KATHMANDU: An emergency cabinet meeting held at Singha Durbar under the chairmanship of acting Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar today requested the Unified CPN-Maoist to call off the three-day general strike beginning tomorrow.

The meeting instructed general administration to effectively mobilise security bodies to maintain peace and security in case the strike was not called off. The meeting also urged the UCPN-M to come to the talks table to get their demands fulfilled.

A proposal endorsed by the cabinet warned the Maoists not to resort to activities that breach the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005. The proposal requested all concerned to help maintain law and order. The cabinet urged the Maoists not to indulge in activities that adversely affected the peace process and the process of writing the constitution.

The meeting also urged the Maoists not to resort to activities that could create confrontation among the political parties, stop capturing public and private properties and indulge in violent activities.

The cabinet also urged the Maoists not to obstruct essential services such as industries, tourism, education, drinking water, health service, garbage management and supply of petroleum products.

Meanwhile, the political parties’ efforts to persuade the Maoists to call off their strike failed as a three-party meeting could not convene today.

However, CPN-UML leader Jhalanath Khanal had separate meetings with Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala and UCPN-M leaders, including chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘ Prachanda’ .

“NC and UML came up with an alternative proposal to end the political impasse. But it was not acceptable, as it did not address our concerns,” said Dinanath Sharma, spokesperson for the UCPN-M after the meeting held at Maoist headquarters in Paris Danda. However, leaders of the three parties refused to say what the proposal was.

Prachanda accused the NC and the UML of backtracking from the earlier agreement on the joint Sankalpa Prastav (stricture motion). UML chairman Khanal said the meeting could not end conclusively, as the UCPN-M leadership wanted to discuss the latest proposal at its ongoing standing committee meeting. He said he had proposed a high-level meeting to address the unresolved issues at the taskforce level.

Earlier, GP Koirala and Khanal dwelt on ways to persuade the Maoists to cancel their protest programme. According to NC leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula, who was privy to the meeting, Koirala requested Khanal to make active efforts to find a solution by this evening by talking to the Maoists.

“Maoists’ three-day general strike and other protest programmes will not resolve the crisis. On the contrary,

that will lead to confrontation and additional problems,” Koirala told Khanal.

Prachanda had met Koirala on Friday evening.

NC, UML ignoring Nepalis’ concerns: Prachanda

KATHMANDU: UCPN-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘ Prachanda’ today claimed that consensus among the partied could be reached within two days if the parties stop being guided by the foreign powers.

“We were forced to go ahead with our scheduled three-day strike, as NC and UML did not want consensus,” he told mediapersons this evening following the standing committee meeting of the party at its headquarters.

“If parties begin to listen to the Nepali people instead of foreign powers, consensus can be reached in not more than two days,” claimed the Maoist supremo.

He said the parties had backtracked from the commitments made regarding the Sankalpa Prastav. Parties neither agreed that the President’ s move was wrong nor did they agree to issue a public statement expressing sadness over the move.

Prachanda, however, said the talks would continue even during the strike and the members of the task force were still trying to forge a consensus.

Prachanda claimed that the parties were being guided by the foreign powers. “Parties are ready to dissolve the Constituent Assembly but do not want to address our demands, as the foreign powers have told them not to do so.”

He urged all the leftist and the democratic forces and the press to unite against the parties that were toeing the line of foreign forces.

Prachanda claimed that the foreign powers had been telling the parties not to let the peace process end in a logical way, as it would only benefit the Maoist and the parties had begun to backtrack on the earlier agreements, calling them a mistake.

Talking about the general strike, he said the party had decided not to obstruct the movement of five essential services.

“We have decided to let the ambulances, press, diplomatic missions and representatives of human rights organisations move freely during the three-day general strike. Medical shops will not be forced to down shutters,” he said.

The standing committee has also decided to organise demonstrations and mass meetings on the last day of the general strike to conclude the protest.

Prachanda said the party had decided to change the mode of protest in the parliament. However, the new mode of protest would only be devised by the meeting of the parliamentary party on December 23.

Who won’ t be hit

• Ambulances, mediapersons, HR representatives, diplomatic missions free to move. Medical shops can open during the strike

• Demonstrations and mass meetings will be organised on the final day

• Mode of protest at parliament to change