Maoist leader Prachand

Maoist leader Prachanda (File Photo)
Though his cadres are fighting against the government forces in various parts of the country, top Maoist leader, Prachanda alias Pushpa Kamal Dahal, has said his party is ready to hold talks with the government led by His Majesty King Gyanendra, if it announces ceasefire “with good intention of resolving the crisis.”

Two rounds of talks held between the government and rebels over the last four years had failed as the parties in dialogue accused one another of insincerity.

In an exclusive interview with Wednesday’s Kantipur and The Kathmandu Post – two leading private sector dailies—at an undisclosed location, Prachanda said his party will accept the monarchy if the country’s people were in favour of retaining it.

Flanked by the Maoist ideologue, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai at an undisclosed location, the top Maoist leader said his party was ready for discussions on all issues including elections for a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution.

“We will accept it if the constitution assembly says we want monarchy,” he said. He even went on to say that (the Maoists) would accept it even if the people said they wanted an active monarchy.

Over 13,000 people have lost their lives during the decade-old “people’s war” launched by the CPN (Maoist) with a declared aim to turn Nepal into a communist republic.

While admitting his party’s faults and weaknesses, Prachanda said the rebellion had changed society positively and phenomenally.

Critics, however, say the armed insurgency has pushed the country’s economy on the verge of collapse, caused immense sufferings to common people and paved way for the Nepali monarch to take direct control of the government.

In the interview, the Maoist leaders said there was an opportunity for resolving the crisis if the king had shown magnanimity after February 1, 2005 takeover. “The King should have said, “Okay I have come, let’s solve the problems together.” However, he started saying, ” I won’t give you the rights that you have enjoyed so far,” they said.

When asked about the bottomline of his party, Prachanda said the 12-point pact reached between the CPN (Maoist) and the seven party opposition alliance in November last year in the Indian capital was the bottomline for his party.

“We will uphold that pact and that is the way to go about to bring lasting peace in the country,” he said. He admitted that given the international balance of power, overall economic, political, and social realities, his party cannot attain maximum goal of socialism and communism.

“We must accept this ground reality. We have said democratic republic and constituent assembly, with the understanding that we should be flexible enough, given the balance in class struggle and international situations,” Prachanda said.

He spent most of his time explaining about the role of the international community including the UN in managing arms and armed forces of both sides if elections to the constituent assembly were to be held. He proposed to form a national army by incorporating his own guerrillas.

There has been no comment as yet from the authorities regarding the latest position of the elusive leader.