Dahal assures DeLisi on statute

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: UCPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal today reiterated that the new constitution would be promulgated by May 27 as all political forces, including his party were committed to this end.

Dahal said this today morning when outgoing US Ambassador Scott H DeLisi called on him at his residence in Lazimpat.

“Most issues related to the constitution have been thrashed out. Now, we are going to promulgate the constitution before May 27,” Dahal’s aide Santosh Poudel quoted him.

During the meeting, Dahal lauded the envoy’s successful tenure here in Kathmandu and said relations between Nepal and US was at their best. While saying Nepal would move on the path of economic development after the statute was promulgated, he asked for more US assistance to this end.

On his part, DeLisi expressed hope that the agreement reached recently among the parties would bear fruit and Nepal would become a stable, peaceful and prosperous country. He lauded the role of stakeholders, including Chairman Dahal, in making possible an agreement, according to Dahal’s personal website.

DeLisi also assured Dahal that the US government has initiated the process of delisting Nepali Maoists from the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorist, Paudel said.

According to State Department reports, Maoist party in Nepal is not included on the Foreign Terrorist Organization list, but remains in the Specially Designated Global Terrorist list under Executive Order 13224 and has become included on the Terrorism Exclusion List.

DeLisi, who had assumed ambassadorial assignment to Nepal in March 2010, is leaving Nepal next week to assume his new posting as US Ambassador to Uganda. US government has named career diplomat Peter W Bodde as his successor in Nepal.