Ongoing central committee meeting of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) has been postponed until Saturday and the party called an emergency press conference to condemn the killing of Prachanda Thaiba in Butwal Thursday night and Raj Bahadur Malla in Surkhet on March 9. UML is going to take out protest rallies nationwide on Saturday to condemn the killings.
The party´s six ministers are going to boycott all cabinet meetings until the guilty behind the two killings and those involved in attacking UML cadres and leaders on a number of occasions in recent past are brought to book. UML has claimed that the perpetrators have been given shelter inside Maoist cantonments. This led Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to call off Friday´s cabinet meeting scheduled at 4 p.m.
The third largest party in the 601-member Constituent Assembly also handed over a strong-worded six-point memorandum to the Prime Minister. A 14-member UML delegation had reached the PM´s residence in Baluwatar to hand over the memorandum. "He (PM) said he has taken the incidents seriously and expressed his sadness," Raghuji Pant, a member of the UML delegation, told myrepublica.com. "He has promised to take action against the guilty."
In a separate meeting, PM Dahal also assured UML ministers that his party members would help the police book the accused in the murder of Thaiba. “The prime minister has directed his party cadres to arrest the accused in the murder and hand over to the police,” Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam told reporters while emerging from the prime minister’s office.
Gautam, who represents CPN-UML, said that the Home Ministry has already directed its agencies to arrest Sujit, Rupandehi district in-charge of Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League (YCL). He indicated that Sujit was under political protection of Unified CPN-Maoist. “It takes much time to arrest a person under political protection,” said Gautam, who assumes the office of acting prime minister for about a week from Saturday in absence of PM Dahal, who is embarking on a tour of Europe.
In its memorandum to PM Dahal, UML has warned for one last time that it may pull out of the government if the Maoist doesn´t implement past agreements and if their unruly activities continue. When asked how the fresh warning to withdraw from the government was different from the warnings UML issued in the past, CPN-UML chairman Jhala Nath Khanal said, "The way we have issued the warning today is the highest (of all warnings)." He said UML had joined the government for a mission, not power. "We will quit the government when we see a situation that makes us believe that the mission won´t be accomplished," he added.
UML has claimed that "Sujit and his criminal gang" shot dead Thaiba. "This is the last in a series of Maoist atrocities and cowardly acts of murder," said a statement read out at the press conference. "It is condemnable that the Maoists have provided political protection to the murderers of Ram Hari Shrestha, Nirmal Pant and Pushkar Dangol; attackers of Bibek Devkota; and Maoist cantonments have been turned shelters for criminals."
The CPN-UML has demanded with the government that Thaiba and Malla should be bestowed martyrdom and their families should be provided with compensation.
Meanwhile, Sujit, in a statement, has refuted allegations that he was involved in Thaiba´s killing. Sujit has termed the allegations were prompted by "political revenge". He has also demanded with the local administration to book the guilty and restore order.
Meanwhile, in Butwal, local authorities imposed curfew in Butwal and in the vicinity of the East west highway after protests of UML-affiliated Youth Force went violent over the death of Thaiba. Curfew started at 9 in the morning after fears of violence. Youth Force activists vandalized the Maoist’s district office. Youth Force also vandalized some vehicles parked at the residence of Maoist lawmaker Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, according to Nepal Television.
State-controlled Radio Nepal said someone identifying himself as "Rakesh", a cadre of an underground armed outfit Akhil Tarai Mukti Morcha, called journalists in Butwal to own up the killing of Thaiba. However, this couldn´t be verified independently.
tilak@myrepublica.com
(Kiran Chapagain contributed to this report)
Related story
MPs censure govt over Thaiba killing
