Jaya Singh Mahara

Kathmandu, August 14

A heated exchange between ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party lawmaker Khagendra Sunar and Nepal police chief Dan Bahadur Karki at a parliamentary committee meeting has sparked a wider debate over Nepal’s parliamentary decorum.

Speaker Dol Prasad Aryal and RSP chair Rabi Lamichhane have taken an interest in the exchange, which occurred during Wednesday’s meeting of the Public Accounts Committee. Aryal has summoned Karki for a meeting on Friday to discuss the incident and the conduct expected of lawmakers and officials appearing before parliamentary committees.

RSP whip Prakash Chandra Pariyar confirmed that Aryal would meet Karki on Friday.

“The inspector general of police will meet the speaker on Friday,” Pariyar said. “They will discuss what happened at the parliamentary committee meeting and the issue of parliamentary decorum.”

Aryal had already sought an explanation from the Public Accounts Committee leadership on Thursday. He summoned the committee chair, Bharat Bahadur Khadka, and the secretary, Babita Mishra, to ask what had transpired during the exchange between Sunar and Karki.

Khadka said the speaker wanted to understand what had happened after the heated exchange received widespread media coverage.

“I told him that I had already facilitated the proceedings and explained what happened at the meeting,” Khadka said.

According to Khadka, he also told the speaker that lawmakers, including those from the ruling RSP, should not demoralise or make personal allegations against the country’s security chiefs.

Aryal stressed that lawmakers should use respectful language when raising issues in parliamentary committees and observe the dignity of their office. He also said lawmakers and invited officials should be mindful of their respective positions and the sensitivity of issues under discussion.

Lamichhane has separately sought details of the dispute. He summoned Pariyar on Thursday and asked what had happened at the committee and how the matter could be resolved.

“The chair was concerned because the issue had appeared in the media,” Pariyar said. “He said discussions should be conducted in a dignified manner.”

The clash occurred during a committee discussion on a complaint alleging irregularities in the purchase of uniforms for election police. Home secretary Raj Kumar Shrestha, Karki and Armed Police Force chief Narayan Dutta Poudyal had been summoned to respond to the allegations.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Sunar made strong accusations over the uniform procurement and called for the Public Accounts Committee to form a probe panel. He also demanded that the home secretary and the police chiefs resign or be suspended while the investigation was conducted.

“We should investigate it. The discussion will be bitter,” Sunar said. “Serious issues must be discussed in the committee. I stand with the soldiers and the lower classes.”

He then called for former home minister Om Prakash Aryal, the home secretary and the inspector general of police to be suspended and removed from their responsibilities pending an investigation.

“If you have a conscience, you should resign,” Sunar said. “If this is a state governed by law, you should be dismissed. This must happen today, right now.”

Karki objected to what he described as comments that could damage the integrity of police personnel and the reputation of the institution.

“People who have worked with integrity until today are brought here and told whatever people feel like saying,” Karki said. “This is not a place where you can say whatever you want. There must be some basic standard of decorum anywhere.”

Karki also appeared to suggest that he could bring complaints against lawmakers before the committee in response.

Shrestha said he was willing to have his personal and family assets investigated and that he had nothing to fear from a probe. Poudyal likewise said the Armed Police Force would cooperate with any investigation.

Sunar left the committee meeting before it ended, saying other lawmakers had been too accommodating towards the invited government officials and police chiefs.

He has since continued to target Karki on social media.

On Thursday, Sunar wrote on Facebook that someone had to take the risk of confronting those in power, whatever the cost. He said the dispute over the police uniforms could not be settled simply by officials invoking their uniforms and ranks.

Sunar said he stood with police personnel and temporary election police who, he said, came largely from poor families. He accused officials of being involved in a serious corruption case involving billions of rupees spent on shoes, socks, underwear and food rations for low-ranking personnel.

“Someone accused in a case should give a statement, not a sermon,” Sunar wrote. On Wednesday, Sunar had also posted a message aimed at Karki, rewriting lyrics from a song Karki had written.

“Mother, I rose from the ashes,” Sunar wrote, twisting the original lyrics to accuse Karki of looting a country that had been reduced to ashes and escaping after allegedly manipulating the system when corruption allegations were made.