During a seven-minute meeting with the visiting UN Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs, B Lynn Pascoe, at his residence at Maharajgunj, Koirala lauded the role played by UNMIN to take the peace process forward. He avoided a long conservation with Pascoe in view of his poor health. [break]
Pascoe had reached Koirala´s residence directly after landing at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in the afternoon.
Koirala said that peace and prosperity in the country were possible only after successfully concluding the peace process.
According to NC leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula, who was present during the meeting, Koirala told Pascoe that he has been working consistently to establish sustainable peace and political stability in the country. He also said that his only wish before breathing his last is the promulgation of the new constitution.
Koirala also said that he had taken initiative to form the High Level Political Mechanism (HLPM) to help resolve differences among political parties and drive the peace process forward.
Koirala asked Pascoe to hold consultations with other political parties as well to learn about the current state of the peace process.
After holding talks with Koirala, Pascoe met with NC leaders Sher Bahadur Deuba, Sushil Koirala, Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, Dr Shekhar Koirala and Sitaula. Pascoe was accompanied by Tamrat Samuel, Deputy Director, Asia and the Pacific Division, Department of Political Affairs of the United Nations, and UNMIN chief Karin Landgren.
NC leaders told Pascoe that the Maoists failed to sincerely implement the agreements reached between them in the past. They also told him that the Maoists had been dilly-dallying over bringing their combatants under the Special Committee on Supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation as provisioned in the interim constitution.
“Maoist Chairman Dahal´s recent orientation to the Maoist combatants surprised us,” said Sitaula. “We said that this kind of behavior on the part of the Maoists had left the peace process in peril.”
NC leaders also alleged that drafting the constitution on time had become near impossible because of the Maoists. There was also discussion about UNMIN´s term which expires on May 15.
Situala said Pascoe assured them he would talk to them again after holding discussions with other political parties.
Speaking briefly to media persons, Pascoe said that he had discussions with NC President Koirala and other NC leaders about moving the peace process forward. He said that there was discussion as well on various issues related to the peace process.
After holding a meeting with NC leaders, Pascoe had gone directly to Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal´s residence at Naya Bazar. He held over one hour of discussion with the Maoist chief.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Pascoe said they held frank discussions about moving the peace process forward and implementation of various agreements reached between the Maoists and other political parties in the past.
He also said that they had a thorough discussion on issues raised by other political parties such as the commitment of the Maoists to multi-party democracy, human rights and the number of Maoist combatants in the various cantonments.
Maoist Chairman Dahal, however, refused to talk to media on what transpired during the meeting.
Later in the evening, Pascoe met Prime Minister Madhav Nepal and discussed the ongoing peace process, among other issues.
"The government is working for timely constitution drafting, logical end of peace process and integration of Maoist combatants through the special committee," the PM´s foreign affairs advisor Rajan Bhattarai quoted the PM as telling to Pascoe.
According to Bhattarai, Pascoe told the PM that the UN will continue assisting Nepal on peace and constitution-writing processes.
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