The opposition parties have decided to ramp up pressure on the government until Prakash Jwala, minister for physical infrastructure and transport, is sacked.

A probe committee to investigate the December 29 Balkumari incident where two youths lost their lives in a clash with police, has pointed out negligence on the part of Minister Jwala as one of the contributing factors to the deaths. The incident happened because the minister ignored the security challenges on that day, as per the report submitted to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha on Friday. Birendra Shah from Achham and Sujan Rawat of Dailekh had lost their lives on December 29 after the police used force to contain the protest. The clash erupted between the aspirants for jobs as migrant workers in South Korea and the police resulting in the fatalities.

The Korean Language test candidates were staging demonstrations demanding that they be allowed to appear for language tests for jobs in the manufacturing sector in South Korea. Those who failed the language proficiency test for shipbuilding jobs had taken to the streets demanding they be allowed to appear for language tests for the manufacturing sector.

Jwala took the tense route to return to Singha Durbar after attending a party meeting. The protesters attacked his vehicle which led the security to use force. Jwala comes from the CPN (Unified Socialist), a fringe party in Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s seven-party ruling coalition.

The government on January 1 had constituted a three-member investigation panel led by Shekhar Prasad Poudel, a former high court judge. The committee had inspected the incident site, recorded statements of several individuals including eye witnesses, families of victims, media persons, injured persons, specialist doctors and those involved in the incident.

The CPN-UML and the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), during a special hour in the House of Representatives on Sunday, demanded that Minister Jawla be sacked immediately. Mahesh Bartaula, UML whip, argued that Jwala has lost the moral authority to continue as minister. “He remains a minister even a day after the probe committee blamed his negligence as the main reason for the incident. We demand his immediate removal from the ministerial position,” he said in the House.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal was present in the lower house for the scheduled question-answer session with lawmakers. Prior to the session, the RSP also demanded that Dahal dismiss Jwala as he was reluctant to resign on moral grounds.

“Two bona fide youths lost their lives in the incident. We are not going to give up the issue until action is taken,” said Rabi Lamichhane, the president of the party. In response, Dahal tried to assure the opposition lawmakers that he would implement the findings of the inquiry commissions. He said the report would be submitted to him by Shrestha first and he will be studying it before implementing the recommendations.

“I have not seen the report yet. I will be receiving it later today (Sunday). Necessary actions would be taken after studying it. We also have a Cabinet meeting today (Sunday),” said Dahal, hinting that there would be a discussion on the issue in the Cabinet. Stating that it was him who formed the probe panel, he asked not to doubt his intention.

Dahal also said it was wrong to blame that his government has done nothing except allocating Rs1 million each. “After evaluating the seriousness of the matter, the government has also decided to provide employment to the family members of the deceased,” he said.

In the Cabinet meeting, Dahal informed ministers that he had received the inquiry report. “He said he will study it and discuss it in the next meeting,” Anita Devi, minister for federal affairs and general administration, told the Post. “There was no further discussion. Hopefully it will be discussed in the next meeting.” The next meeting of the Cabinet is likely on Tuesday.

Opposition leaders say they expect that the prime minister acts as per his commitment in the House. “If the minister is not sacked, we will adopt different means to pressure the government,” said Padam Giri, the UML chief whip. The main opposition party is preparing to make Jwala’s dismissal as its bottom line to allow the House function. The next meeting of the lower house has been called for Thursday.