Nepal Speaker Dol Prasad Aryal has ordered PM Balendra Shah to appear before the country's House of Representatives on Aug 26 and answer lawmakers directly, issuing a rare parliamentary rebuke to a PM who attended just five of the first 39 sittings since taking office and faced months of opposition protests over his absence and controversial remarks on the India-Nepal border.
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Aryal issued the directive after repeated demands from opposition lawmakers for Shah to face Parliament. “I rule that the right honourable prime minister attend the meeting of the House of Representatives and answer questions from honourable members,” he said. The ruling ended a 77-day opposition protest over Shah's failure to clarify his border remarks. Under House rules, the first hour of one sitting in the first week of every month is reserved for lawmakers to directly question the PM.
Opposition parties had been demanding Shah's presence since May, accusing him of avoiding parliamentary scrutiny. Lawmakers have also questioned his continued absence during a debate on communal unrest in Sunsari, where four people were killed, in the last week of July.
Nepali Congress whip Nischal Rai had warned that opposition protests would continue unless Shah appeared before the House. “Has the PM escaped questions and tried to weaken democracy?” Rai asked, adding, “If the prime minister remains absent, the protest will continue.”
Shah's May 31 appearance triggered a bigger confrontation. Responding to a question on Nepal's border dispute with India, Shah said, “After becoming PM, I came to know that not only has India encroached on Nepal’s land, but Nepal has also encroached on India’s land.” He added: “Both sides need to sit down and look into the matter.”
Opposition parties demanded evidence, withdrawal of the statement and an apology, arguing that it weakened Nepal's position on Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura. Shram Sanskriti Party lawmaker Harka Rai rejected a subsequent clarification by foreign minister Shishir Khanal, saying the person who made the mistake “must come and rectify it”. Khanal had told the House that Shah was referring to cross-border occupation and encroachment in no-man's-land areas rather than a formal Nepalese territorial claim over Indian land.
