The ruling 22 parties had objected quite strongly to the recent statement by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and dubbed it as “interference in the internal matters” of the country. Ban´s statement reads: A government of national unity remains desirable for timely promulgation of the statute and for successful integration and rehabilitation of Maoists fighters. [break]
For Bhattarai, UNSG´s comments were ´balanced and impartial´. “UNMIN was invited by the political parties to oversee the peace process and are required to provide report to the Security Council every six months. We find all these reports to be objective and impartial,” Dr Bhattarai told myrepublica.com.
The political parties reacted unnaturally, he said. “This kind of overreaction lowers the image of the country in front of other countries. (The parties) should not have done that,” he added.
He added that these “rampant comments” could “affect the good relations Nepal enjoys with the UN and the international community,” he said. “It goes solely against our national interest”.
On the role UN has been playing in Nepal´s peace process, he said the Maoist party was happy as it finds the UN´s role “fruitful and objective” even though there can always be a room for betterment.
“Generally leftist insurgents don´t want anything to do with UN´s involvement in their country. They are skeptical about the intervention of the world body. But contrary to this, Maoists invited the UN to oversee the peace process, even though it was a home-grown process,” he said.
Dr Bhattarai, who is leading the Maoists´ ongoing movement for “civilian supremacy”, reiterated his party´s commitment to peace process and constitution writing.
“We are not just the opposition. We are also the single largest party in the parliament, which means we have bigger responsibility of taking the peace process to a logical end and write the constitution in given timeframe,” Dr Bhattarai said, adding that the party “feels more responsible to complete the given task.”
´Defense minister irresponsible´
Dr Bhattarai also denounced the comments made the defense minister regarding the need for a revision of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA).
Early this month, defense minister Bidya Bhandari had mentioned a need for a revision of the CPA.
“It is very irresponsible to give such a comment on CPA. Such remarks could easily derail the peace process and what we have achieved so far,” said the former finance minister, accusing the defense minister of “wishing to see Nepal plunged into a conflict again.”
“We object to that and we caution her not to make such irresponsible comments that go against the spirit of the CPA and the peace process.”
He also requested everyone, including the defense minister, to stop bringing Nepal Army to controversy as it may harm the ongoing UN peace missions.
“Nepal Army has been participating in UN missions because of its professionalism and neutrality. If the army is brought into controversy by any government officials, the ultimate losers will be the army personnel,” Dr Bhattarai said.
subel@myrepublica.com
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