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Kathmandu Tuesday July 24, 2001 Shrawan 09, 2058.
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Government, rebels declare
cease-fire
Post Report
KATHMANDU, July 23 – Urging the Maoists to
come for negotiations, newly-appointed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba declared a
government cease-fire today. His move was quickly reciprocated by the Maoists' leadership
asking its guerrilla fighters to suspend all activities.
The cease-fire announcements came hours after
the rebels massacred 17 policemen, out of a total 53, on Sunday night at a police post in
Bajura district in far-west Nepal, the region from where Deuba hails. Even the Maoists
have lost around 30 of their cadre in the clash that lasted for three and a half hours,
claimed the Central Police Headquarters.
However, while Deuba urged the security forces
and the Maoists to "stop" all their activities, Comrade Prachanda, the President
of the underground Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), asked his guerrilla fighters to
"postpone" all their pre-planned offensive action while remaining alert. While
directing the security forces, Deuba said he was taking the step in the hope that the
rebels would comply with his request and not indulge in violence. He urged the Maoists to
take into consideration the difficult political situation prevailing in the country. The
PM also assured the Maoists that he would soon take other steps to create an atmosphere of
trust.
Soon after, Comrade Prachanda responded in kind.
Prachanda directed all his guerrillas in the country "to postpone all their
activities". Issuing a press release today, the Maoist leader said he was responding
to the cease-fire offer of the Prime Minister. He also asked the Prime Minister to declare
the whereabouts of the "missing" Maoists, exchanging prisoners and annulling
anti-people’s war laws.
Prachanda also said that the Maoists have taken
Deuba’s victory "over the fascist Girija faction" as a positive move. He
also cautioned his cadre to guard against the reactionary forces which could conspire
against the rebels by using the "liberal" face of Deuba.
The news of the attack in Bajura came as a
surprise as the Maoists had evinced interest in holding talks with the new government
after the then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala quit. Among all the top Nepali
Congress leaders, PM Deuba is considered to be more open to hold the talks with the
Maoists.
He was the convenor of the 9-member high-level
committee formed by former Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai to resolve Maoist
insurgency. During its tenure, the Deuba committee had held several secret meetings with
the Maoist leadership and submitted a report to the then PM Koirala.
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