Kathmandu, September 4:

The seven-party alliance is to form a team to assess whether the Maoists have abided by the commitments made regarding human rights issues, CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Nepal said today at a programme. Nepal said the team will comprise eminent personalities from the civil society and will conduct its work during the ceasefire period. The alliance had decided to constitute such team to monitor human rights violations by the Maoists on August 22. At the same programme, NC leader Dr Ram Sharan Mahat said that though the party had welcomed the Maoist truce, they would not come to any agreement with them till they denounced violence.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the alliance’s top leaders “took positively” and “welcomed” the Maoists’ ceasefire announcement, according to a joint statement issued by the alliance. It said the Maoists had announced the truce in response to the call given by the alliance. The meeting, held at the NC-D central office, urged the Maoists to create an environment of trust among parties by holding dialogues and and make the anti-autocracy joint movement more effective. The alliance has launched a joint movement to bring sovereignty and executive powers back to the people by ending autocracy and establishing complete democracy, it said.

It added the alliance had called upon the Maoists time and again to stop violent activities so as to build environment for talks and take the ongoing movement against the autocratic monarchy to a new height through the formation of a comprehensive democratic front among all political forces. The alliance has also decided to break prohibitory order imposed at the Ratnapark area and elsewhere, it said.