'Thursday’s talks will be historic’; constituent assembly polls by mid-June

Coordinators of the talks teams of the government and the CPN (Maoist) have expressed confidence that the next round of summit talks slated for Thursday will arrive at a ‘historic conclusion’.

Addressing a press conference organised at a hotel in Kathmandu following the end of the summit meeting at Baluwatar, government’s talks team coordinator and Home Minister Krishna Prasad Situala said today’s meeting ended on a positive note, discussing all key issues including interim government, framework of the constituent assembly elections, management of arms and armies and socio-economic transformation of the country.

“The leaders have agreed to reach consensus through talks,” Situala said, adding, “What I want to assure the people is that the talks are heading towards a solution. The top leaders have expressed commitment to democracy and sustainable peace and a prosperous Nepal. The summit meeting on October 12 will take crucial decisions.”

A joint press release issued by the talks team coordinators said today’s summit meeting decided to constitute the Election Commission (EC) by mid-October and recommend to the EC to complete the election to constituent assembly by mid-June 2007. Likewise, the meeting gave the responsibility to reach consensus on the issue of arms management and fundamental political issues to the talks teams and present the points of agreement at Thursday’s meeting.

Maoist spokesperson and talks team coordinator Krishna Bahadur Mahara also said the leaders today agreed to bring the talks to a positive conclusion. “We are heading towards a conclusion in a cordial manner and are doing serious homework for that. Hopefully, a historic conclusion will come out from Thursday’s summit meeting,” he said.

He admitted that no major decisions were coming forth quickly as parties with different ideologies are involved in talks. Mahara claimed that the negotiating parties were more serious this time around than earlier.

“Our commitment is that talks should not break down at any cost. Our struggle at present is against the status quo and against those against progressive change,” the Maoist spokesperson said. nepalnews.com mk Oct 10 06

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