Friday, May 26, 2006


The first day of Government-Maoist talk over

The first round of talks between the government and the Maoists on Friday afternoon at Gokarna Forest Golf Resort gives way for futher talk. First round talk took place for more than 5 hour .

Although it was not cleared but Today's discussion was primarily focus on the mandate of the reinstated House of Representatives (HoR) and the 12-point agreement between the Seven-party Alliance (SPA) and the Maoists.

"There is little chance of failure of these talks. Our agenda, of course, is the election to constituent assembly," said the Maoists’ talks team leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara while talking to reporters before the scheduled kick off of the talks at 4 pm.

According to the source, a common code of conduct is already prepared with the consent of both parties.

The government on Thursday had given full shape to its team headed by Home minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula and formally called the Maoists for negotiations while the Maoist preparatory talks team headed by the party spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara had arrived in Kathmandu last week; another member Dev Gurung arrived on Thursday.

Dina Nath Sharma is the third member of the Maoist team while the government's team includes Ramesh Lekhak and Pradip Gyawali bedsides Home Minister Sitaula.
All members of the Maoist team have participated in talks with previous governments while the government team has all new faces.

This is the third time in the course of ten years of armed insurgency that the Maoists have come for talks with the government. Both previous talks had ended deadlocked after no agreement could be reached over the Maoists' demand for elections to the constituent assembly.

The first round of talks with the Maoists was held six years after the start of the insurgency, in Godavari resort in Kathmandu on 30th August, 2001. The second round was held in Thakurdwara of Bardiya after 12 days on September 11th and the third round was again held at the Godavari resort, two months later on 13th November. The talks ended after the Maoists presented elections to the constituent assembly as their bottom line.

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