KATHMANDU: The secretariat meeting of the UCPN-Maoist today decided to stall all proceedings in the House until Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal addresses their demands.

The secretariat meeting held at the residence of party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal in Nayabazaar, decided to stall House proceedings until the PM addressed the four different issues raised by the Maoists including the recent decision of the government to purchase arms from India.

“The government is inviting civil war by purchasing arms from India,” said Dina Nath Sharma, spokesperson of the UCPN-Maoist.

The Maoists also urged the government to declare health emergency in the diarrhoeal outbreak hit areas in the western region and to launch an integrated plan to control the outbreak at the earliest. The party condemned the government’s inefficiency to provide medicines to the diarrhoea victims in the western Nepal.

The meeting also demanded that the YCL central committee member Laxman Yadav ‘Himal’, who was recently gunned down by an unheard Tarai outfit, be declared a martyr . They also demanded the government to take strong action against the culprits.

The meeting also dwelt on the recent promotion of joint secretaries to the post of secretaries and criticised the government for failing to control the rising inflation.

Today’s house meeting was stalled twice after the UCPN-M protested chanting slogans at the well demanding PM’s immediate response to the issues raised by the Maoists.

Secretariat member Narayan Kajee Shrestha said the secretariat meeting had also decided to finalise several issues including the decentralisation of leadership of the party. He added that the issue would be taken to the central committee on Tuesday for its approval.

He said the party had also called an all-party meeting tomorrow at its parliamentary party office in Singha Durbar to discuss on the issues raised by the secretariat meeting.