KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal told a parliamentary panel today that Maoists’ non-cooperation has been a major hurdle in filling the vacancies in the constitutional bodies and driving the peace process smoothly during the nine months of his government.

Addressing a meeting of the State Affairs Committee of the parliament, he said the government would focus on ironing out the differences in writing the new constitution and completing the peace process on time.

Admitting that the government had got weapons from India, he claimed that they were meant to strengthen the Armed Police Force and the Nepal Police and not for the Nepali Army. He added that he had instructed the home minister to import more potent weapons, including AK 47, to strengthen the police. “None of the agreements made in the past says that the police cannot acquire weapons,” he added.

“The government has not been able to make appointments in the constitutional bodies for a long time due to the non-cooperation from the main opposition party,” he complained, adding he, as the head of the Constitutional Council, organised seven meetings, but Maoist members and their leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal did not participate in any of the meetings. “The Maoist leader evaded each meeting on some pretext or the other. He only agreed to second the council’s decision of appointing the Chief Justice.”

Council meetings could not be held because of the lack of quorum. The seven-member council needs at least six members’ participation to take any decision.

“I’ll propose to reduce the needed number to four by amending the related law,” he said.

He trashed the Maoists’ charge that the government was inviting civil war by importing weapons. “A minister’s personal views cannot prevail over the government’s firm commitment to taking the peace process to a logical end,” he said, urging the Maoists not to make irresponsible statements. The PM proposed to bring a 60-day action plan to manage the Maoist combatants.

Maoist leaders Dinanath Sharma and Top Bahadur Rayamajhi blamed the government for inviting civil war by instructing the security personnel to act against the Maoists. “Importing weapons secretly without consulting the main opposition party reveals the government’s bad intention,” the duo said. They also sought the formation of a probe panel to investigate into the manhandling of Maoist leaders Janardan Sharma and Lekhraj Bhatta by the cops who were escorting the imported weapons.

NC’s Jagadishwor Narsingh KC and UML’s Pradip Gyanwali claimed that there was a lack of coordination among the ministries, leading to increased criminal activities.