Kathmandu, January 11:

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today assured a delegation of intellectuals that the interim government would be formed “soon after the completion of identification, separation of arms from the Maoists and storage of arms.”

Koirala, however, did not give an exact date within which the interim government will be formed, member of the delegation, Harihar Dahal, told after meeting Koirala in Baluwatar in the morning.

“The PM expressed optimism that the elections to the constituent assembly will be conducted on the stipulated time,” Dahal said.

“Even the Maoists have agreed to the formation of an interim government after the management of arms,” Dahal quoted the Prime Minister.