Matrika Prasad Yadav, a Maoist peace negotiator, Thursday threatened to retreat to the jungle if the
proposed talks between the government and the rebels fail.

“We have come to explain and to be heard. If the conspiratorial government does not listen to us,
we can return to the jungle,” the rebel leader from the terai said. He boasted that the underground party was now equipped with sophisticated weapons snatched from the army to enforce change.

Yadav was the first of the five negotiators to speak at a Maoist rally to welcome the team that
surfaced in Kathmandu Saturday for the first time in seven years. About 30,000 listeners heard them explain party policies at the first mass meeting at the Open Air Theatre; crowd estimate from the organizers and police were not available.

When Dr. Bhattarai spoke, he again demanded a roundtable conference and an interim government that will hold elections for a constituent assembly. “The election that will choose an assembly to frame a constitution will be a referendum on the role of the King and the system of a future government,” he reiterated.

It was already dark when Dr. Bhattarai neared the end of a fiery speech at the public meeting that started at 3.15 PM.

People were moving out of the Theatre even before Yadav began speaking suggesting that many
came to watch just out of curiosity. But the crowd was still one of the largest witnessed in recent years; the event attracted a bigger crowd that a public meeting of the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML.

Chief negotiator Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has been main public attraction the whole week after
surfacing in public for the first time Saturday in seven years.

Meanwhile, Chief Government coordinator Col. Narayan Singh Pun said met Thursday with Dr. Bhattarai and his team at an undisclosed place and did not divulge details of the talks. Peace talks have been stalled.