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Kathmandu Friday August 11, 2000 Sharawan 27, 2057.
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Create environment for talks
Responding to a letter from former Prime Minister Sher
Bahadur Deuba who heads the High Level Consensus Seeking Commission to resolve the problem
of Maoist insurgency, Maoists have ruled out immediate dialogue with the government on the
ground that the "minimum environment" for holding talks does not exist. While
the term 'minimum environment' can no doubt be seen as an euphemism for Maoist conditions
for coming to the negotiating table, it is clear that such an environment as are conducive
to talks is just not there. The government has not responded to the Maoist demands, but
neither have Maoists done anything to create the appropriate environment for dialogue.
The police and Maoists are still fighting and innocent people are still dying or
suffering at the hands of either of them in many districts of the country. It has thus
become clear that Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's and Home Minister Govinda Raj
Joshi's hardline approach is not going to help. Rather, it will further exacerbate the
problem.
It has now become doubtful whether the government is really interested in
resolving the problem of insurgency through political means. Not only has the government
not responded to the Maoist's terms for dialogue, it appears that the government favours a
military-using either the army or creating a special force-solution. This will be a
dangerous and foolish course to follow especially when the possibility of a negotiated
resolution is very much there if the government is interested. In this respect, there has
hardly been any political initiative worth the name. It appears that even the extension of
the Deuba commission's mandate has hardly meant much.
It is indeed sad that the resolution of a burning national problem like the
insurgency should be so affected by the tussle for power within the Nepali Congress (NC).
It has now become doubtful whether the Deuba Commission will be allowed to succeed at all
in even holding talks. And as the personalities in NC clash for power; every day, someone
or the other
is either getting killed or kidnapped or robbed or is rendered homeless. It
is the government's responsibility to put a stop to this just as it is the responsibility
of NC leaders like Koirala, Deuba and Joshi to put aside their differences and work
together to resolve this problem.
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