KATHMANDU, Sept 16: The main opposition party, Nepali Congress (NC), has obstructed the meetings of both the upper and lower houses on Sunday, alleging that the local authorities had refused to even register a complaint against individuals involved in thrashing NC leaders and cadres in a public function in Banke three days ago.
The NC has said that it would not allow the House businesses to resume until the 10 ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) leaders and cadres involved in thrashing NC Banke district president Kiran Koirala and others on Thursday are booked. The attack left NC district chapter president Koirala severely injured with her hand fractured.
Koirala's son, Sudhanshu, had reached District Police Office, Banke, to file the complaint against NCP cadres on charge of attempted murder. The victims have identified Suman Malla, Nirmal Khatri, Lok Bahadur Shahi, Roshan Singh Thakuri, Dip Bahadur Rana, Mum Bahadur Oli, Paras Malla, Indra Bahadur Khatri, Lalit Chand and Hemant Thapa of Khajura of being involved in the thrashing.
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However, police refused to file any case against them.
At the outset of the meetings of both House of Representatives and the National Assembly, the main opposition party had sought clarification from Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa over the incident. The NC decided to obstruct the House meetings saying that the clarification given by Minister Thapa was not satisfactory.
Addressing the House meeting, Minister Thapa said that they have received a video footage of the incident and they are looking for those involved in the incident based on the video footage.
“The government has taken the incident seriously,” he said, while adding that it is not possible for the government to take action against those who are not involved in the incident. Thapa also said that local authorities did not know there was any program on that day.
Speaking at the house meeting, NC Chief Whip at the lower house Bal Krishna Khand alleged that the attack against the NC leaders and cadres was a planned attempt to prohibit the activities of the opposition party.
“We did not want to politicize the incident. But the involvement of ruling party cadres in the attack made this a political incident,” he said.
While expressing dissatisfaction over the clarification given by the home minister, NC Whip Pushpa Bhusal later announced that the NC would not allow House meeting to resume its business until the complaint that mentions the names of the individuals involved in the incident is duly registered and action taken against them. In the upper house, NC lawmaker Radheshyam Adhikari had sought answer from Home Minister Thapa why the case was not registered.
