Govt., Maoist talks stalled

April 3, 2003
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Goodwill talks between the Government and Maoists proposed for today (Thursday) by chief government coordinator Col. Narayan Singh Pun have been stalled. “The talks process will start only after the formation of an official talks monitoring team. The time has not come to form such a team,” Prime Minister Lokendra Chand told reporters in Dhangadi Wednesday.

“Convener of the government talks team Narayan Singh Pun has proposed that goodwill talks be held by Monday, but the date has not been finalized as yet because an atmosphere has not been created,” Krishna Bahadur Mahara, a member of the Maoist negotiating team told Spacetime daily newspaper Thursday.

Rebels have demanded release of five central committee members and withdrawal of criminal cases against them at Patan Appellate Court as minimum conditions for the talks. The rebel team is being feted at a public meeting in the capital Thursday afternoon.

The five member team headed by Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has been selling the party’s position on the proposed peace and future political set-up in meetings with groups and individuals after emerging from hiding Saturday in seven years.