KATHMANDU: Women lawmakers representing various political parties have urged Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Arzu Rana Deuba to provide necessary support and facilitate in forming a Women MP’s Coordination Committee under the House of Representatives (HoR).
Women Member of Parliament (MPs), including whips of major political parties today called on Minister Rana for her active initiation to ensure the formation of the Committee.
Although the HoR Regulations provides for such a committee comprising women lawmakers represented in the federal parliament, the committee is yet to be formed despite half of the HoR’s tenure has already elapsed.
Amidst this delay, the women lawmakers made the appeal to the Foreign Minister to prod the government and parliament to enforce the provision and form the committee.
Present in the meeting were NC whip Sushila Thing, CPN (UML)’s Sunita Baral, CPN (Maoist Centre)’s Rupa Soshi Chaudhary, Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s Bina Lama and Rastriya Swatantra Party’s Nisha Dangi.
Also in attendance in the meeting were former minister and serving parliamentarian Rekha Sharma, Sita Gurung and Biddhya Bhattarai among others.
During the meeting, Minister Rana recalled that the women parliamentarians from all political parties represented in the parliament had to come together to attain notable achievements in the field of women rights and underscored the continuation of that tradition in coming days as well.
Expressing her dismay over the lack of implementation of the provision for women’s committee as stipulated in the HoR Regulations, the Minister emphasized solidarity of all women MPs in the parliament on issues concerning women.
The Minister, in response, also pledged to take all possible initiatives for the formation of the committee the women MPs called for.
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