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| Kathmandu Monday April 01, 2002 Chaitra 19, 2058. |
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Parties
tell rebels to call off bandh
Post Report
KATHMANDU, March 31:The
all-party meeting called by the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) on Sunday agreed to fighting
out the "unprecedented political crises gripping the nation in the recent
weeks."
This has been
attributed to the spiraling Maoist violence and remarks coming from the Chief of Army
Staff (COAS) Prajwal Shumshere Rana "speaking out of turn and accusing the political
parties of having worked in dubious light to land the country in the current
imbroglio."
However, apart from
refraining from taking wrong steps in the future, nothing concrete and substantial has
been agreed upon. The opposition parties have been, however, reported to have told the
ruling party to keep its own house in order before bracing up to fight out bigger
challenges.
Meanwhile, apart from
deciding to call on the rebel outfit to call off the five-day bandh called through April
2-6, the meeting once again arrived at the resolve to work to preserve the achievements of
the movement for the restoration of democracy 1989 by "working concertedly amidst
moves at destabilising the nation and derailing the current political structure."
This comes in the wake
of the perceived synchronised moves at "derailing the democratic set up by certain
quarters, which do not subscribe the idea of multiparty democracy and constitutional
monarchy, both of which are the achievements of the 1989 movement for the restoration of
democracy."
As NC Central Working
Committee (CWC) member and spokesman of the party, Arjun Narsingh KC, told The Kathmandu
Post, "The meeting centred on the need to goad the rebel leadership to call off the
bandh as the immediate concern and need to work in tandem by all the parties in parliament
to ward off threat to the system in place."
However, the issue of
immediate concern for all the parties is the unhindered conduct of the SLC examination,
which have been scheduled through April 2-10.
Understandably, any
hitches in the conduct of examination is likely not only to affect the career of the
thousands of students but is also likely to affect the electoral prospects of all the
political parties in parliament as and when the nation goes to the polls.
Asked to comment on the
likely gesture from the rebel outfit on the issue of calling off the bandh, none of the
leaders who had attended the meeting expressed optimism that the CPN-Maoist may indeed do
so. " Be on the lookout as to what eventually happens," was the common refrain
coming from both the ruling and the opposition party leaders.
Although Narayan Man
Bijukchhe of the Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (NWPP) had referred to the
need to postpone the scheduled examination, other parties have however reported to have
insisted on goading the rebel outfit to back down.
However, the meeting
did not take any decision on the issue of the controversial remarks apart from billing the
same as objectionable. As K C said, "No decision has been arrived on the issue since
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is yet to clarify on the issue in parliament."
The meeting,
nonetheless, concluded after impressing upon the ruling party leaders to seek the
clarification from Prime Minister. "Just in the event the clarification is not
admissible, it is the ruling party which must vie for a reasonable conclusion on the
issue," Narayan Man Bijukchhe of the Nepal Workers’ and Peasants Party (NWPP)
said.
The parties in
parliament, which had representation in the meet were the Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML,
Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP), Rastriya Jana Morch (RJM)
and Samyukta Jana Morcha (SJM).
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