Kathmandu, November 30

The meeting between the government, opposition party and agitating Madhesi forces held on the 107th day of the Tarai struggle today, the parties gave the impression they were serious about resolving the crisis.

Today’s meeting, which was 16th such meeting between the three forces and was held after a long hiatus, decided to hold a decisive tripartite meeting of ruling coalition, main opposition party the Nepali Congress and the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front on Wednesday at 6:00pm.

During the meeting, Prime Minister and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, cited the sufferings of the people and urged all the leaders to be serious about resolving the crisis soon with maximum flexibility. Oli said the government would work to create better environment for the talks scheduled for Wednesday.

Former prime minister and NC President Sushil Koirala said today’s meeting was positive and the next meeting would be held on Wednesday after bilateral discussion on the 11-point demands of UDMF.

UML leader Madhav Nepal said both the government and the agitating parties had agreed to stop violent activities against each other to create conducive environment for talks.

Co-chairman of Sadbhawana Party Laxman Lal Karna said major parties were yet to come up with a common stance on the 11-point demands of the UDMF and to ensure that happens next time they met all the leaders were provided with copies of their 11-point demands. “They demanded time for consultation on our demands. So we will sit again on Wednesday,” he said.

Karna said they asked the government to implement its decision to provide Rs 1 million to those killed during the agitation and compensate those injured.

Senior leader of Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal Ashok Rai said the meeting decided to give continuity to the talks but the issue of demarcation could not be discussed today.

Unified CPN-Maoist Vice-Chair Narayan Kaji Shrestha said the parties agreed to discuss the demands of the UDMF and come up with a common opinion to resolve the crisis in the next meeting when UCPN-M Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal would present his proposal to resolve the crisis.

According to Co-Chair of FSF-N Rajendra Shrestha, RPP-N leaders were ready to accept the document that the parties agree upon. He said PM Oli, who used to be tough and rigid during the previous meeting, seemed serious about resolving the crisis.

The meeting was attended by Sushil Koirala, Sher Bahadur Deuba and Ramchandra Paudel from the NC; PM Oli, Jhalanath Khanal, Madhav Nepal, DPM Bhim Rawal and Law Minister Agni Kharel from the UML; Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Vice-Chair Narayan Kaji Shrestha from the UCPN-M; Chairman Kamal Thapa and Chief Whip Dilnath Giri from the RPP-N; Deepak Bohora from the RPP; Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar and Jitendra Dev from the MJF-D; Mahantha Thakur, Laxman Lal Karna, Hridayesh Tripathi, Lalbabu Raut, Ashok Rai and Rajendra Shrestha from the UDMF.