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Kathmandu Sunday October 01, 2000 Aswin 15, 2057.
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Govt begins talks on army
mobilization
Post Report
DHANGADI, Sept 30 - Deputy Prime Minister
Ram Chadra Poudel today said the government has started high level discussion on army
mobilization to quell the Maoist insurgency.
Replying to a query here, the DPM, who is
also holding the Home Ministry portfolio, said that a serious discussion on the army
mobilization was going on at "a high level." He, however, added "any
concrete decision is yet to be made".
Poudel also said that the government has
finally cleared its official stand on the five-year-old insurgency. "Maoist
activities are terrorist acts and are targeted against the country, democracy and the
Constitution", the DPM told the journalists at a local function.
Criticizing the stand taken by a faction of
the ruling Nepali Congress led by Sher Bahadur Deuba that the problem should be settled
only through peaceful dialogues, Poudel said, "It is too unrealistic to talk only
about the talks (with the insurgents) and nothing else."
There is a sharp difference of opinion
regarding Maoist insurgency within NC with one side labelling the problem as political
while the other maintaining it as "terrorism".
When asked to comment on the differences
between the government, police and the army regarding the Maoist rebellion, Poudel said
"The problem had arisen due to lack of coordination and dialogue between the security
wings of the government. But the problem is not so grave."
Differences between the security units of
the government was highlighted when the just resigned Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi on
September 29 openly criticized the Royal Nepal Army for its alleged non-cooperation during
the Maoist's daring raid at Dolpa district headquarters Dunai on Sept 25.
Joshi alleged that had the army provided
the committed weapons to the police the tragedy could have been averted. Fourteen
policemen were killed while at least 40 more were injured, and 11 more abducted by the
insurgents in the incident.
Addressing party workers at Kanchanpur
today, Poudel said that the country was "passing through an adverse situation".
"Elements who want to foil democracy
are assaulting the Constitution and the system," said Poudel, urging all the
political parties committed to the Constitution to come together to meet the
challenge".
He also stressed on the need to develop
consensus between the democratic parties for the "co-ordination of all the security
units of the government (to crush the insurgency)."
Raising serious concern over the NC
intra-party strife which is growing by days, Poudel urged the warring factions to
consolidate under the party norms and to address the challenges facing the party and the
country. "People had promoted NC to the power because of its commitment to the
national stability," he said.
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