The meeting of the Constitutional Committee (CC) held for the first time after it decided to amend the constitution drafting calendar by extending the deadline to settle the dispute to Jan 29, ended inconclusively on Monday.

The meeting of the main constitution drafting committee held at Singha Durbar could not take up the crucial agendas in order to settle dispute seen in the constitution yet to be promulgated after the Maoist leaders close to the UCPN (Maoist) hard-line camp led by Mohan Baidhya made it clear that they would not agree to the controverisal issues seen in constitution drafting that has already resolved by the dispute resolution sub-committee.

The radical Baidhya faction of the Maoist party insisted upon the use of phrase "people's war" instead of "armed struggle" in the preamble of the new constitution, demanded that the provision of compulsory military training to the citizens be incorporated in the new constitution and Nepali citizens of 16 years of age be given voting rights.

It must be noted that the Maoist party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led sub-committee has already resolved the aforementioned three disputed issues.

Emerging from the meeting, vice chairman of the main opposition Nepali Congress and member of CC Ram Chandra Poudel said the meeting could not make any headway on major issues related to peace and constitution drafting as the Baidya faction expressed objection to the earlier agreement of the parties to give voting rights to Nepali citizens above 18 years of age.

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Claiming that the internal dispute that afflicts the ruling Maoist party has now started to adversely affect peace and constitution drafting processes, Poudel said that Maoists needs to resolve the problems and disputes within their own party first in order to help that the constitution drafting process move forward. nepalnews.com