Summit talks postponed indefinitely; Maoists to move ahead with patience(6:15)

The fourth round of summit talks between the ruling seven-party alliance and the Maoists that began at Prime Minister GP Koirala’s residence at Baluwatar Sunday afternoon were postponed indefinitely as no consensus could be reached on monarchy and the issue of arms management.

Unlike the three earlier summit meetings that were held in the last one week, this time no new date has been fixed for the next meeting. Reports say, it is now up to Prime Minister to call the next summit meeting.

The summit meeting today started amid intense demonstrations by various sister organizations of the Maoists along with civil society organizations outside the Baluwatar residence of Prime Minister – who demanded for immediate announcement of date of Constituent Assembly elections, among others.

The summit meeting though scheduled to start from 2 pm was delayed because the Maoist leaders including Prachanda and Dr. Baburam Bhattarai arrived at Baluwatar at only around 3:15 pm. Reports say the meeting was called off after discussions were held among Prachanda, Prime Minister Koirala, Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and Nepali Congress (Democratic) president Sher Bahadur Deuba.

The issue of monarchy as well as arms management seem to be the major stumbling blocks.

Meanwhile, talking to Nepal FM, Dev Gurung, a member of Maoist talks team, said the meeting could not become conclusive because the seven parties could not "come out of pressure from pro-palace and foreign elements." He accused them of failing to firmly move ahead in the direction of democratic republic.

Gurung further accused that the attitude of kneeling before foreign forces was responsible for the current suspension of the meeting.

He, however, said that the Maoists would move ahead with "patience and restraint." He added that next meeting would possibly be held in near future after proper homework.. He claimed that his party had been demonstrating maximum flexibility. nepalnews.com sd Oct 15 06

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