Post Report
KATHMANDU, Nov 8 – Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ram Chandra Poudel accused the underground Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) leadership Wednesday of not being interested in talks to resolve the nearly five-year old insurgency.
“Despite our efforts to create environment (for talks), Maoists have always avoided talks on one pretext or the other,” Poudel told mediapersons at a press conference at his Ministry which was held as a damage control measure today, five days after the orchestrated change of heart and release of Maoist central committee member Dinesh Sharma and his friend Dinanath Gautam.
Poudel reiterated that the government was open to talks and if Maoists did not show their inclination to talks it would use all security apparatus on its disposal to protect the life, property and basic human rights of the citizens.
The Home Minister also cited the example of release of Dev Gurung, a central committee member of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) some 10 months back, as a positive indication for talks, but which came to nothing.
“We were asked from all quarters to meet the Maoists’ demands, at least to test their intention, if not for anything else. We did so and now it is clear to all what their intention is,” added Poudel. “It is now up to the intellectual community to judge all the pros and cons of the issue and then only decide which side is at fault.”
Poudel felt that the government was unfairly blamed for the breakdown of the talks process, “despite taking one step more than asked”, pointing out that the government had released Sharma and Gautam, when all that was asked from the rebels was the whereabouts of Sharma and other rebels. However, replying to a question, Poudel denied that Sharma and Gautam were in government custody. Answering how the contact was made, the Home Minister said the duo “who might have been underground,” contacted as recently to arrange the press conference.
“When Sharma told us that he wanted to renounce violence while still believing in Marxism and Leninism, we arranged the press conference (on Friday),” said the Home Minister, adding that the government had neither any plan to re-arrest them nor foresaw their volte-face.
About the whereabouts of other 198 missing rebels whose status had been asked by the Maoist party, Poudel said he had no knowledge about them. “We have not hidden anybody.”
The Home Minister denied Deuba’s charge that the government had made his task difficult by launching a parallel move to contact the Maoists. “Deuba’s complaint is not justified. He cannot claim now that he could have achieved this and that had his Committee’s tenure been extended. He had more than a year to do something.”
Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was the Convenor of High Level Recommendation Committee for Resolution of Maoist Problem, whose term expired on October 16. The Committee’s main task was to initiate dialogue between the government and the Maoists. Deuba submitted the Committee’s report to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala yesterday.
Although Poudel, who was one of the members of the Committee, said he was neither associated with the final draft of the report nor he had seen after its submission, he said he did not agree with most of the observations in the document.
Regarding Padma Ratna Tuladhar’s charges of betrayal, Poudel said, “He might have had his own problem. Probably, he wanted to receive the rebel duo himself. I had also phoned him to inform him about Friday’s press conference but he was not at home.”
Tuladhar, a human rights activist, had brokered the “unofficial” talks between DPM Poudel and Rabindra Shrestha, central committee member on October 27 on the DPM’s request.