KATHMANDU: Aid workers and analysts have warned that deadlock in Nepal's peace process was posing a serious threat to the development and stability in the country, according to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs — Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN).

"The peace process is deadlocked and dangerously stagnant," IRIN quoted Rhoderick Chalmers, senior analyst and South Asia deputy project director at the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank, as saying, today.

The ICG urged major political parties to work together to avoid a possible return to conflict. According to IRIN, the process has ground to a halt amid political wrangling between the Maoists and the 22-party ruling coalition. Other critical issues include the return of land seized during the conflict and the integration of Nepal's two standing armies, the National Army and the Maoists' People's Liberation Army.

"It is a worrying situation because the fundamentals that need to be addressed are not actually being discussed in a substantial fashion at all," said Chalmers. IRIN also said that Unified CPN-Maoist had disrupted the work of the coalition government, organising frequent protests throughout the country, threatening to form an alternative government and delaying proceedings in the parliament.

Humanitarian agencies say the political crisis is beginning to interfere with their work. "If this deadlock continues, development work will be seriously hampered, and it is actually already happening," Chij Kumar Shrestha, chair, Association of International NGOs, which comprises more than 80 INGOs in Nepal.

Local government bodies such as the Village Development Committees and District Development Committees — the permission and participation of which are required by NGOs in order to carry out their works — are almost non-functional, he said.

NGOs are also concerned that this will eventually affect funding for their work, he said. "Our concern is that the deadlock will not allow us to deliver what we had promised to donor agencies," said Shrestha, also country director of the US-based INGO, World Education.

Meanwhile, protests and blockades by the Maoists are also impeding aid efforts. "The challenges are growing for us, especially in our mobility, and it is not easy coordinating with local officials from VDCs to get things done," said Dinanath Bhandari, an officer with Practical Action Nepal.