A cabinet meeting held on Wednesday decided to hold detailed discussions on necessary measures to contain the Maoist activities should they turn violent. [break]
Minister for Information and Communications Shankar Pokharel, who is also the government spokesperson, said Wednesday´s cabinet meeting decided to call an informal meeting of ministers Thursday morning. "The informal meeting has been called in view of recent Maoist activities that go against the Comprehensive Peace Accord," Pokharel said.
According to a cabinet member, Home Minister Bhim Rawal is scheduled to apprise the cabinet members about the overall security situation vis-à-vis recent Maoist activities. The meeting will discuss the government´s strategy for dealing with Maoist protest activity.
The decision to hold an informal meeting of the cabinet members comes in the wake of Maoist politburo meeting last Friday announcing to stage nationwide protests starting Thursday to ´dislodge the current government´. The Maoists have also announced to bring in thousands people in Kathmandu on May 1 as part of their show of strength.
The Maoists have continued military trainings to its party cadres in various districts for what they call a ´decisive war´ to topple the government.
According to Law Minister Prem Bahadur Singh, the meeting was called on Thursday as they had to cut short the meeting due to pre-scheduled program of the prime minister.
He said that they will hold discussion on recent political situation including the peace process. "We have already taken decisions on written agenda," he added. "There will be discussion on other contemporary issues."
HLPM meet inconclusive
A meeting of the High-Level Political Mechanism (HLPM) held on Wednesday ended inconclusively, with the main opposition party UCPN (Maoist) and the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML sticking to their respective stances.
The meeting held at the Maoist parliamentary party office at Singha Durbar ended without entering into any of the agenda topics as the Maoists gave prominence to the issue of dislodging the current Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government -- something the ruling NC and UML do not want to take up until the Maoists create an ´environment of trust.´
Leaders said the next HLPM meeting scheduled to be held Saturday will enter into the agenda topics they sorted out at the previous HLPM meeting and arrive at concrete decisions on them.
The six agenda topics sorted out by the big three parties include the issue of power sharing, management of Maoist combatants, resolution of contentious issues that surfaced in the constitution drafting process, and reviewing the status of implementation of all past agreements including the CPA. Taking confidence-building measures among the major political parties to bridge the trust gap and resolving the issue of civilian supremacy vis-à-vis the president´s move to reinstate the army chief are also among the agenda topics.
Maoist Vice Chair Narayan Kaji Shrestha said the country cannot be bailed out of the current political deadlock through simple negotiations. "We have proposed to hold negotiations on all six agenda topics with all the seriousness they deserve to resolve the problem," he said.
He said that they have agreed to hold day-long negotiations on Saturday to arrive at a consensus on the entire agenda. The meeting will also be attended by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.
During the HLPM meeting Wednesday, NC Vice President Ram Chandra Poudel told the Maoist leadership that the latter´s activities providing training to their people had threatened to push the country towards a fresh round of violence. He reminded the Maoists that their preparations go against the spirit of the CPA.
Poudel asked the Maoists to stop such activities as they would further widen the trust deficit among the parties. He reiterated that consensus would be possible only if the Maoists created an environment of trust.
On the occasion, the Maoist leadership told the NC and UML leaders that everything will move ahead in a positive direction if Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal steps down from the government.
Earlier, all three parties had held internal meetings for negotiations at the HLPM meeting.
Party leaders said no discussion took place on extension of term for the constituent assembly.
koshraj@myrepublica.com
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