Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala, CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal and UCPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal appeared together in a public function after a long time and said there was no alternative to consensus, cooperation and understanding and that they would take the peace process to a logical end through consensus. [break]
The three leaders were brought to the forum by Takshashila Academy for a program organized to mark the International Day of Non-violence and 140th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Addressing the program, the three leaders stressed the need fro peace and harmony. The UN is celebrating October 2 as the International Day of Non-violence since 2007.
Addressing the function, Koirala recalled his meeting with Mahatma Gandhi and claimed that he has always been following Gandhi’s principle of non-violence.
He said non-violence and peace alone can bring about prosperity in the country and praised Maoist chairman Prachanda for ending the 10-year-long armed war and joining the peace process.
Prachanda said Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence keeps special significance at a time when the country is in peace process after the 10-year-long people’s war and 19-day people’s movement.
He said political parties needed to reach consensus to make schools as peace zones, interim constitution should be followed to take the peace process to a logical conclusion and the political parties should embrace the norms of democracy and people’s aspirations.
UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal said there is no alternative to consensus and cooperation among the political parties for lasting peace and sustainable development. He hailed international support for Nepal’s peace process and stressed on the need for high-level political understanding to draft the new constitution on time.
The program was chaired by the academy’s principal Dr Jayaraj Acharya.
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