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Kathmandu,Sunday February 27, 2000 Fagun 15, 2056.
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Govt
positive on holding talks
with Maoists: Deuba
By
a Post Reporter
KATHMANDU,
Feb 26 - A day after the Maoist leader Prachanda issued a statement
expressing willingness to sit for dialogue with the government, former
prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba who heads the High-Level
Consensus-Seeking Commission formed to resolve the insurgency, today
said the government too will show a positive response to their demand.
Underground
CPN (Maoist) general secretary Prachanda issued a press release
yesterday stating that the group was willing to hold talks provided
the government meet their demands.
"We
would like to clear that if the government is really serious about
holding the dialogue it should immediately release Dinesh Sharma and
others who were arrested and disappeared while still in custody,
investigate the recent incidents like setting villages on fire and
punish the guilty and create environment for dialogue as per the
international standard," the press release stated.
Stating
that Prachanda’s reaction to the commission’s request was
"positive and encouraging", Deuba told The Kathmandu Post
"The government will show a positive reaction to their
demands." He, however, declined to elaborate on the details.
He
also added that the problem should be resolved through dialogue and
not by killing each other. "I want the problem to be solved as
soon as possible," he said.
Deuba
had called the Maoists on February 23 "to sit for dialogue with
the government immediately and quit violence."
"I
am confident that they will come forward for talks," Deuba said
today.
The
six-member committee headed by former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur
Deuba was formed on November 30. The committee has already held talks
with all the prominent parties to seek consensus on ways to combat the
insurgency.
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