There's no change yet in Nepali Maoists' status: US official

A senior government official the United States has said there is "no change" in the status of Nepal's Maoists, who are listed in the US terror watch list.

"I don't think there's any change. There's no change in their status," PTI news agency quoted State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack as saying. He was commenting on the issue in the backdrop of a meeting last week between US ambassador to Nepal Nancy J Powell and Maoist chairman Prachanda.

McCormack added, "There's a particular listing. And I don't have in front of me what exactly what it is, but at this point there's no change."

The State Department spokesperson's clarification comes amid expectations that the Maoists might soon be removed from the terror list with the latter emerging as the largest party after the recent constituent assembly polls.

Besides, the Prachanda-Powell meeting on May 01 marked the starting of formal contacts between the Maoist party and the US government.

The US had listed the CPN (Maoist) as a terrorist organisation in 2004 nepalnews.com mk May 07 08