The prime minister, at a meeting with the leaders at his official residence at Baluwatar Thursday evening, officially informed Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and NC parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Paudel about his proposal on advancing the peace process and forming a national consensus government. [break]
He had made public the same proposal in a public appeal on Monday. He formally told the two leaders that he would step down on August 13 if there is no tangible progress in the peace process by then.
"Basically, the prime minister explained his proposal in detail. His emphasis was that there is no way except to expedite the peace process and move ahead through consensus with regard to forming the next government as well," the prime minister´s press advisor, Surya Thapa, told Republica.
According to Thapa, both Dahal and Paudel gave a positive nod to the prime minister´s ideas and agreed to hold the next round of talks promptly. The top leaders then decided to bring along to their next meeting their second-rung leaders, who are working closely on issues related to the peace process.
"It indicates that the leaders are positive toward the prime minister´s proposal and this time they have realized the urgency of it," claimed Thapa.
Sources at Baluwatar said talks on the peace process will move forward this time as Minister Ghanshyam Bhusal has done much of the spade work through several rounds of informal talks with top and second-rung leaders from the three major parties in the last 45 days or so, over the same proposal that the prime minister put to the leaders on Thursday.
In the proposal floated to the two leaders, Khanal said he can´t stay on in office if some major issues on the peace process aren´t settled by August 13.
Khanal has said that the number of Maoist combatants to be integrated into the security agencies should be fixed, the modality and norms for integration and rank harmonization finalized and the rehabilitation package for former rebels also finalized by that time. He has said completion of the aforementioned tasks would create an environment for immediately starting the categorization of Maoist combatants based on their choice between joining government security agencies or rehabilitation in society. The prime minister is for completing the task of categorization by August 31 when the twice-renewed term of the Constituent Assembly (CA) ends.
The prime minister, in his proposal, also put forth the idea of heading the new governments on rotational basis among the three major parties.
According to his proposal, either the UCPN (Maoist), the largest party in parliament, or the second largest NC can lead the next consensus government that will promulgate the new constitution by November 30, and the government to be formed after that will accomplish the remaining tasks of state restructuring within a period of six to nine months.
Similarly, the third government to be formed after that would conduct the election to the House of Representatives within a period of six to nine months.
Minister Bhusal said the talks with other political parties were positive. "The response we have received informally from both Maoist and NC leaders for the most part after the prime minister made his statement public Monday has instilled more optimism in me," Bhusal told Republica. "However, they have said they would give their institutional response only after the formal talks take place. And now it has begun."
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