Talks succeed or fail on how Maoists behave: Gupta

Bhadrapur, Sept. 27 (RSS): Minister for Information and Communications Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta has said that as the government has already put forth its views clearly during the talks with the Maoists, it is now looking forward to a positive response from the Maoist side.

Minister Gupta, who is also spokesman of the government, was speaking at a meet the press programme organised by the Jhapa branch of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), at Chandragadhi, Jhapa today.

The government is of the view that success or failure of the third round of talks hinges on how responsibly the Maoists behave and think, he said.

As the present government talks team has been formed by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba himself, the idea of a sister organisation of the Maoists that Maoists should talk directly with the Prime Minister is not appropriate, he said, adding it is the government decision that the talks team is entirely responsible for everything regarding peace talks.

Stating that whatever initiatives India has taken within its territory for internal security purposes are its internal affair, Minister Gupta said there is no reason why we should be sad or happy about such initiatives.

He also informed the press that as promised by the Prime Minister in Parliament His Majesty’s Government is about to complete necessary homework for the formation of a national women’s commission and a commission for the downtrodden, ethnic groups and indigenous people in consultation with political parties represented in Parliament.

Making it clear that the government has done everything possible very sincerely for making the talks with the Maoists successful, he said the Maoists have, however, failed to fulfill the commitments they had made prior to the talks and they are lacking honesty and transparency in their approach.

In a bid to build an environment congenial for peace talks, the government has already withdrawn legal cases against Maoists workers, released those in detention on public offense charges and made public the whereabouts those said to have been disappeared, the information and communications minister said.

In reply to a question, he described as very irresponsible the utterances by the Maoist talks team convenor and members about the Royal Palace and Singha Durbar.

The government has already decided to support and cooperate in the anti-terrorism campaign launched at the initiative of the U.S., he further said.

On the occasion, FNJ president Ram Nath Baskota demanded government assistance for completion of the FNJ Jhapa branch office building under construction, among other things.

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