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| Kathmandu, Thursday February 27, 2003 Falgun 15, 2059. |
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Govt not to
wait for parties’ consent on talks
First round of dialogue on second week of March: Pun
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Feb 26 : The
government is determined to bring the peace talks with Maoists to a logical conclusion
with or without political parties’ participation in the peace process, Minister
Narayan Singh Pun said here today.
Speaking at a
face-to-face programme organised by the Reporters’ Club today, Pun, who is the
co-ordinator of the talks from the government side, said the government’s patience
with the political parties was running thin and that it had decided to move ahead with the
talks by the second week of March.
"Whether you
co-operate with the government or not the government is committed to fulfil the interests
of the people on its own," said Minister Pun.
Referring to absence of
the political parties in an all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur
Chand last week, Minister Pun said, "The bus of peace dialogue is heading towards
peace city from a conflict city and will reach its destination whether someone gets in or
not...Those who miss the bus have nothing left but to apologise for the mistake."
He also flayed the
political parties including Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP)
for failing to put their views on present situation in a straightforward manner. Minister
Pun said there was no possibility of conclusion of the peace talks at the earliest
claiming but it was a lengthy process. "It takes ten months to a year for settlement
of the weapons issue alone. The round-table meeting is a distant matter," Pun said.
He added that the proposed round-table conference might require six more months to draw up
its modality and select the participants.
He informed that the
first round of formal goodwill talks between the government and the Maoists would take
place on the second week of March.
CPN-UML leader Bamdev
Gautam said the government and the Maoists are the two actors of the talks and
participation of other political parties depended on their will. "Whether or not we
accept, the cease-fire agreement was a result of agreement between the government and the
Maoists and we have not played any role in it," Gautam said.
Gautam’s remarks
contradicted the official position of his party which demands a decisive role for the
political parties during the peace dialogue with the Maoists.
He also flayed the
statements from the Maoist leadership who warned of possible escape from the dialogue if
the necessary atmosphere for the talks was not built by the government at the earliest.
Gautam supported the
concept of constituent assembly election floated by the Maoists. "As the present
constitution has been abrogated with the October 4 royal move and failure of our attempts
to return it to normalcy, there is no option except to support the idea."
Ram Chandra Poudel,
Central Working Committee member of Nepali Congress, said that the confusion prevailing on
the Maoist side was major factor that has created hindrances for the parties to come to a
common point of consensus.
"What is their
stance on the monarchy and parliamentary system of government?" asked Poudel, adding
that if the Maoists have given up the demand for a republican set up and supported
parliamentary democracy, agreement with them is not a matter of distance.
Dr. Prakash Chandra
Lohani, RPP leader said the parties were in confusion and failed to give a right solution
by themselves.
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