Worse, they have announced an indefinite nationwide strike beginning Sunday, something that has deeply worried every common Nepali ranging from daily wage earners to high-flying business men and women.
Going by the tone of what Prime Minister Nepal said in his address to the nation Saturday evening, it does not look like he is in any mood to retract from what he has been repeatedly maintaining: That he would not resign unless and until the three parties come to a reasonable consensus on a wide range of contentious issues that are proving as impediments to the constitution-writing process.
And rightly so! We have always maintained that the Maoists can either oust a government by registering a no-confidence motion or through a consensus. There is no reason why he should give in to the Maoist dogmatism of trying to remove a government through the streets.
The forerunner to a national unity government, probably led by someone from within the Maoist party, should certainly be an agreement between the three biggest parties – UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress, CPN-UML – in the Constituent Assembly on all issues that are until now acting as stumbling blocks to the statute-drafting process.
The only ray of hope at the time of writing this editorial on Saturday evening was that the three parties were engaged in negotiations to strike a deal. More importantly, Maoist Chairman Dahal while addressing his cadres who had converged at Khulla Manch, Kathmandu, pledged that even if the parties were not able to reach a consensus by the end of Saturday evening, they would continue their negotiations on Sunday.
Our only concern is that the longer the leaders take to agree on the issues under discussion, the longer the common people will have to suffer. Moreover, with each passing day, the frustration level among the Maoist cadres on the streets is bound to swell and they might end up resorting to violence and vandalism, which might lead to unforeseen consequences. Hence, it is important for the leaders to forge a consensus as quickly as possible. Time is running out.
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