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| Kathmandu, Monday February 17, 2003 Falgun 05, 2059. |
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Prachanda orders cadres to halt extortion
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Feb 16 :
Chairman of the Nepal Communist Party - Maoists Prachanda today directed his party cadres
to immediately stop extortion and ‘coercive’ donations.
In a statement issued
today, Prachanda said no donation except the voluntary one should be accepted by the
party.
He instructed his party
cadres that this statement should be taken as a directive to stop the fund collection
campaign, adding that this is being done in order to defeat attempts from interested
quarters to vitiate the peace process and put the blame on the Maoists.
He said vested
interests are already out to sabotage to peace process by planting false information in
newspaper. Citing an example, he pointed out a newspaper report, carried on the front
page, that claimed that the king and some prominent Maoists leaders had a meeting
immediately after cease-fire.
"Our party has
taken this false propaganda as a part of a conspiracy hatched by foreign reactionaries and
those who don’t want peace, progress and success of the dialogue. We have been
condemning and exposing this kind of motivated propaganda and at the same time we are
committed to take this peace process in the interest of the country and its people,"
he said.
Prachanda, however,
expressed surprise that major parliamentary parties like CPN-UML and Nepali Congress as
well as their prominent leaders are being misled by that motivated propaganda.
He also clarified that
the Maoists want all pro-people forces including political parties, intellectuals and
ordinary people involvement through for a like round table conference, interim government
and constituent assembly. "The behaviour of the political parties has brought their
motive into question," he added.
Prachanda criticised
the government for intersified patrolling and search operations being conducted by the
security forces instead of contributing to building a credible and conducive atmosphere
for peace dialogue after the truce. In fact, the government was expected to make the list
of detainees public and initiate the proceeding for their release, he added.
"We appeal to all
pro-people political forces, intellectuals and mass organisations to stand united against
this king of conspiracies against the aspiration peace, freedom and progress of the
Nepalis people," he said, adding that the Maoists are determined to defeat any moves
to derail the truce and peace process. He made it clear that certain forces are active to
defame Maoists through fake fund raising campaigns.
The Maoist decision to
immediately suspend the fund raising campaign through use of force follows other positive
decisions in the past after the truce in deference to the public pressure.
Besides calling off the
proposed two-day country-wide strike on February 13 and 14, it had also withdrawn
indefinite strike aimed at paralyzing educational institutes throughout the country.
Meanwhile, Amik
Sherchan, president of the Peoples’ Front Nepal, claimed that the Maoist leaders
would make themselves public within a week.
Speaking at a face to
face programme in the capital today, Serchan said that Prachanda, the chairman of the
Maoists told him on phone that they would come out in the open within a week.
"Prachanda told me that Babu Ram Bhattarai and he would come to the public to settle
all the confusion aired regarding the Maoists," Serchan said.
He also stressed that
the Maoists have not backtracked from their demands of constituent assembly, interim
government and round-table meeting. "But Prachanda assured me that he would in no way
go against multi-party democracy and peoples’ sovereignty," Serchan said.
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