KATHMANDU, Oct 2: The three major political parties -- Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist)-- have agreed to meet on Saturday morning as the NC and CPN-UML are yet to prepare the first draft of a joint resolution to be tabled in parliament.
The three parties were scheduled to discuss the draft prepared by the two ruling parties--NC and UML-- at a meeting on Friday. [break]
The main parties had earlier agreed to resolve the longstanding deadlock through a joint resolution in parliament to address Maoist concerns over ´civilian supremacy´ in the aftermath of the president´s move to reinstate the then army chief.
Deputy parliamentary party leader of the Maoists Narayan Kaji Shrestha said they didn´t enter into the discussions as the NC and UML, which were asked to prepare the draft, did not present it at the three-party meeting.
"We didn´t present it at the trilateral meeting as we (NC and UML) needed more time to be clear among ourselves," UML leader Pradip Gyawali, a member of the talks team, told Republica.
According to him, as NC Acting President Sushil Koirala joined the dialogue process only on Friday, he required more time to be updated over developments.
A NC leader engaged in the dialogue said they would have persuaded Koirala about the contents of the draft had the Maoist members come only some 20 minutes later. "We decided not to show the preliminary draft to the Maoist leaders as we had not finalized it within the NC itself," he said.
Leaders said they are inching closer except for a few points.
The main difference is that the Maoists are for mentioning the president´s move within the resolution proper while the NC and the UML have tried to persuade the Maoists to settle the issue by stating it only in the context and background to the proposal.
"The Maoists are insisting on including the matter within the proposal itself but we have told them clearly that we cannot put it in the proposal to be passed by parliament," Gyawali said.
The parties have suggested that the Maoists can also record their views on the matter in the course of the parliamentary debate.
Likewise, the Maoists have demanded that the jurisdiction of the president be clearly defined by amending the constitution while the NC and UML have argued that doing so would be like opening a Pandora´s Box at a time when the country´s whole attention needed to focused on the making of the new constitution.
"Once we become ready to amend the constitution to address Maoist concerns, several other disgruntled groups are likely to demand that their concerns also be addressed in the same way," Gyawali said.
The two ruling parties have said they are ready to express their commitment in principle concerning civilian supremacy, ensure that the prime minister enjoys all the executive powers while the president will only have a ceremonial role, and that there will be civilian control over the army.
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