Kathmandu, September 5

A high-level political dialogue team formed by the government is doing groundwork to hold talks with agitating and disgruntled groups, including those led by Netra Bikram Chand and CK Raut, to prevent them from fomenting trouble.

The team held consultations with former peace ministers Ram Kumar Shrestha and Rakam Chemjong, as well as former secretaries of the erstwhile peace and reconstruction ministry, today. It had collected necessary information from chiefs of Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, National Investigation Department and Criminal Investigation Bureau yesterday.

“We are talking to people who have experience in holding dialogue with disgruntled groups, and are seeking their advice. We are also going through agreements that the previous governments forged with these groups,” Suresh Ale Magar, a talks team member told THT.

After these tasks are over, the team will formally invite agitating and disgruntled groups for talks, according to Magar.

One such disgruntled group is Communist Party of Nepal led by Chand, which is involved in cases of extortion and other criminal activities. One of the preconditions set by CPN for talks with the government is release of its 12 central committee members and around 100 cadres, including party Spokesperson Khadga Bahadur Biswokarma.

Another disgruntled group is led by Raut, who, according to Brig Gen (retd) Umesh Bhattarai, is planning to declare Province 2 an independent state on September 18, the eve of the third anniversary of promulgation of the constitution.

Meanwhile, the government, on August 25, formed a team to hold talks with these groups, as they had the potential to sully the country’s peaceful situation. The team has the mandate to hold negotiations and enter into agreements with the groups, and exert pressure on the government to implement those agreements.

The team is led by ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) lawmaker Som Prasad Pandey and comprises former lawmakers Magar and Lila Bhandari, both from NCP, as members and Kumar Bahadur Khadka, joint secretary, the Ministry of Home Affairs, as member secretary.

The team has already set up an office in Singha Durbar. It will hold talks with media editors tomorrow to get their perspective.

The government had to form the dialogue team as it had dissolved the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, which was established following 10 years of Maoist conflict from 1996 to 2006 to deal with post-conflict issues.