Kathmandu: Comrade Prachanda appears to have become excessively restive.

He has reasons to be so for he considers that any further delay in the resumption of the talks with the government might place their insurgency in a tight position from where they can’t extract political concessions to the extent they wish at the moment.

Comrade Prachanda presumably concludes that if the talks were to begin in a day or two would mean that their insurgency will attend the talks with a “position of strength” that will allow his “new regime” to deal with the “old regime” on a basis of equal strength of the two armies with guns.

That he is pretty worries with the “unnecessary” delay seen in the talks gets reflected from his fresh statement released the other day wherein he appeals all members of the society to press the establishment to resume the talks.

That he is desperate for talks despite his allegations that the Nepali army in the recent days have come heavily down against his workers and activists in the remote villages gets also evident when he says, ” we are still committed to bring the ongoing peace talks to a logical end”.

When he says so, two things come to the fore: firstly, that his insurgency is a changed one which would wish to enter into the third round of talks in the name of the people and the country come what may; and secondly his insurgency could have concluded that during the course of the ceasefire, the RNA must have outweighed its military power and hence the desperation for talks.

The insurgency presumably has concluded that the State has been receiving unlimited number of heavy consignments from abroad and that theirs getting the arms from abroad have been either blocked or lacked the needed financial budget to buy the arms to face any eventuality shjould the talks fail.

But this is not all. The Maoists have not yet been exhausted as is being interpreted in certain circles.

The fact is that Comrade Prachanda has sent strong warning to the establishment by saying that it would be “simply disastrous if the talks fail without providing solutions to the burning issues confronting the nation today”.

This statement is no less than a bomb-shell. The underlying message, as understood by our analysts, does hint that though Prachanda presumably is desperate for talks but he is equally serious in arriving at a solution to the Maoists issues or else the nation will have to pay a very heavy price. When he says so then it should mean that the insurgency is not yet a spent force but instead continues to be a force to be reckowned with.

If Prachanda is serious for talks, then equally serious appears Kamal Thapa, a member of the government team. Mr. Thapa said Tuesday to the facilitators to the Government-Maoists talks that the establishment is ready for the talks any time the other camp wished.

Mahara and Ram Bahadur Thapa alias Badal too assured the facilitators that they were also ready for the talks.

When both are desperate for the talks then what is causing the delay?

The fact is that the government wishes to revert the agreement agreed upon last round of talks regarding the movement of the army to five kilometers periphery. The Maoists appear reluctant in reverting to their already agreed decision which for them came as a bumper prize.

However, Prachanda has hinted that the government could push any agenda for the perusal of the Maoists in course of the third round of talks.

For the Maoists, they too have a problem. The problem is on how to assimilate their army into the state machinery?

Perhaps it is here that a sort of political give and take could be struck. Easier said than done.

Analysts presume that the peace talks will see exchange of heated debates when it comes to this bargain.

The gist of Prachanda’s fresh statement: He is angry with the RNA’s recent statements wherein the RNA apparently expressed its displeasure for having limited its movement to a five kilometer periphery during the second round of the peace-talks; he is angry with the United States for Prachanda thinks that it is the US which is instigating the RNA to dilly-dallying the talks. But he doesn’t mention what political benefits after all the US will have in delaying the talks?