The Maoist party made the allegation referring to media reports that the government needed to prepare accordingly following Maoist announcement of launching a ´rebellion´, and recent remarks by Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal that the Maoists´ threat of agitation was just an ´empty threat.´
Talking to mediapersons after the meeting of the task force formed to work out the Terms of Reference (ToR) and other details for the proposed high-level political mechanism at Singha Durbar, Maoist deputy parliamentary party leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha said they raised the issues seriously with leaders representing Nepali Congress and UML during the meeting.
The task force members, Krishna Sitaula and Gopal Man Shrestha of NC, Bishnu Poudel and Ashok Rai of UML and Dev Gurung and Shrestha of the Maoists attended the meeting that lasted for over three hours.
Shrestha said the high-level mechanism is meant to do away with the differences among major political parties and to create an environment of trust to help take the ongoing peace process to a logical end and draft new constitution on time.
“However, differences have increased lately,” he said, adding, “We asked the NC and UML to first create an environment of trust for cooperation.”
Shrestha also criticized prime minister´s remarks that the issue of presidential move reinstating the army chief no longer holds relevance. “It is irresponsible on the part of the prime minister to say that the issue is now irrelevant,” he said. “We have taken the issue of civilian supremacy very seriously and we are launching protests as announced earlier.”
With the expiry of their one-month ultimatum for addressing the issue of ´civilian supremacy,´ the Maoists have already announced streets protests starting August 7.
Talking to reporters, NC leader Sitaula said they, during the meeting, discussed a host of issues about the formation of high-level political mechanism. “We have decided to brief our respective top leaders about the issue that transpired at the meeting,” he said.
He said that there has not been any agreement over the model and the number of political parties to be included in the high-level mechanism as yet.
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