The 16 parties including main opposition parties, Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML continued their discussion for the second consecutive day on Tuesday to rally support against the ruling UCPN (Maoist) who they have held responsible for lack of progress in the ongoing peace process.

Leaders who participated in the meeting held at NC parliamentary party office in Singha Durbar this morning, said that today’s discussion was focused on forging a common viewpoint on the forms of governance, a topic which has emerged as one of the most contentious issues in the constitution yet to be promulgated.

The 16 parties that on Monday concluded that the UCPN (Maoist) has backtracked from previous agreements are trying to come up with a new strategy to put pressure on the Maoists to abide by past agreements on the peace process. However, they have not yet publicized their new strategy.

They have also accused the Maoists of causing delay in the army integration process by not bidding farewell to former combatants who have opted for voluntary retirement even though a month has passed since the conclusion of the regrouping process.

On Monday the 16 parties issued a joint press statement after the meeting held in Singh Durbar in which they said the government and Maoist party have gone back on past agreements on the peace process and constitution by negating controversial issues seen in constitution drafting that has already been resolved by the dispute resolution sub-committee.

“The Maoist party is obstructing the peace process by delaying to discharge the combatants who have opted for voluntary retirement from the cantonments. This is against the seven-point pact,” the statement said.

In the statement, the parties also urged the Moist leadership to be serious to implement the agreements on managing the transnational period.

NC president Sushil Koirala, UML chairman Jhala Nath Khanal, MJF (Nepal) chairman Upendra Yadav and Rastriya Prajatantra Party chairman Pashupati Shumsher Rana, CPN (ML) general secretary C.P Mainali and other fringe party leaders signed the statement. nepalnews.com