At a time when various political parties including the main opposition Nepali Congress have been arguing that the return of seized properties by Maoists is critical for the peace process, a senior Maoist leader has said no one including his own party has the “moral right” to ask for the return of the land “already distributed to poor farmers and peasants”.

C.P Gajurel, who is the central secretariat member of CPN (Maoist), said that only after the state makes alternative arrangement for the farmers will the [seized] land be returned to its rightful owners, clearly hinting that it will take some time for that to happen.

This remark from a leader who belongs to a more radical coterie inside the Maoist party contradicts Prime Minister and Chairman of Maoist party Puspa Kamal Dahal’s public avowal that his party will soon return the house and land property it seized during the insurgency period.

Speaking to a select group of journalists in Chitwan, the Maoist leader said that landlord activists and leaders of NC and United Marxist Leninist may have also grabbed some houses and land property.

On the issue of army integration, he said that it is getting very difficult to rope in NC into the Army Integration Special Committee because of the party’s “unusual stance” and dismissed any possibility of “equal participation” of NC and Maoists in it.

He also accused NC of violating past agreements by expressing dissatisfaction on the modalities for army integration. nepalnews.com ag Dec 03 08