Nepali leaders hold emergency talks after Maoists’ walkout
NEPAL: Nepal’s prime minister called an emergency meeting of
top leaders of the ruling alliance Wednesday after former communist
rebels sparked a political crisis by walking out of the coalition
government, officials said.
The former rebels, who had been key partners in both the government
and the Himalayan nation’s fragile peace process, walked out on Tuesday
after the government failed to meet several of their demands, including
abolishing the constitutional democracy.
The rebel bloc, widely known as the Maoists, warned they would take
up street protests, organize a general strike and boycott coming
elections for an assembly that will be charged with rewriting the
country’s consitution.
Senior minister Ram Chandra Poudel said an emergency meeting on the
political crisis would be held at Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s
residence Wednesday afternoon. Poudel is a senior leader of Koirala’s
Nepali Congress party.
“We will be discussing how we can try bring the Maoists back in the
government and bring an end to the present situation,” said Iswor
Pokhrel of the United Marxist Leninist Communist Party of Nepal, another
major partner in the government.
The Maoists spent years fighting for control of the impoverished
kingdom and joined the political mainstream after King Gyanendra was
forced to give up nearly all his power last year.
“Our protests that begin today will be peaceful, but we want to warn
the government: If there are attempts to crush our peaceful movement, we
will also get violent,” the Maoists’ deputy leader, Baburam Bhattarai,
said on Tuesday.
Another Maoist leader, Chandra Prakash Gajurel, said the group would
boycott elections for a Constituent Assembly - which is to be elected in
November to decide on Nepal’s political system while the constitution is
rewritten - unless the country immediately becomes a republic and
abolishes the monarchy.
Gajurel said the Maoists would hold peaceful rallies and stop
candidates from filing their nominations.
Kathmandu, Wednesday, AP |
