क्रान्तीकारी नेपाल

The CPN (Maoist) has decided to quit the government as
eight-party leaders failed to forge consensus on its
demands.

Maoist ministers submitted their resignation letters
to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala as soon as the
meeting of top leaders of four major ruling allies
ended in a deadlock. The leaders had been engaged in
hectic parleys from early morning today.

All four Maoist ministers – Krishna Bahadur Mahara,
Dev Gurung, Hisila Yami and Khadga Bishwokarma - were
at Baluwatar when the top leaders’ meeting was
underway. They left Baluwatar at around 12:30 pm after
announcing resignation.

Leaders and intermediaries were engaged in bilateral
and multilateral discussions since last couple of days
in their attempt to convince the Maoist leaders not to
announce departure from the coalition government.

PM Koirala has rejected two key Maoist demands:
announcement of republic before the polls and
proportional representation- based election system.

Meanwhile, the Maoists have announced nationwide
protest movement from Tuesday.
Senior Maoist leader Dr. Baburam Bhattarai addressing
a mass meeting at Tundikhel, Kathmandu, after
announcing the party’s exit form the interim
government, Tuesday, Sep 18 07. nepalnews.com/ rh

Addressing the mass meeting at the Open Air Theatre,
Maoist second-in-command Dr. Baburam Bhattarai said
his party had decided to quit the government as the
parties failed to agree on 22 demands.

“Our efforts to declare republic from the parliament
has failed. Now we will declare republic from the
streets. Therefore, we have decided to come in the
midst of the people,” said Dr. Bhattarai.

He also said that the code of ethics and election
schedule by the Election Commission was no longer
acceptable to them. “We will struggle for the purpose
of having real election not this hypocritical drama,”
he said.

Dr. Bhattarai also warned ‘foreigners’ not to try to
pressure or dictate Nepalis. “They should remember
their own history and how they fought for their
freedom from colonialism, ” he said.

Making the schedule of protest programmes public, Dr.
Bhattarai said Maoists were carrying out ‘funeral
procession of monarchy’ throughout the country on
September 18.

As per their ‘first phase’ agitation schedule, they
plan to hold door-to-door public awareness campaign
between September 19 and 21. From September 22 till
29, they will intensify rallies and campaigns. And
between September 29 and October 3, the Maoists have
stated that they will ‘expose’ the corrupt people and
those named as guilty in the report by Rayamajhi
Commission. On September 30, the Maoists have vowed to
gherao all the District Administration Offices across
the country. They have also announced general strike
from October 4 till 6. This strike coincides with EC’s
schedule whereby nominations of candidates will have
to be filed on October 5.

The street agitations, according to Bhattarai, will be
peaceful while the People’s Liberation Army will
remain in cantonments.

Saying that the eight-party unity is endangered, the
Maoist leader however stated that the 12-point
agreement had not ended yet.

Maoist chairman Prachanda did not attend the mass
meeting due to health problems. The Maoists had
brought truckloads of party workers and school
students at the mass meeting.

Meanwhile, senior Maoist leader Dinanath Sharma told
media that the Constituent Assembly election will not
take place. Although he stopped short of saying that
his party would boycott the November 22 election, he
gave enough hints that the Maoists would try to foil
the election plan terming it as a ‘drama.’ Sharma said
that Maoists want to ensure real CA election by
ushering in republic first.

Sharma claimed that people were with his party. “Only
the reactionaries and middle class people of urban
areas have misunderstood us,” he said. nepalnews.com
mk/ia/sd Sep 18 07

http://news. bbc.co.uk/ 2/hi/south_ asia/7000252. stm

Maoists ‘quit Nepal government’

Baburam Bhattarai
Our protests will be peaceful but if anybody tries to
make it violent we will retaliate with the same kind
of actions
Baburam Bhattarai

Nepal Q and A
Former Maoist rebels in Nepal say they have quit the
interim government.

The Maoists have been demanding the abolition of the
monarchy ahead of constituent assembly elections due
to be held in November.

The prime minister says the constituent assembly
itself must decide the monarchy’s fate. Analysts say
the Maoists will do badly in the polls.

The Maoist move raises fresh questions about how
stable the peace process is in the country.

The rebels ended their insurgency last November. More
than 13,000 people were killed during their 10-year
fight for a communist republic.

The prime minister has not yet accepted the
resignations. Some analysts believe the move may be
aimed at putting more pressure on the prime minister
to accept the Maoists’ demands.

Failure

“We will not accept the code of conduct announced by
the election commission and we will disrupt all
ongoing election plans,” Maoist deputy leader Baburam
Bhattarai told thousands of supporters in Kathmandu.

Nepal’s King Gyanendra
King Gyanendra’s future is the centre of debate

He was speaking hours after the former rebels
submitted the resignations of four of their cabinet
members from the government.

Mr Bhattarai also warned that the Maoists could use
violence if the government took action against their
street protests.

“We will launch peaceful protests, but we have the
right to counter those who try to suppress our
peaceful programme,” he told cheering supporters.

Earlier the Maoists and the other seven parties in the
interim government met in the capital to try to iron
out their differences over the monarchy.

Nepal’s Maoist leader Prachanda - 16/3/2007
Nepal’s Maoists signed a peace deal last year

“We have pulled out from the government this afternoon
as the talks failed to reach an understanding on the
immediate abolition of monarchy and a proportional
election system,” a senior Maoist, Dev Gurung, told
the AFP news agency.

One of the Maoists in the interim cabinet, Krishna
Bahadur Mahara, blamed Prime Minister Girija Prasad
Koirala for the breakdown in talks.

“The prime minister was not ready to negotiate so his
party is responsible, ” Mr Mahara said.

He ruled out any return to armed conflict. “Now we
will focus on peaceful protests to meet our demands.”

Mass rally

Correspondents say that Prime Minister Koirala has
taken a firm line in refusing to bow to the Maoists’
demand that King Gyanendra be stripped of his title
and the monarchy abolished.

The civil war brought a decade of bloodshed to Nepal.
Human rights groups regularly accused both the Maoists
and the military of gross human rights abuses.

The fighting brought further poverty and misery to one
of the poorest countries in the world.

King Gyanendra was forced to surrender his powers in
April 2006 after the Maoists joined forces with a
coalition of seven political parties in a sustained
campaign of street protests against his direct rule.