By Pratibedan Baidya

Though the ruling seven party alliance and the Maoists signed a pact to bring the Maoists into the political mainstream, challenges lie ahead for the materializing of it.

Implementing the agreements is an uphill task as Maoists not abiding by most of the agreements signed in the past and are continuing their excesses despite their commitment not to do so.

The decision of the eight political parties to allow the Maoists to keep the locks of the storage of weapons raises suspicion that Maoists might carry off their weapons whenever the result will not be in their favour.

Though the eight political parties agreed to decide the fate of monarchy through the majority in the first meeting of the constituent assembly, the Maoists are insisting that they would not accept monarchy in the country whatever might be the verdict of the people.

The Maoists will separate their arms from their combatants and lock them in storages by November 24.

As per the agreement, both the sides should sign the Peace accord by November 16 and Interim constitution is to be announced by November 26 for forming the interim government by December 1.

Though Maoists have agreed to join open competitive politics, they are yet to show political character. The recent acts of the Maoists to continue extortion and intimidation despite their commitment not to do also raises questions about the implementation of the agreements reached on Tuesday.

Nilambar Acharya

Nilambar Acharya
Talking to Nepalnews, political analyst Nilambar Acharya said that the future of the agreement depends on the cultural and structural reforms of the Maoists and bureaucratic and military reform of the Nepal government.

“The culture and present structure of the Maoists is the main obstacle for implementing the agreements, so they should immediately change it otherwise it will create obstacles in implementation of the agreement. The bureaucratic and military structure of the government should also be changed so that reactionary forces cannot get space to play against the agreement,” he added.

“Though the agreement is very important, the implementation of the agreement depends on how both sides change themselves as per the agreement and develop new infrastructures to accommodate the agreements,” he added.

Acharya further said, “It is just a framework agreement so the future of the agreement depends on how they fill the gap and reach into other agreements as mentioned,” adding, “Signing the peace accord, adopting interim constitution and forming truth commission are some of the tasks both the sides have to fulfill and it depends on the mutual coordination between both the sides.”

Nilambar Acharya

Minister Rajendra Pandey
Stating that there is crisis of confidence between both the sides, Acharya said that the crisis of confidence should be breezed from their acts and their commitment.

Stating that all the past accords reached between the ruling SPA and Maoists are publicity oriented, Acharya said that it is the time for both the parties to effectively implement the agreement as per people’s aspiration for peace.

Commenting on the future role of Maoists in Nepali politics after they joined the politics of competition leaving the politics of guns, Acharya said, it depends on their forceful acts. “If they continue their forceful activities, they will be far from the people and if they stop it, they will get more of a role,” Acharya said, adding, “Recent activities of the Maoists in the capital and their compulsion to stop the proposed mass meeting is a case in point.”

As Maoists are not abiding by the past accords and ceasefire code of conduct, it is an opportunity to them to get popular support by strictly following the agreement, he added.

One of the senior ministers and leader of the CPN-UML, the second largest party of the SPA, Minister for Local Development Rajendra Pandey, said that he did not believe that the Maoists would implement the agreement sincerely.

Speaking at a programme organized by Press Chautari Nepal in Pokhara on Wednesday, Minister Pandey said, “We must see their activities.”

He said the reason for his suspicion had borne out of their [Maoist’s] insincerity to abide by agreements in the past. “The leaders of the eight parties have reached agreement in manner that their arms will be managed. Peace cannot prevail without laying down arms and I don’t see them laying down their arms easily,” he added.

Stating that it was testing times for Maoist leadership, Minister Pandey said, “Lets see if their cadres follow them or not. If not, that would be a great problem.”

Talking to Nepalnews, general secretary of CPN Unity Centre Mashal, Mohan Bikram Singh, said that though the agreement is positive, there are some points that needs to be addressed along with the agreement.

Singh, who is quiet critical to the Maoist party and the people’s war launched by the Maoists, said that there is a need of a monitoring mechanism to monitor the agreement for effective implementation of it.

He expressed suspicion that Maoist militia might create fear during the election of the constituent assembly as the agreement only talked about the Maoist armies.

He also demanded probe into the human rights violations committed by the Maoists in course of the people’s war along with investigation into the atrocities committed by the security forces and that appropriate action should be taken against the culprits.

He however said that the agreement has rejected some of the inappropriate demands of the Maoists.

Though the political parties and the Maoists made a good beginning for ending the decade long Maoist insurgency by signing the historic agreement, lots still needs to be done for restoration of sustainable peace in the country as per the people’s aspiration. nepalnews.com Nov 09 06