Naya Nepal Naya Blog

The Politburo meeting of the main opposition UCPN (Maoist) on Saturday decided to take the army integration process and the statute drafting together along with a working calendar.

The Maoists' decision contradicts with the non-Maoist parties' stance to move for national consensus only after the army integration process is taken ahead with a definite work plan.

In a press conference organised by the Maoists to publicise the decisions of their politburo meeting today, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the party will take the peace process and statute-drafting hand-in-hand

Dahal claimed that the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) and the Interim Constitution has placed the Nepal Army (NA) and Maoists' PLA on an equal footing.

The national army will be formed after the integration process that follows the democratisation of the NA and professionalisation of the PLA, Dahal said.

The Maoist chieftain accused the other political parties of working against the spirit of CPA.

While saying that the meeting has decided to fight back against those working against the CPA, the Maoist leader claimed that the talk of finalising the number of Maoist combatants to be integration is against the peace accord.

The main opposition has also decided keep the government from tabling its budget, policies and programmes. "We won't let the government bring out its programmes and budget unless it transforms into a caretaker government as per the May-28 pact," said Dahal.

The politburo meeting only said that the party will take the government leadership. "For now, we have only decided that the party would lead the government, the candidate will also be selected when time comes."