KATHMANDU, DEC 10 - A day after the meeting with UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal met Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala and discussed ways to resolve the ongoing stalemate.

During the 40-minute discussion at Koirala’s residence in Maharajgunj, the NC president stressed the need for a high-level political mechanism to move ahead in the peace process and the statute-drafting process.

“I am also in favour of the high-level political mechanism, but the Maoists have delayed its formation. They are talking of consensus and spearheading nationwide protests simultaneously,” prime minister’s Political Adviser Raghuji Pant quoted Nepal. According to Pant, Koirala said he had asked the Maoist leaders not to deviate from the peace process and the statute-drafting process. The prime minister also briefed Koirala about fresh initiatives to forge consensus.

NC leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula, who attended the meeting, said Prime Minister Nepal requested Koirala to lead the initiatives to end the current political impasse. “Both leaders agreed that there is no alternative to consensus,” said Sitaula. “The prime minister asked Girijababu to act as a guardian to end the crisis.”

The two leaders—Koirala and Nepal--also delved into the Cabinet meeting at Kalapatthar, the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen and the Kailali incident, added Pant. According to him, Koirala maintained that the government took correct measure by using force to evict the squatters, who had captured the forest in Kailali.

Meanwhile, the six-member taskforce comprising two members each from the three major parties--the UCPN (Maoist), NC and the UML—failed to make a headway on the Maoist demand for civilian supremacy. During the taskforce meeting of Wednesday morning, the NC and the UML stressed that the joint resolution to address the Maoist demand for civilian supremacy should not raise any question against the president’s move to reinstate the then Army chief.

The Maoists demanded a joint resolution incorporating the move, amendment to the statute and public statement from

the president with a pledge to act within constitutional parameters. “The taskforce will meet again on Thursday morning,”

said NC leader Arjun Narshing KC.

Posted on: 2009-12-10 09:38

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