PM urges Prez to approve truth commission, anti-organised crime ordinances

PM Baburam Bhattarai has called on President Ram Baran Yadav to give his nod to two ordinances that have been shelved by Shital Niwas.

Bhattarai called on the Head of State at his official residence on Sunday evening to inform President Yadav that the two ordinances -- one on the formation of a truth commission and the other on fighting organised crime -- were very crucial for the country, an aide to the Prime Minister said.

The government has been under mounting pressure to form a truth and reconciliation commission to look into war-time cases after several of the ruling party's cadres were implicated in the August 2005 murder of a journalist in Dailekh. The Prime Minister has been maintaining that such cases fall under the ambit of the truth commission and should not be dealt with by traditional justice mechanisms.

Similarly, Nepal risks being black listed by the International Financial Action Task Force if it fails to enact laws against organised crime.If Nepal really is black-listed by FATF, the country's economic and trade relations with other countries will be adversely affected as foreign banks and other business institutions will not be willing to do any sort of financial transaction with the country. nepalnews.com