Next round of talks should be held by Sunday: UML General Secy.



Madhav Kumar Nepal (File Photo)

Amid uncertainty about the summit level talks between the ruling seven party alliance and the Maoists after the fourth round of talks postponed indefinitely following disagreement in some key political issues, CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal has said that the next round of talks should be held by coming Sunday.

Addressing a tea reception hosted by UML Lalitpur district committee on the occasion of Nepal Sambat (Era) 1127, Nepal further said that the talks were postponed for some time due to the festival season and now they could not be delayed on any pretext.

He also said as the government and the Maoists have already decided to hold constituent assembly polls by mid-June next year, the next round of peace talks should make decisions on modalities of the elections and Maoists’ arms management.

He said that the Maoists should be ready to go to cantonments before they join an interim government to hold the election of the constituent assembly in a free and fair manner. "The election of the constituent assembly should be held in proportional representation basis and a referendum should be held along with the assembly election to decide the fate of the monarchy," he added.

The summit level talks ended inconclusively as the ruling seven party alliance and Maoists failed to find consensus in the issues of fate of monarchy and Maoist's arms management.

He said that the Maoists must be ready to separate arms from their fighters and then integrate them in the army.

He said that after meeting the PM and Maoist chairman Prachanda before Tihar, he felt that if the parties in conflict were willing to do so, there would not be any problem in settling the issues.

Commenting on the PM’s statement that the NC could not join a democratic republic front, Nepal said that it was up to the party whether it wished to join such a front or not.

UML, the second largest party in the coalition seven-party government, has demanded that the ongoing peace talks decide on holding of a referendum for the future of monarchy before the constituent assembly elections and Maoist's arms should be separated from their soldiers before the election of the constituent assembly. nepalnews.com pb Oct 26 06