Thursday, February 5, 2009

Maoist stalwart says govt will muscle through 'people-centric works'


A senior leader of the ruling Unified CPN (Maoist) said Thursday that nobody can hold back the "people-centric works" being undertaken by the government.

"If anybody still tries to prevent the government from engaging in people-centric works, then we will push it through by all means," said Narayankaji Shrestha, a Central Secretariat member of Maoist party.

The remarks by Shrestha who recently merged his party CPN (Unity Centre) with the Maoists comes at a time when the Maoist-led government is trying to push through controversial ordinances on disappearance and truth and reconciliation.

Leading human rights organisations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have asked the government to seek the approval of the CA when it enacts the laws.

Shrestha, who was speaking at a programme organised by Tamuwan State Council in Pokhara, said that the government will not tolerate anyone trying to hinder its work to build "a fully sovereign and prosperous" country.

When his own party's youth wing the YCL and Maoist affiliated trade unions have been openly defying the government orders, he said that the Nepal Army (NA) should abide by the orders of the civilian government and stall its recruitment plans. He also stressed on the need for integrating Maoist combatants into the NA as per the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA).

However, he said if no consensus is reached on the issue of army integration, then there is no alternative to increasing the strength of the People's Liberation Army, which is currently de-mobilized in UN monitored cantonment, to 32,000.

Recently, Maoist People's Liberation Army (PLA) chief, Nanda Kishor Pun 'Pasang', had warned that the PLA, too, would start recruiting combatants if the NA does not stop its recruitments.

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