KATHMANDU, Nov 19: The meeting of the three-party taskforce formed to resolve the current political impasse was postponed till Friday morning after the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML and the main opposition UCPN (Maoist) differed over the content of the proposed joint resolution motion. [break]
The meeting of the top party leaders scheduled for Thursday afternoon was also put off. On Wednesday, the political parties had agreed to work on the wording of the joint resolution to be presented in the parliament to address the Maoist concerns for civilian supremacy, and hold a meeting of the top party leaders in the afternoon to give final touches to the draft.
The taskforce, comprising Dev Gurung from the Maoists, Arjun Narsingh KC from the NC and Yuvaraj Gyawali from the CPN-UML, will hold a meeting at 11 a.m. on Friday and the top leaders will meet at 4 p.m. to deliberate on the developments made by the taskforce.
“We have prepared a draft and distributed it to the three major parties for further discussions,” said UML chief whip Bhim Acharya. According to him, the draft mentions what the Maoists have to say about the president´s move to reinstate then army chief Rookmnagud Katawal and what the ruling parties say about it. The draft also proposes “a firm commitment to uphold civilian supremacy, democratize Nepal Army and bring it directly under the civilian government”.
The Maoists have been demanding that the draft unambiguously mentioned “in its theme, if not in words” that the president “violated the constitution by reinstating the then army chief.”
Acharya said the parties will also consider other options if the parties could not make an agreement on Friday. According to him, the ruling parties will request the Maoists to table their unilateral resolution, prepared earlier, after moderating it or present it in the form of a ´call attention´ motion or a motion of public importance.
Maoist vice chair Narayankaji Shrestha, however, said the taskforce meeting on Thursday could not strike a deal after the NC changed its member. During the meeting, NC had sent party leader Krishna Prasd Sitaula instead of Arjun Narsingh KC who had been representing the NC in the taskforce meeting in the past.
The NC and UML had held a meeting in the afternoon to discuss strategies to deal with the Maoist demand of “correcting the president´s move and formation of a Maoist-led national unity government.”
The ultimatum issued by the Maoists to the ruling parties to meet their demands expires on Friday. When asked if the Maoists will extend the deadline, Maoist spokesperson Dinanath Sharma said his party would hold a meeting in this regard on Friday and take a decision accordingly. A meeting of the Maoist top leaders on Thursday morning also decided to resolve the deadlock through consensus.
There are speculations that the Maoists may wait till the NC president Girija Prasad Koirala returns from Singapore even if there is no agreement on Friday.
Meanwhile, Maoists have continued to consult with other political parties. On Thursday, Maoist leaders Dr Baburam Bhattarai and Narayankaji Shrestha held a meeting with the leaders of the Tarai Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP). “We talked the current political deadlock and possible ways to resolve it,” said TMDP leader Hridayesh Tripathi.
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