Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will not resign immediately and implement the Supreme Court’s verdict against him by facing Parliament that is due to convene within two weeks, an official representing the embattled premier said on Wednesday.
In a landmark ruling, a five-member constitutional bench led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher on Tuesday annulled the Oli government’s “unconstitutional” decision to dissolve the 275-member lower house of Parliament. The court also ordered the government to summon the House session within the next 13 days.
Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 after President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved the House and announced fresh elections on April 30 and May 10 at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli, amidst a tussle for power within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).
Oli’s Press Advisor Surya Thapa said the prime minister, who turned 69 this week, intends to implement the verdict of the apex court after facing Parliament that is due to convene within two weeks.
“The Supreme Court’s verdict is controversial, however, it should be accepted and implemented. Its effects will be seen in the future as the decision has not provided any solution to the political problems,” Thapa said. He claimed that the apex court’s verdict will further fuel instability and pave way for power-play.
“The Prime Minister will face the House of Representatives to implement the verdict but will not tender his resignation as of now,” Thapa was quoted as saying by The Himalayan Times.
Oli’s Chief Advisor Bishnu Rimal, mirroring Thapa’s sentiments, said that all will have to accept the court’s decision. “However, it provides no solution to existing political complications,” Rimal said.
Experts fear fresh wave of prisoners in Myanmar
AP n Jakarta
Whether taken from their homes in the middle of the night or grabbed off the streets during protests, hundreds of people have been arrested in the weeks since Myanmar’s military coup, leading human rights groups and experts to fear a sizable expansion in the number of political prisoners in the country.
As of Tuesday, some 696 people — including monks, writers, activists, politicians and others — had been arrested in relation to the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, or AAPP, a Myanmar-based organisation.
Many of those arrested were charged using a legacy of laws — some dating back to British colonial times and others instituted under previous military regimes — that have been used against critics by every government, including the one led by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, which was ousted in the Feb. 1 coup.