TIKA R PRADHAN
KATHMANDU: A senior Maoist leader, who is close to Vice-chairman Mohan Baidhya, today said Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s ‘suicidal’ activities had but further complicated the peace process.
Maoist Secretary CP Gajurel told this daily that the decision to hand over keys of arms containers should have come only after the modality, norms and number of combatants to be integrated and rehabilitated were finalised.
A section of Maoist leaders close to Baidhya have objected to the party decision to hand over the keys of arms containers to the Special Committee and have termed the decision ‘suicidal’. The Baidhya faction even took to the streets to oppose the party decision. “The leaders have, instead, initiated the process of disintegrating People’s Liberation Army by taking such a decision,” Gajurel told The Himalayan Times.
Earlier at a programme in the Capital today, Gajurel said the controversy over handing over of keys could be settled if Chairman Dahal and Prime Minister Bhattarai ‘admit to their mistake’. The party secretary’s statement today came a day after politburo member and a close aide to Dahal Haribol Gajurel’s statement that the party ‘could pardon those involved in anti-party activities if they apologised’. The Baidhya faction is at odds with Dahal and Bhattarai, and as the dispute reached the peak, both sides now are seeking apology from each other.
“Dahal and Bhattarai should apologise for taking the decision to hand over the keys of arms to the Special Committee,” said Secretary Gajurel. The keys of arms containers, however, have been handed to SC. “We are aware that the keys now cannot be returned,” he said. “But such warnings will help check similar mistakes in future.”
He added that they (those close to Baidhya faction) were ready to join the government if the leaders ‘admitted their mistake’. The Maoist secretary, however, tried to keep a lid on speculations that the party was heading towards a rift. “We have the support of more than 40 per cent of lawmakers if we were to split the party, but that’s not our intention. We just want a course correction from our leaders.”
KATHMANDU: A meeting of the United National People’s Council, headed by Maoist Secretary CP Gajurel, on Monday decided to expand its wings up to the state committees and district committees, and later to local levels. According to Gajurel, the meeting agreed to appoint central committee member of the party and the central convener of the Indigenous Nationalities Federation Suresh Ale Magar to look after Council’s day-to-day operations.
(Published in The Himalayan Times on September 6, 2011)
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