A three-party meeting held at the residence of NC Vice-president and Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Paudel at Bohoratar, Monday afternoon ended inconclusively after the two opposition parties repeated their demand for revoking of the controversial decision as a pre-condition for holding any ´meaningful dialogue´ on contentious issues. [break]
The three parties are to meet again Wednesday, according to party leaders involved in the negotiations.
NC Vice-president Paudel said they repeated their demand to the Maoists. "We have clearly said that there won´t be any meaningful dialogue unless the controversial decision is revoked. The Maoists have assured us they would be holding discussions within the party and with other coalition partners to that end," Paudel told Republica over the phone.
According to party leaders, the Maoists are to hold discussions with the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) on Tuesday about the issue of legalizing conflict-era land deals.
The Maoists raised the issues of number of combatants to be integrated into the army and rank harmonization as well as formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but both NC and UML leaders insisted that these issues can be discussed only after the government revokes the decision to legalize conflict-era land deals.
"We said the cabinet decision affects the Comprehensive Peace Accord and all other past agreements. The formation of a national consensus government also will come about only after the government revokes that decision," said another NC leader, Krishna Prasad Sitaula.
Both NC and UML leaders had expressed concern over the Maoist failure to move on the peace process, which has stalled after categorization of the combatants, despite the seven-point deal signed on November 1.
The three-party meeting held at the initiative of Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai comes in the wake of 17 various parties including NC and the UML boycotting parliament to press the government to revoke the controversial decision.The NC and UML had also boycotted a three-party meeting called by the prime minisster on January 18, and publicly vowed not to sit for the next round of talks until the government corrected its move.
Talking to media after the meeting, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the meeting ended on a positive note and they held discussions on a range of issues. "We will settle the land deal legalization issue through dialogue. We will sit for another round of dialogue on Wednesday," he said.
UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal informed journalists that the meeting ended with the Maoists agreeing to revoke the controversial cabinet decision. "There is no alternative to national consensus now. We told the Maoists that an environment of national consensus can be created only if the decision is revoked," he said.
The meeting was attended by Chairman Dahal and Prime Minister Bhattarai from the Maoists, Chairman Khanal, senior leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal and K P Sharma Oli from UML and President Sushil Koirala, General Secretary Prakash Man Singh and Krishna Prasad Sitaula from the NC.
The three-party meeting holds significance as the Dispute Resolution Subcommittee formed under the Constitutional Committee (CC) has failed to make any headway after the Maoists, especially the hardliners, revived many of the constitutional issues already settled by the CC.
They had alleged that the NC was backtracking on a previous agreement to adopt a mixed model of governance.
Related story
Entrepreneurs demand legalization of Indian high-denomination n...
