Peace talks to resume this week….

January 8, 2003
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Kathmandu: The Maoists insurgency is not in the news because they apparently have not issued any statements regarding the unfolding events specially after the King’s Biratnagar speech.

The insurgency is yet to forward their comments on the King’s freshly concluded Biratnagar trip and the speech that the monarch made there.

However, what is for sure is that the Maoists’s sponsored Bundh that coincided with the day the King was to be felicitated did little to hinder the felicitation program.

Moreover, the Maoists insurgency is supposed to have received a set-back when in the process of making the King’s sojourn in Biratnagar a safe and secured one, the security personnel apprehended a few hundreds of activists which sources in Biratnagar say belonged to the insurgency.

This if true then it must have come as a shock to the insurgency because if on the one hand they could not affect the felicitation program of the King by their declared Bundh, on the other they apparently lost some of their hardcore cadres. Reports say that one high ranking Maoists insurgency leader, some one called Rajbanshi, was apprehended much ahead of the King’s Biratnagar trip in Jhapa district. Civilians arriving from Jhapa say that had Mr. Rajbanshi been not apprehended, would have caused certainly some irritation to the security personnel.

Analysts in Kathmandu expect a sort of statement from the Maoists quarters wherein the insurgency would speak their mind over the King’s speech. To recall, the Biratnagar speech does hint that “dialogue” and only dialogue could address the pressing issues of the nation.

High placed sources say that the government and the Maoists were in constant touch with each other through “recognized” Human Rights activists.

Whether Mr. Malla K. Sundar and Sudip Pathak were offering their good-offices for the talks in between the government and the Maoists or not is yet uncertain. However, what should be taken for granted is that these two noted and well accepted “mediators” were the ones who in effect been in this job since long which gets reflected from their bold and authoritative divulgence that they both expected the “peace-talks” to begin by the end of this week itself.

Our own source reveals that the government sent a letter to the Maoists and invited the other camp for talks much ahead the King arrived Biratnagar. This sounds logical for in doing so the government apparently hinted the insurgency that it was sincere for the talks with them and that in sending the letter the government also could have expected that the other camp would not create problems for the King on that very special day which was declared a Koshi-Mechi Bundh.

The Maoists in effect kept their violent activities on that day at the lowest ever. Should this mean that the Maoists wish to hint that they were ready for the talks.

Add to this the Sudip Pathak and Malla K. Sundar revelation that should the things go smoothly, the peace talks might begin this week itself.

The likelihood of the resumption of peace-talks with the Maoists has come at a time when the United States has sent highly sophisticated weapons meant for the Nepali army and other security personnel. The fate of the consignment from Belgium is not known.