A meeting of the High Level Political Committee, which provides necessary support to the technocratic government to create an environment for elections, decided to talk to the agitating political parties. [break]Top leaders from the three major political parties -- UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML-- and UDMF, accompanied by other party leaders, represent their parties on the committee.
The meeting was held at the office of the Special Committee for Integration of Former Maoist combatants, at New Baneshwar.
"Top leaders from the four major parties will talk to leaders from the agitating parties," UCPN (Maoist) Vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha told Republica. "Talks with them will be held right from tomorrow as per the convenience of the leaders concerned."
A dozen organizations, including the Mohan Baidya-led CPN-Maoist, Upendra Yadav´s Madhesi People´s Rights Forum and Ashok Rai´s Federal Socialist Party, have protested the four-party deal, forged without their consent, on forming the election government under the leadership of the chief justice and holding elections in June.
The Baidya Maoists have seized laptops, web cameras and other logistics from election officials deployed for voter registeration in various districts, in the last couple of days.
According to Shrestha, the parties are for holding talks with all the political parties and various other groups which are dissatisfied with the recent political decisions and have been protesting against the latest developments.
The leaders decided to suggest to the government to initiate the process of forming a Truth and Reconciliation Commission without delay, as the relevent ordinance has already been endorsed to pave the way for its formation.
The leaders also decided to talk to the government and the election commission officials and suggest to them to fix an election date without further delay.
"An understanding has already been reached at the political level to conduct polls by June 21. Now it´s up to the government to fix a specific date," said Shrestha. "We will ask the government as well as the election commission about the things that the political parties need to be doing to support them in holding polls."
A cabinet meeting earlier on Friday formed a talks team headed by Home and Foreign Minister Madhav Ghimire and with a mandate to talk to the dissident political parties, the election commission, civil society and other concerned groups with an objective of creating an environment conducive for elections.
Minister for Health and Local Development Bidyadhar Mallik and Minister for Information and Communication Madhav Paudel are others on the three-member government team tasked with the responsibility of holding talks and laying the ground for polls.
"This committee will mainly play a coordinating and bridging role between the government and other stakeholders through dialogue," Paudel told Republica.
The government also decided to appeal to various agitating groups, including civil servants´ organizations, to support the government in holding polls within the given timeframe.
"We will first listen to their concerns and grievances. The government will first address their valid concerns and make an appeal to them to play a positive role in holding elections," said Paudel.
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