Addressing a mass rally organized by the NC in Birtamod, NC leaders blamed Maoist duplicity and stubbornness for the delay in concluding the peace process and promulgating a new constitution. They also said that the Maoists cannot yet be trusted as they have largely failed to abide by various agreements reached in the past. [break]
This is the second mass rally after Pokhara organized by the NC as a part of the party´s ´national awareness peace campaign´.
NC President Sushil Koirala alleged that the Maoists were still continuing with their old tactics even as they came into mainstream politics and became part of the government. "All the work would be be completed within seven days if the Maoists showed sincerity towards peace and constitution drafting," he said before thousands of cheering party cadres.
"However, dishonesty by the Maoists has made it impossible to conclude any of these tasks. These tasks won´t be completed even in the next five or ten years if the Maoists continue with the same attitude. I wish the recent Maoist decision to adopt peace and constitution is not just meant to show others," he added.
Koirala said the NC won´t accept promulgation of a new constitution before the conclusion of the peace process. He warned that the country would have to face an unimaginable situation if the new constitution is not promulgated within the stipulated deadline of May 28.
Koirala said the NC would not agree to a new constitution that does not incorporate the idea of pluralism.
NC senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba said the recent Maoist decision had raised hope that they would now be ready to conclude the peace process. "The Maoists have made a very good decision to focus on peace and the new constitution," he said.
Deuba urged the Maoists to disband the paramilitary structure of the Young Communist League (YCL), vacate the cantonments and return property seized during the conflict period.
Also addressing the function, NC Vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel said that though the Maoist decision in favor of peace and the new constitution is positive, the NC is not in a position to be convinced that the Maoists would stick to the decision. He expressed suspicion that the Maoists might again engage in betrayal as they did with the late Girija Prasad Koirala.
Nearly half a dozen central level leaders of the party including general secretaries Prakash Man Singh and Krishna Prasad Sitaula and Gopal Man Shrestha and Sujata Koirala addressed the mass rally that drew party cadres from various districts in Mechi Zone. Hundreds of passenger buses had ferried the party cadres from various districts to Birtamod.
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