Maoists warn of third mass movement

KATHMANDU, Aug 2: Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has warned of protests from the streets and the legislature-parliament if the party is not allowed to debate "civilian supremacy" in the House. [break]

"We had given a month-long ultimatum and only four days are left now. If the parliamentary parties don´t come forward for consensus, we will launch the third People´s Movement," said Dahal while briefing the press about the party´s three-week long Central Committee (CC) meeting that ended on Saturday.

The Maoists have claimed that president Ram Baran Yadav´s move to reinstate Chief of Army Staff Rookmangud Katawal on May 3 was against the spirit of the interim constitution and should be debated in the legislature parliament.

Informing mediapersons about the decision of the Maoist CC, Dahal pointed out the need for another mass movement if the ruling political parties failed to address the Maoist´s demand. He however reiterated that the Maoists´ mass movement would be largely peaceful. "We don´t want to go back to jungle as the regressive forces have wished," he said. “The Maoist CC meeting decided to hit the streets for the sake of "civilian supremacy, a Maoist-led national unity government, national independence, a new constitution and the peace process."

Taking Marxism, Leninism and Maoism as the party´s ideology, the Maoists have decided to forge a working unity among political parties with similar ideology and maintain relations with foreign forces upholding similar beliefs.

The former prime minister also said it would be wrong to argue that the Maoist combatants should be integrated before the promulgation of the new constitution. "These are two separate issues and hence should be dealt with separately," he said.

Dahal said he would rather focus on the party´s forthcoming general convention scheduled for Jan. 29. The Maoist has not held its general convention for the last 18 years.

He also informed that the Maoists have envisioned a constitution in which the executive president would be elected directly by the people and the elected president could be recalled, if necessary, by the party he represents.

The CC meeting also passed a 15-point code of conduct for the party leaders. Reading out its details, vice president of the UCPN (Maoist) Dr Baburam Bhattarai said the central committee members will not be allowed to use four wheelers. The code states that the politburo members can use four wheelers. While the CC members can only use motorbikes. The code also states that all the CC members should contribute their labor once a month and politburo members once every two months. The CC members cannot associate themselves with any NGOs and INGOs. As per the code, all the CC members would be professional revolutionaries.