Maoists' protest rocks Nepal Parliament

Kathmandu, April 25 (PTI): Agitated Maoists lawmakers, pressing for immediate announcement of the Constituent Assembly polls, disrupted Parliament proceedings for the fourth day today, prompting the Speaker to adjourn the session for two weeks. The slogan-shouting CPN-Maoists MPs surrounded Speaker Subhash Nemwang's rostrum and demanded that the government announce the election date soon. They also asked the Home Minister to apologise for the last month's police raid on the offices of the Young Communist League, the youth wing of the Maoists, here. There are 83 Maoist MPs in the 330 member House.

The Maoists were joined by Madhesi lawmakers who demanded that the government form a high-level probe commission to inquire into the killings during the violent agitations in Terai region in January-February that killed at least 60 people. They were also demanding that the government reconstitute the constituency delineation commission to give "proper" representation of the Terai region. The stand-off has been continuing for four days. The Speaker adjourned the Parliament session for the next two week today. The Parliament will now meet on May 9, the Parliament Secretariat said in a notice today. The government could not pass a number of bills including those related to the Constituent Assembly due to the 0disruption of the Parliament proceedings.

Source: The Hindu, April 25, 2007