Nepal’s Maoists and main parties said that they had delayed a parliamentary debate aimed at ending the deadlock in the country’s peace process
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s Maoists and main political parties said on Sunday that they had delayed a parliamentary debate aimed at ending the deadlock in the country’s peace process to allow more time for talks.
Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara said the two sides remained “at loggerheads” over the former rebels’ demands for electoral reform and the immediate abolition of the monarchy, which are holding up the progress of the 11-month-old peace process.
A parliament session on Thursday ended with no progress, and officials said a meeting scheduled for Sunday would be delayed for two days to allow time for more closed-door talks. “We agreed to postpone the session for two days to speed up our discussions with the other political parties leaders to reach a concrete understanding,” Mahara said. “We have intensified our talks and are hopeful of reaching some kind of agreement,” he said.
The country’s biggest party, the Nepali Congress, has said it will continue to block the demands, arguing that the Maoists are straying from the terms of the landmark peace deal they signed last November to end a decade of civil war.
The party argues that issues like the future of King Gyanendra should only be decided by an election. Nepal’s second largest party, the Unified Marxist-Leninist communists, said the peace pact was jeopardy. “If the seven party alliance is divided, the whole peace process will derail and establishment of democratic republic will be impossible,” senior Unified Marxist-Leninist Amrit Bohara said.
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