 |
|
| Kathmandu, Wednesday February 26, 2003 Falgun 14, 2059. |
|
Maoists for first talks
with king: Tuladhar
Prachanda not satisfied with
government
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Feb 25 : Padma Ratna Tuladhar, a
facilitator in the previous government-Maoist peace negotiation and a human rights
activist, today said that the Maoists want to hold the first phase of talks with the king.
"They would talk to all political parties,
but only after initial talks with the king," Tuladhar said at a face-to-face
programme in the capital.
He also accused the government for not being
serious enough to execute the government-Maoist peace talks. "The government has not
yet formed negotiating team, it has neither appointed facilitators nor the experts to
initiate peace talks with the Maoists," added Tuladhar.
He raised doubts that the government-Maoist
peace dialogue might not make its headway, as the government was not serious on it.
According to him, the Maoist leaders in a
meeting with him claimed that they were still in favour of the republic set-up. "The
Maoists want to reach their destination of making Nepal a republican state through
roundtable meeting," Tuladhar said. "However, they are ready to show their
extreme flexibility at this state."
Meanwhile, Prachanda, the chairman of the
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), has expressed his party’s dissatisfaction over the
delayed process of the government-Maoist peace negotiations.
Prachanda alias Pushpa Kamal Dahal, in a press
statement issued today, said that the government has not yet formed its negotiating team
even after about one month of the cease-fire. "Even after the cease-fire, the
government has continued check-ups, nation-wide arrests and even spying," said the
press statement. Through the statement, Prachanda has urged the government to immediately
release the armed detainees along with their weapons.
It also asks the government to immediately make
public the status of the "prisoners of conscience" and seriously initiate peace
talks.
Indicating at the government, Prachanda has also
warned not to perceive their decision to come to dialogue table as their weakness.
"If such rumours keep on spreading and if the government continues its ‘unjustified’
activities, we are still committed to our political will power to fight for years."
Prachanda has also urged all political parties,
civil society, intellectuals, journalists and various organisations to cooperate in making
the government-Maoist peace-talks successful.
In another programme in the capital, some
intellectuals today ruled out the possibility of including the political parties in the
talk process. Himalay Shumser JB Rana, former governor of Nepal Rastra Bank said that it
was meaningless for the political parties to seek active role in the talks. "It
should be absolutely dealt by the government and the Maoists," said Rana in an
interaction programme.
Former Minister Shailendra Kumar Upadhyay
accused the political parties of creating obstacles in the peace process initiated by the
government. Hiranya Lal Shrestha, former CPN-UML lawmaker also opposed the idea of
including political parties in the peace talks from the beginning.
Other Stories
|
