Kathmandu, July 29

Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Co-chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal today said he would become a ‘global hero’ if he was dragged to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

He said a group of people against peace were acting as part of a ‘design’ and resorting to propaganda that he would be dragged to The Hague for conflict-era issues.

“It really does not matter to me,” he said at a programme to welcome leaders of Netra Bikram Chand-led group to the NCP at his residence in Khumaltar, Lalitpur, this morning. “In fact, I’ll emerge a global hero if I am dragged to The Hague because people from across the globe will know that I am in favour of peace and justice. That will be a matter of pride for me.”

Dahal, however, said he would be saved The Hague trip since those trying to drag him to ICC would not like to see him become a ‘global hero’.

He said nothing else but the war waged by former Maoists was responsible for whatever transformation the country had undergone. Dahal said as long as Nepal remained a Federal Democratic Republic, none of the former Maoists would become weak.

Conceding that they had wished for more than what they were able to achieve, Dahal said they chose to move towards socialism utilising those achievements.

“If we had not chosen peaceful politics, we would have met the same fate as those in Peru, Philippines or Sri Lanka,” he said.

On the split in the former Maoist party, he said he failed to convince his colleagues who thought that by joining peaceful politics the party had forgotten its revolutionary roots.

Stating he was glad that those who abandoned the party were coming back to the NCP, Dahal said Chand would also join the NCP sooner or later. “Chand should either join the NCP or be ready to be obliterated,” he said, adding it was still not too late for him to make amends.