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Kathmandu Saturday August 11, 2001 Shrawan 27, 2058.
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All-party
meet endorses Deuba’s peace bid
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Aug 10 – Less than three
weeks after being elected Prime Minister by the governing Nepali Congress Party, Sher
Bahadur Deuba, the man who initiated a cease-fire with the Maoist rebels last month, has
embarked on the next phase of his ambitious agenda of "peace through talks."
As part of that phase, Deuba today
successfully convened an all-party meeting to hammer out a coherent strategy of how to
deal with the rebels who have been waging a five and half-year violent insurgency that has
claimed more than 1,800 lives.
All major political parties representing in
parliament, including some minor ones outside of it, were present at the all-party meet
held today inside Singha Durbar. Altogether, 41 top political leaders of the parties
attended the key meet, voicing their support for the Prime Minister’s initiatives as
well as imparting some advice on how to proceed the talks with the rebels.
Though the meeting ended today without a
concrete strategy of what and how to negotiate with the rebels, Deuba’s aides later
said a follow-up meeting would be called sometime in the future to chalk out the finer
points of agenda and strategy.
But by the time the meeting was over today,
it was clear to everyone that Deuba had won a comprehensive mandate from all the political
parties to pursue his ambitious talks agenda. This was crucial for the Prime Minister if
he is to carry out his top-most priority which, in his own words, is to resolve the Maoist
insurgency.
A joint statement issued at the end of the
meet welcomed the government’s efforts to resolve the problem through dialogue. It
also lauded the positive response of the Maoist leadership towards Deuba’s
initiative. The statement emphasized on resolving the insurgency and other political and
social problems arising out of it.
The parties were of the view that both the
government and the Maoists should sit for dialogue without any pre-conditions. The meeting
also urged that all activities hampering peace and adversely effecting the political,
economic and educational environment must cease immediately.
Reading a statement at the meeting, former
prime minister and Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala said that though NC
viewed the Maoists as terrorists due to their violent activities, the party has taken the
Maoists’ keen interest in the talks as a "positive step." He also said that
his party believed that everyone had the right to change for the better.
Lauding the government’s efforts to
initiate dialogue with the Maoists, Koirala committed the party’s support to the
move. He called upon the Maoists to match the government’s efforts in creating
conducive atmosphere for the talks by releasing the captive policemen. But he also alleged
that the Maoists were still involved in terror tactics.
Former deputy prime minister Ram Chandra
Poudel, while briefing the media, said that one unique aspect of the meeting was that
everyone spoke of consensus to resolve the problem. "Every leader displayed the
spirit of consensus in the meet that was very congenial," said Poudel.
Jhalanath Khanal of the main opposition
CPN-UML said that government should capitalize on the prevailing atmosphere and move
forward. Khanal, who heads the party’s cell on Maoist problem, called upon the rebels
to stop their offensive activities.
Speaking to the reporters after the meet, Dr
Prakash Chandra Lohani of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Lilamani Pokharel of
United People’s Front (UPF) and Narayan Man Bijukchhe of Nepal Majdoor and Kisan
Party (NMKP) lauded the move to enter into dialogue with the Maoists. Lohani said that his
party was of the view that a separate mechanism was necessary to resolve the problem.
Today’s all-party meet is only the first
step in the long and arduous road towards resolving the Maoist rebellion. Though the meet
demonstrated solid support for Deuba’s peace initiatives, the Prime Minister has
still to work out the finer points of negotiations with the rebels.
The two sides have been moving gingerly
towards building a conducive atmosphere for negotiations ever since the ceasefire
announcements of July 23. But so far, no one knows when the actual talks will begin, or
whether they will begin at all. Also, many analysts here say that the government and the
rebels are fundamentally divided on the Maoists’ chief demand of a new constitution
which enshrines republican ideals. Deuba has flatly rejected negotiating the status of
constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy enshrined in the present Constitution.
Besides, reports are also coming in of
dissension within the Maoist group towards talks. While the top leadership within the
rebel outfit appear interested in negotiations, the rank and file foot-soldiers in the
rebel districts, who have tasted power for the first time, come across as apprehensive and
suspicious. Just like Deuba convened an all-party meet to forge consensus behind his peace
bid, comrade Prachanda and Dr Baburam Bhattarai – two top Maoist leaders – too
need a mandate from their own party if the negotiations, if and when it happens, is come
up with lasting peace, say observers.
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