 |
|
| Kathmandu, Tuesday August 19, 2003 Bhadra 02, 2060. |
|
Govt,
Maoists agree six-point talks agenda
POST REPORT
NEPALGUNJ, Aug 18 : The
government and the Maoists today agreed on a six-point agenda to move forward with the
ongoing third round of talks and decided to start discussions on the political agenda from
Tuesday.
The six points mutually
agreed upon today include political issues, overall socio-economic reforms, procedures of
the reforms, settlement of the armed forces and weapons, rehabilitation of the affected
people and reconstruction of Maoist-hit development infrastructure, and miscellany.
The agreement was made
during a two-hour-long meeting between the talk teams from both sides in a remote village
in Dang district, 250 miles south-west from Kathmandu.
"We have agreed on
the subject matter of the talks to move ahead," said Kamal Thapa, the
member-secretary of the official talk team, immediately after returning from Dang to
Nepalgunj, where the talks began yesterday. "The rebels have agreed to begin
discussions on the main agenda from Tuesday," Thapa said.
According to Thapa, the
government strongly urged the Maoists to stop extortion, abduction and all sorts of
intimidating activities and handed over a list of 233 missing security personnel,
political activists and civilians supposedly abducted by the Maoists.
The list consists of
215 civilians and political activists, 10 policemen and four each from the Royal Nepal
Army and Armed Police Force.
The government wants
all of them released or at least have their whereabouts made public.
Because of lack of
time, discussion on the agenda set today could not take place. Thapa and Dr Prakash
Chandra Lohani, the chief government negotiator, flew to Dang at around 3:55 p.m., eight
hours behind schedule, as their flight was delayed due to bad weather.
Despite the
Maoists’ strong criticism of the government’s political agenda, both parties
have agreed to go ahead with the peace process.
Thapa said that despite
differences, the government was still optimistic about a positive outcome from the talks.
Reports from Dang, however, said that the Maoists’ chief negotiator Dr. Baburam
Bhattarai expressed doubts over the success of the peace talks unless the government came
up with a revised proposal. The rebels have criticised the government’s
"forward-looking proposal" as having failed to address the core national issues,
including the procedure of drafting a new constitution.
Commenting on Dr.
Bhattarai’s statement, Thapa to The Kathmandu Post late evening Monday that there was
no immediate possibility of the government revising its proposal. "We have made it
public and will revise it only after we receive feedback from the political parties and
civil society."
All the four
facilitators of the talks said the talk process has arrived at a critical point, as no
progress was made today. "But we are still hopeful," they collectively said.
" The talks have just begun."
Other Stories
|
