Kathmandu, June 22: Talks with the Maoist leaders to be held soon would be focused on calling for a cease-fire on both the sides as wished by the civil society and the political parties, Nepali Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba said.
“Putting an end to the damage being caused to civilians and ending violence that has cost the lives of many security personnel, innocent citizens and the Maoists would be our priority agenda in the talks,” Deuba said.
Deuba who is the Co-ordinator of the High Level Recommendation Committee for the Resolution of Maoist Problem said today that he had already responded to the letter of Maoist leader Prachanda in the line of holding peaceful talks.
“Now that we do not have any differences relating to the Maoist problem within the ruling party the path is clear for talks,” he said.
He however ruled out the possibility of holding talks on displacing multiparty democracy and Constitutional Monarchy, both of which are included in the preamble of the Constitution of Nepal 1990.
The four year old Maoist insurgency has so far claimed 1366 lives among whom are security personnel, political workers, Maoist activists and innocent civilians.
The Maoists have been waging armed struggle against the establishment for a Republican state.
Deuba agreed that the Maoist problem was an outcome of rampant poverty, unemployment and unequal distribution of goods and services and said the government was ready to hold talks with the Maoists to address the social maladies.
He said that the role of all the political parties and the civil society was indispensable to resolve the Maoist problem.
Unless the perversions that have mounted during the past ten years of multiparty democracy were addressed talks alone would not bring panacea to the nation, said speakers at an interaction programme on “Maoist Problem: Resolution And Ways Of Improving Peace And Security.
Using the forum of the Foundation for Parliamentary Studies and Development, leader of the main opposition CPN(UML) Madhav Kumar Nepal said until there was conformity in viewing the Maoist problem within the ruling party it would be difficult to resolve the problem.
Nepal said the Maoist problem was the result of extreme discontent in the society regarding the pattern of governance of the successive governments over the years.
“Foreign powers have been increasingly prominent in Nepal and the government is becoming weak giving way to widespread dissatisfaction in the civil society,” Nepal said.
He maintained that the present government had failed to protect the sovereignty of the country and referred to preparations by the Indian government to construct a project at Purnagiri of Pancheswore without consulting its Nepalese counterpart.
Nepal also made an apparent reference to the inundation of five Village Development Committees on the Nepalese side in Banke district owing to the construction of a dam by India in Laxmanpur, which he said had been done against international norms.
He charged the government of failing to stop the construction of dam and protecting the lives and properties of the people in Banke.
Nepal said the Maoist problem was a problem related with the political, social and economic problems.
Unless the government releases innocent people jailed on false charges and addresses the problems of the people at the grassroots level, talks alone would not help to resolve the problem, Nepal said.
Parliamentarians, human rights activists and members of the civil society unanimously voiced that the government should create an environment of trust and should first lay down its weapons in order to take the Maoists into confidence before holding the talks.
They also said that the government ought to have a clear stance on the Maoist issue before bracing for talks.
Chairman of the function and former Speaker Daman Nath Dhungana said that the Maoist problem should be resolved through the full cooperation between the main oppositon party and the ruling party.
He said that the political leaders should forge consesus to resolve the Maoist problem before it was too late.