Kathmandu, August 10:

Political parties’ leaders are going ga-ga over the govt, Maoists missives to the United Nations. Addressing a talk programme in the capital today, political party leaders hailed yesterday’s five-point agreement between the government and the Maoists, which sought the United Nations’ assistance for the peace process and election to a constituent assembly.

Nepali Congress general secretary Ramchandra Poudel termed “positive” the separate missives, with the same content, sent to the UN by the government and the Maoists and asked them to take more confidence-building measures.

He asked the Maoists to withdraw their charges against people who oppose their ideology and to announce a general amnesty to them as per the understanding between the seven-party alliance and the Maoists during a meeting at Godawori. Poudel, the coordinator of the Peace Committee facilitating the government talks team, asked both talks teams to reach an agreement on ceasefire, peace and human rights accords so that the UN team could also monitor the agreements until a constituent assembly poll is held.

Dev Gurung, a Maoist negotiator, said yesterday’s agreement to call the UN for management of arms and the peace process was “free of external influence”. He also proposed reaching consensus on political issues, including the dissolution of HoR, sans external interference. He proposed replacing Parliament with a legislature comprising representatives of forces fighting for democracy.

He warned that there would be fresh problems between the SPA and the Maoists if any efforts were made to protect the palace and the Nepali Army.

Vice chairman of Janamorcha Nepal, Lilamani Pokharel, said the international community was not happy with political developments in Nepal. A palace that is not ready to concede defeat, and a parliament that wants to prolong its life are the major stumbling blocks to the CA polls.

He suggested that a minimum number of security personnel (around 10,000) should be kept to “maintain decorum” and that the youth should be trained in the defence of the nation’s sovereignty. He lamented that the SPA leaders could not even hold a meeting to sort out differences on important issues of the interim constitution.

General secretary of Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandi Devi), Rajendra Mahato, said that the letter to UN was an important event. Conflict expert Dr Indrajit Rai said he had advised the Peace Committee that there would be no security threat if Maoists were confined in cantonment areas.