The alliance of the seven political parties has set several conditions before the Maoists for creating a suitable atmosphere for talks between them. This comes some one month after Maoist chairman Prachanda had called upon the political parties to form a negotiating team to sort out issues concerning conflict resolution and the possible collaboration against the royal rule. Prachanda’s statement was in response to the seven-party call on the rebels for talks. Indeed, the political parties, ignored by the palace for almost three years now, are apparently moving closer to the rebels, partly to counter-balance the palace. The alliance’s conditions include stopping violence against civilians, including political activists, putting no obstacles to the pro-democracy movement, ending extortions, ensuring smooth running of the educational institutions, and a formal declaration of Maoist commitment to democratic values such as multiparty democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. A few days ago, CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Nepal said it was, however, not ne-cessary for the rebels to lay down arms for the talks.

Indeed, the need for building confidence among the three domestic political forces cannot be over-emphasized at a time when they deeply distrust one another. However, Maoist commitment to suspend violence against civilians is yet to be fully implemented. But it is the political parties themselves which have weakened the pro-democracy movement because of their own differences and opportunistic tendencies. The Maoist reply, yet to come, might not fully satisfy the political parties, as extortions are their principal source of funding and a formal commitment on polity-related issues even before the talks, they might reckon, would compromise their future bargaining position. But the Maoists are clearest on the constituent assembly. The political parties, too, need to be clearer on certain issues, e.g. their meaning of ‘total democracy’. But the parties and the rebels are not the State. Any talks between them can, at best, create a foundation on which further progress can and need to be made. Any efforts that contribute to peace and multi-party parliamentary democracy will be welcome.