Following this week’s agreement between the government and Maoists for a ceasefire and peace talks, Kirat Worker’s Party, affiliated with the rebels, has also called off its violent protests.
“As the Communist Party Nepal (Maoists) have announced a ceasefire, the Kirat Workers’ Party has also decided to follow suit,” a statement issued by Gopal Khumbu, the Party’s General Secretary said. The organization was involved in violent activities in hill areas of east Nepal.
Government is preparing a list of Maoists detainees for possible release to create an atmosphere for talks, officials said. President of the Nepali Congress Girija Prasad Koirala said his party will join the roundtable talks on request. “Nepali Congress will join the talk process if the call is issued by the King,” Koirala said in Damauli.
In another development, Sher Bahadur Deuba, leader of the Nepali Congress Party (Democratic), said his party will not participate in the roundtable conference to end a seven year communist insurgency.
“Our party will not participate in the roundtable conference because it will not give any outlet to the present crisis in the country,” Deuba said in Hetauda.
Fourteen months ago, the rebels broke off talks with the government of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and raised the intensity of the civil war by attacking for the first time military installations leading to a declaration on an internal emergency to quell the rebellion.
Victims of Maoist violence Friday demanded their inclusion in the proposed roundtable negotiations. D.R. Lamichane, one of two facilitators brokering peace, said Thursday government and rebels agreed to a roundtable conference to discuss an interim government and constituent assembly before the ceasefire and peace talks were announced. Government has not confirmed the claim.
Lamichane and Dr. Birendra Jhapali ,the second facilitator, appeared before reporters Thursday afternoon with Minister for Physical Planning and Chief Government Coordinator Col. Narayan Singh Pun at the overcrowded Reporters’ Club where more than 150 persons were packed in a room normally accommodating only 50 persons.
Lamichane is a journalist and editor of weekly newspaper “Chanbin”. Lamichane a Bamdeb Gautam follower joined the CPN-ML after a split in the CPN-UML.
Jhapali ran a drug store in Gyaneshwor before opening a hospital in Putali Sadak; the hospital came into prominence during the emergency for treating two wounded Maoists under close police surveillance. Jhapali said he was pursued for treating the rebels; Jhapali drifted to Col. Pun’s Nepal Samata Party from the CPN-UML and CPN-ML.