Inaugurating the second national convention of Democratic University Teachers’ Association in Kirtipur, Koirala said he agreed to sit in the mechanism for the sake of Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamak Dahal’s image.
The Maoists had also agreed to sit in such a mechanism and a three-party task force was formed to give a headway to the mechanism, but the process failed make any progress after Maoists resorted to protests in parliament and streets in the name of civilian supremacy.
Maoists have said that such a mechanism kept no meaning until their demand for parliamentary debate on president’s move was met.
However, failure of the parties to reach a consensus on the mechanism and widening gap among them has put the constitution-making process and peace process in uncertainty.
On the occasion, Koirala said he always made effort for consensus and cooperation, but the Maoists started using consensual politics just as a strategy. Koirala said use of consensus politics by Maoists as a strategy was worrisome.
Koirala warned that it will be counterproductive for the country and the Maoists themselves if they ignored call for consensus and that the Maoists will have to face the fate of militants in Pakistan and Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka.
Koirala said the Maoists brewed unnecessary controversy over the army chief and that the president’s move prevented the country from falling into a chaos.
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