bhattarai said the American Assistant Foreign Minister Robert O’Blake had told him there was no reason for the US to keep the Maoists on the ‘terrorist list’ after the seven-point agreement. “Blake has informed me that the process to remove the Maoists from the list has begun,” Bhattarai said, referring to the terrorist exclusion list.

The PM further said his Bhutanese counterpart Jigme Y Thinle had agreed to begin the process of solving the problem of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal after holding minister-level dialogues soon. He said Nepal has agreed to develop direct air-connectivity with the Maldives and Sri Lanka and expand business ties with Pakistan.

He said the agreements signed with India during his recent visit will be implemented soon. With Bangladesh, dialogues centred on issues, including the use of Mungla anchorage, Bhattarai said.