The NC put across this view during a meeting with the Maoist top brass at party president Sushil Koirala´s residence at Maharajgunj Tuesday.[break]
“We have never said that we don´t want UNMIN. What we stated during the meeting is that the UNMIN mandate, which was worked out during the ceasefire, should be reviewed. The Nepal Army (NA) should be freed from UNMIN´s monitoring,” said NC leader Ram Sharan Mahat. He said the meeting was positive as both NC and the Maoists agreed to remove the mutual distrust and create an environment for political consensus.
Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and party vice-chairmen Dr Baburam Bhattarai and Narayankaji Shrestha, and NC leaders Ram Chandra Paudel, Krishna Sitaula and Mahat, among others, were present at the meeting.
Maoist leader Shrestha said NC took positively his party´s proposal to extend UNMIN´s term till May 28, 2011.
“We argued that changing UNMIN´s mandate could have negative repercussions. We understand the difficulties of the NA and are flexible in this regard,” said Shrestha, “And the NC leaders said they would consider this as well.”
The two parties also discussed the special session of the parliament. NC asked the Maoists to withdraw the proposal tabled at the special session, but the Maoists declined saying it was important for ending the deadlodk. The Maoist want to end the ongoing prime ministerial election and amendment to the parliament regulations to start the election process anew.
The NC leaders also said that they are ready for power-sharing with the Maoists if the latter show genuine commitment to the completion of the peace process. In reply, the Maoists said they have decided to de-barrack the semi-military structure of the Young Communist League (YCL) and that should be understood as the party´s commitment to honor the peace agreements. The Maoists requested the NC to agree to end the candidacy of Poudel and begin a new process to elect a new prime minister. The Maoists also stated that their party being the largest in the parliament should lead the government and that would also smoothed the peace process.
The Maoists also held talks with the UML in the evening and requested the party to agree to the UNMIN terms extension. “We said we are positive about term extension and it can be discussed at a three-party meeting,” said UML leader Bhim Acharya. Maoist Chairman Dahal and UML chairman Khanal, among others, were present during the meeting.
During the meeting the UML also urged the Maoists to withdraw their call for special session and go for a normal one, but the Maoists declined.
Meanwhile, UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal met with Maoist Chairman Dahal at the latter´s residence at Nayabazar Tuesday morning and held talks on the current political deadlock. According to sources, the Maoist chairman asked Khanal about prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal´s statement calling for Maoists´ votes in favor of the lone prime ministerial candidate Poudel. Khanal replied that Nepal´s views were personal. “The party is run by official decisions, not by personal opinions,” a source quoted Khanal as telling Dahal.
The issues of the term extension of the UNMIN and Special session of the parliament will be discussed during a three-party meeting on Wednesday.
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