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Nepal's interim House delayed

Ameet Dhakal

Prachanda expresses displeasure

KATHMANDU: Nepal has missed yet another deadline in its crucial peace process.

According to the November 8 agreement between the Seven-Party Alliance (SPA) and Maoists, the interim legislature and interim constitution should have been in place by Sunday.

But the Government and the Maoists failed even to finalise the interim constitution before the deadline. This is the second time that a deadline has been missed since the November 8 agreement. Earlier, the Comprehensive Peace Treaty was signed on November 21 as against the initial deadline of November 16. There are now growing concerns that the interim government will be formed only by December 1. Maoist chairman Prachanda on Sunday met Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and aired his displeasure over the delay in promulgating the interim constitution.

"He cautioned the Prime Minister that the delay could impact the polls for constituent assembly elections," said a source.

Mr. Koirala, however, said the two sides can enter into dialogue on the interim constitution only after the signing of the tripartite arms agreement between the Government, Maoists and the United Nations.

After day-long deliberations on the draft of the tripartite agreement, the Government and the Maoist negotiators on Sunday said they were close to reaching a conclusion.

"We have almost finalised the agreement. We will conclude it tomorrow," said Suresh Ale Magar, Central Committee member of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

Citizenship Act

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives on Sunday passed the Citizenship Bill, easing the way for some 3-4 million Nepalis, mostly residing in the Terai belt, to claim citizenship.

The new Act says any person born before mid-April 1990 and/or living in the country since then will be legally entitled to Nepali citizenship.

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