Talks team to go after rebels join govt: Dy PM

Pokhara, July 23 :

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister KP Sharma Oli today said the Maoist talks team would be dissolved after the formation of an interim government.

Unveiling the statue of the late Pushpa Lal at the Pushpa Lal Memorial Park at Nuwarthok, Oli said: “The Maoists should move ahead with the agenda of elections to a Constituent Assembly after they are included in the interim government.”

“The government is currently holding talks with the rebels as they are not in the government. However, there is no need of holding such talks after they join the interim government,” Oli said. “Differences with the Maoists should be resolved before the formation of the interim government,” he added.

“The United Nations has been called for the management arms of both the sides. It, however, does not mean that the world body will solve all problems we have been facing. Other problems should be solved by the Nepalis themselves,” he further said. He said an interim constitution and the interim government will be formed after the issue of arms management is solved. Stating that a new constitution would be drafted after the assembly elections, Oli said that the government and the political parties should agree to a statute formed as per the aspirations of the people.

“The late Pushpa Lal, the founder leader of the UML, played an important role in the communist movement in Nepal,” Oli said.

Rs 1,194,433 was spent to construct the park and the statue, Danda Raj Sharma, the chairman of the park construction consumers’ committee, said. The park was inaugurated by UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal in 2000. The Kaski chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) gave away the ‘Pokhara Journalism Prize-2062’ to Badri Binod Pratik, the editor-in-chief of Himdut weekly. Oli handed over the prize to Pratik today.

Meanwhile, Home Minister and coordinator of the government talks team Krishna Prasad Sitaula has said that the interim government need to be constituted only after management of Maoists arms.

Speaking at a programme in Banepa for distribution of financial assistance for the family of martyr of Kavre, he said, “Interim government should be formed after arms management of Maoists’ people’s army.”