Kapilvastu, August 31 :

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and a member of the government talks team, Pradeep Gyawali, today said peace process was not gaining desired pace due to Maoists’ reluctance to give up arms and political parties’ unwillingness to dissolve the revived House of Representatives.

Speaking at a face-to-face programme organised by the Kapilvastu chapter of Press Chautari Nepal in Taulihawa today, minister Gyawali said, “Maoists should give up arms and the seven parties should also have the courage to dissolve the House to go for constituent assembly elections.”

Gyawali said Maoists’ extremism and the seven-party alliance’s desire for status quo was delaying the interim statute.

Stressing the need for a political consensus between the alliance and the Maoists, he said, “Regressive forces may be active again if constituent assembly polls are not conducted by May.”

Gyawali urged the Maoists to lay down arms and abide by the ceasefire agreements in letter and spirit.

He urged the Maoists to democratise themselves. Saying that the United Nations would monitor the arms of the Nepal Army and the Maoists’ Peoples’ Liberation Army, he added,

“The Nepal Army will remain inside barracks while the Maoist army will also be confined to certain camps. We have statistics of the weapons of the Nepal Army but we don’t have official data about the number of Maoist army and their artillery, which is problematic.”

“Maoists should accept the people’s verdict and should consider it decisive,” he said stressing

the necessity for unity of political parties in transitional phase.

Meanwhile, minister Gyawali visited Tilaurakot today where he stressed for the overall development of Kapilvastu along with integrated development. He added that everyone should be concerned for the preservation and promotion of ancient monuments of the Buddhist civilisation.