Parliamentary committee asks Govt., Maoists to sign ceasefire, peace and human rights agreements; makes public letter to UN

July 19, 2006
2 MIN READ
A
A+
A-

The parliamentary committee formed to monitor the peace talks has advised the government and the Maoists to immediately sign ceasefire, peace and human rights agreements, to restore sustainable peace in the country.

Wednesday’s meeting of the committee has asked both sides to sign these agreements at a time when they are both facing criticism for not being serious about the peace process and respect of human rights.

Members of the committee criticized the government for sending letter to the UN without making such agreements.

The committee also made public the letter sent to the United Nations (UN) by the Nepal government asking its help in Nepal’s peace process.

The government letter sought UN’s help in management of Maoist arms, monitoring of Nepal Army’s activities and supervision of the proposed constituent assembly elections.

The letter asked the United Nations to continue monitoring of human rights through the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal.

The letter further asked the UN to monitor the code of conduct during the ceasefire and also monitor Maoist combatants and decommissioning of their arms in order to ensure free and fair elections to the constituent assembly.

The letter also asked the global body to monitor and ensure that the Nepal Army remain inside the barracks and not be used for or against any side in order to assure a free and fair elections of the constituent assembly and also to observe the election process to the Constituent Assembly.

“As we plan to hold the election of the Constituent Assembly by end of current Nepali year (mid-April 2007), I will be grateful if you could start extending the necessary support of the United Nations on the above mentioned issues at your earlier convenience,” the letter reads.

The government had sent the letter, signed by Prime Minister GP Koirala, to the UN on July 2. The world body is yet to react to the Nepal government’s letter.