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Building Confidence
After the eruption of controversies following eight-point pact, the Maoist leaders are trying to build confidence with the political parties
By A CORRESPONDENT
 The ongoing door-to-door campaign by the Maoist chairman Prachanda and his deputy Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has placated the ruffled feathers of the political party leaders following the ‘hasty’ signing of the eight point pact.
After the eight-point pact was announced following the summit meeting between Prachanda and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, there were enormous reaction from the leaders of seven parties who deplored the lack of transparency, homework and consultations. They were miffed because the pact had agreed to dissolve the parliament, among others, without adequate consultations among the seven party alliance.
Worried by the growing negative reactions against the pact, Prachanda returned to Kathmandu along with his comrade Dr. Bhattarai and held parleys with top leaders of the seven parties. The Maoist leaders-duo met with general secretary of the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) Madhav Kumar Nepal , president of Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) Narayan Man Bijukchhe, deputy prime minister Amik Sherchan, president of Nepali Congress (Democratic) Sher Bahadur Deuba, among others.
The damage-control exercise was initiated after leaders of all major parties including NC , NC -D, UML, NWPP and Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP-Anandidevi) expressed discontent over the lack of consultations prior to signing the deal of ‘far-reaching consequences.’
“We felt there was lack of understanding among some political parties regarding the eight-point deal. That is why our chairman has started discussions with them to clarify our point of understanding over the deal,” said Krishna Bahadur Mahara, spokesperson of the Maoists.
Likewise, since Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has already returned from his trip to Bangkok where he had gone for health check up, the Maoist chairman is likely to have a second summit meeting to thrash out the contentious issues like dissolution of the parliament and management of Maoist arms.
Although in the eight-point pact nothing has been said whether the Maoists would agree for the management of their arms prior to their joining the interim government, Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula – who is also the chief government negotiator in the ongoing dialogue with the Maoists - said that the issue of arms management will be taken care of before the formation of interim government. Sitaula added that the government and Maoists would soon send the letter to the United Nations asking for latter’s assistance in arms monitoring. “Only after the UN starts its monitoring, will the interim government be formed,” he said.
The latest exercise by Prachanda also follows a public spat between him and the Nepalese Army (NA) over his allegations against the latter. Addressing a joint press conference in Baluwatar after signing the eight-point pact, Prachanda had accused that the NA had done nothing for the country except murdering people and raping women. As the government did not immediately react to his allegations, the NA issued a statement condemning the accusations and maintaining that the NA had always abided by the orders of constitutional governments. This reaction prompted Prachanda to reply that the response coming from the army was not a good omen. “Army should not have reacted. It was the government which should have reacted,” he told reporters in Doti.
There were varying reactions from ministers and political leaders to the response by the NA. While the deputy prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli said that the Maoist chairman should not have made those remarks against the NA, another DPM Amik Sherchan said it is responsibility of the government and not the army to react. “Definitely, Prachanda’s remarks were not conducive to improving atmosphere,” said Oli. He, however, added that the government should have responded to the anti-army remarks made by Prachanda in the first place. On the other hand, general secretary of the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) Madhav Kumar Nepal has criticized the government for not being able to defend its army. Disagreeing to the way the army had to come forth to defend itself, Nepal said it was the duty of the government to defend them from any move to belittle them.
This controversy is expected to be resolved after the return of PM Koirala who also holds the Defense portfolio.
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