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Nepal Maoists retract Prachanda’s statement
Barely a day after Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ publicly announced his intention to talk with India on the issue of restoring ‘civilian supremacy’ in Nepal, his party retracted the statement saying it was only a dig aimed at the ruling government.
Barely a day after Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ publicly announced his intention to talk with India on the issue of restoring ‘civilian supremacy’ in Nepal, his party retracted the statement saying it was only a dig aimed at the ruling government.
The former prime minister who is Chairman of Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) had stated on Tuesday that instead of talking with the “remote controlled robot government” in Nepal, he would prefer to talk with the “masters” in Delhi.
But on Wednesday, UCPN (Maoist) leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha clarified that the comment was meant to taunt the ruling parties who were unresponsive to the demand for restoring ‘civilian supremacy’.
Addressing a rally to mark the end of the party’s three-day general strike on Tuesday, Prachanda had accused India of interfering in Nepal’s internal matters and expressed willingness to go to Delhi for a relook at bilateral relations.
He had also listed five points to ‘correct’ Nepal’s unequal relation with India including scrapping of the 1950 peace and friendship treaty, resolution of border disputes and a “balanced” trade treaty based on equality.
“We had several rounds of talks with the ruling parties to end the ongoing political deadlock. But since the remote-controlled robot government here takes orders from India, we are ready to hold talks with Delhi,” he had said.
Shrestha informed that the parliamentary committee of UCPN (Maoist), Nepal’s main opposition party, had decided to end its six-month long obstruction of parliament as part of a new strategy.
Since stepping down from power in May in protest against President Ram Baran Yadav’s refusal to sack the army chief, UCPN (Maoist) has been boycotting the parliament. They let it function only for three days last month to pass the country’s annual budget.
He, however, stated that the party would continue with its month-long fourth phase of agitation from December 25 seeking restoration of ‘civilian supremacy’ and and apology from the President.
In another meeting convened by Constituent Assembly Chairman Subhash Nembang on Wednesday, all the major parties including UCPN (M) and the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN (UML) agreed to speed up work on the new constitution.
The leaders of the three parties agreed to finalise the preliminary drafts of the constitution within three days and solve all contentious issues through voting if a consensus is not reached.
Due to the ongoing political deadlock, the process of drafting the constitution, which is to get over by May 2010, is getting delayed and its time schedule has been amended seven times.
