NC President Sushil Koirala told mediapersons in Kapilvastu on Sunday that appointment of a person involved in the suppression of the April 2006 democratic movement is simply unacceptable. [break]
Koirala is currently the head of the High-Level Political Committee (HLPC) that is entrusted with guiding the government and assisting it for holding the elections.
Koirala also said they were put in difficult situation by UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who brought a proposal to appoint Karki as the chief of anti-graft body during the four-party meeting. "We did not immediately protest the decision fearing that it could derail the meeting," he said.
CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal and senior leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal and KP Sharma Oli committed at the party´s politburo meeting on Sunday that they would firmly stand against Karki´s appointment. The UML´s politburo in its previous meeting had formally decided to oppose the appointment.
"The leaders said at the meeting that they would submit the party´s objection in writing to the president, the chairman of interim election government and to the HLPC," UML spokesman Pradeep Gyawali told Republica.
The HLPC´s first meeting had suggested to the government to appoint Karki as CIAA´s chief commissioner and Khanal had reportedly given his consent to the decision. At that time, Dahal was the head of the HLPC.
But later while addressing public gatherings, Khanal expressed his reservations over the HLPC decision.
Nepal and Oli have expressed differing views in public on the matter.
"No matter what the leaders said in public, they have unanimously committed at the party´s meeting that they would unflinchingly work according to the official decision of the politburo," said Gyawali.
Meanwhile civil society representatives have urged President Dr Ram Baran Yadav not to appoint Karki as the chief of the CIAA.
Soon after the recommendation was made, a group of civil society members reached the president´s office at Sheetal Niwas and submitted a memorandum to the president.
"The president assured us that he would take a decision only on constitutional grounds and as per the aspiration of the people," Senior Advocate Shambhu Thapa, one of the delegation members, told Republica.
"It would be shameful to appoint the person convicted by the then Rayamajhi Commission, such a non-transparent, suspicious and mysterious way," Thapa told a gathering of Civil Society members before leaving for the president´s office. He also informed that senior leaders from UML and other political parties had pressed him not to plead in the court against the proposal to appoint Karki.
Rights activist Subodh Raj Pyakurel and youth leader Ram Kumari Jhankri said appointment of Karki as head of the the crucial constitutional body was a matter of disappointment for those who fought for democracy.
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