At a meeting held with envoys of the US, UK, Russia, France and China at Hotel Yak and Yeti in the afternoon, Maoist leaders assured them that they are committed to taking the peace process to a logical end. [break]
“We said we would try our best to complete the peace process within the next four months and, if not, within six months,” said Maoist Vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha.
Shrestha said they told the envoys that they will determine the number of Maoist combatants to be integrated into the security forces and accomplish within two months the task of grouping the combatants in three separate categories - those choosing voluntary retirement, those for rehabilitation and those opting to join the security forces.
According to Shrestha, they asked for the envoys´ help in extending UNMIN´s term for six months. He said, “We should conclude the ongoing peace process within that period.”
Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Vice-chairmen Dr Baburam Bhattarai, Mohan Baidya and Shrestha and Krishna Bahadur Mahara were present at the meeting.
On the occasion, the envoys are learnt to have told the Maoists that they would support any decision reached through consensus among all the political parties.
- Seek six-month UNMIN term extension
- Bring up NA boycott of JMCC meet with PM
- NC, TMDP, MPRF want army out of UNMIN supervision
Just before the meeting with the Maoist leaders, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal had a separate meeting with the five envoys at his office at Singha Durbar.
According to the prime minister´s foreign affairs advisor, Rajan Bhattarai, Prime Minister Nepal informed the envoys that the government was planning to revise the UNMIN mandate since there had been a big change in context since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA).
The prime minister pointed out the need to revise UNMIN´s mandate, citing Article 10.5 of the CPA that states that the concept of ´two parties´ would automatically cease to exist after the constituting of the interim Legislature-Parliament. He told the envoys that the government was planning to put the Nepal Army beyond the supervision of UNMIN.
The envoys had suggested to the prime minister to come up with a proposal on the basis of consensus among the political parties.
The Maoists also held a separate meeting with Prime Minister Nepal and representatives of political parties at the Joint Monitoring Coordination Committee (JMCC) on Friday to discuss extension of term for UNMIN.
At a meeting with the prime minister, the Maoists formally asked the government to extend the UN political mission´s term for six months.
Talking to media persons after the meeting, Maoist Vice-chairman Shrestha said the meeting dwelled mostly on term extension. “We said it is not good to criticize UNMIN though we have some differences over its mandate,” he said.
According to Shrestha, the prime minister said he would take a decision on the term extension after holding meetings with parties concerned.
During the meeting, the Maoists had also expressed serious concern over the Nepal Army (NA) boycotting the JMCC meeting on Thursday and its lobbying political party leaders not to extend UNMIN´s term. “We said that the conduct and activities of the army were not natural,” said Shrestha.
According to Home Minister Bhim Rawal, who was present at the meeting, Prime Minister Nepal asked the Maoists not to harbor any fears that the army would derail the peace process.
Prime Minister Nepal told the Maoist leaders that it would not be good to keep the army under UNMIN´s supervision in the changed context as this was hindering regular activities like recruitment and procurement of arms and ammunition for training. “The Maoists have said that they are ready to discuss the issue in detail,” Rawal told media persons.
At a separate meeting called by the Maoists, three parties in the JMCC - Nepali Congress, Tarai Madhes Democratic Party and Madhesi People´s Rights Forum - had said that they were not averse to the idea of extending UNMIN´s term but are against keeping the national army under UNMIN´s supervision any longer.
CPN-UML was not present at the meeting, though it was invited.
koshraj@myrepublica.com
Related story
Peace process won’t be completed without street protests: Dahal
-1767250672.webp)
