Kathmandu, July 29:

Spokesperson for the Nepali Congress (NC) Arjun Narsingh KC said today the King is running the country under a single Article of the Constitution and that he has closed all doors of dialogue with constitutional forces. “The King is running the administration under Article (127) of the constitution, keeping other Articles at death-bed,” he said at an interaction programme organised by Sambad Club of Nepal. He said the seven-party alliance is trapped between the King and Maoists, whose actions do not match their public commitments on democracy, human rights and rule of law. KC said that universal values of democracy and human rights should be the meeting point for the King and Maoists based on which the seven-party alliance could hold dialogue with the monarch and insurgents. “That is why the alliance is preparing ground for holding a dialogue with the Maoists. There is no alternative to dialogue,” he said, citing the latest instance of the Irish Republican Army abandoning its “armed campaign” of

the last 37 years.

He also made it clear the seven-party alliance would not strike an alliance with the Maoists unless they met the alliance’s five pre-conditions. “But their latest commitments to multiparty democracy and human rights are a positive development,” he said. KC dismissed the possibility of the alliance joining an all-party government as suggested by RPP general secretary Dipak Bohara. “Joining an all-party government is akin to once bitten twice shy syndrome,” he said. He added the alliance would also not take part in the municipal elections in an atmosphere where two types of guns were creating a reign of terror. Earlier, Bohara had stressed the need for a meaningful dialogue between the King and constitutional forces before reaching any parleys with the insurgents. He said that election to a new parliament could help resolve all constitutional and Maoist problems. “But the parliamentary elections should be conducted by an all-party government. It is elections that can bring the Maoists into the political mainstream,” he said.