Miscellaneous
Maoist parties in working alliance
In their first meeting of minds since the party split on June 19, 2012, the UCPN (Maoist) and the CPN-Maoist on Thursday warned to launch a joint movement against government.Kamal Dev Bhattarai
A joint statement signed by UCPN (M) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN-M Chairman Mohan Baidya states that the government is arresting their leaders and cadres in connection with war-era cases.
Reiterating their often-articulated position, both the parties said all war-era cases should be dealt through Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), and that it is against the spirit of Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) to deal such cases in piecemeal and through regular court proceedings.
Urging the government to free their cadres who are detained in various parts of the country, Dahal and Baidya, who worked in the same party for more than two decades before the split, demanded the immediate formation of TRC, a transitional justice mechanism.
On the local polls, the two parties presented a similar position that such elections should be held only after the "progressive restructuring of the country" through a promulgation of new constitution.
The UCPN (Maoist) is of the view that new constitution should be drafted through the Constituent Assembly (CA), while the CPN-M is demanding a round-table for the same purpose.
“It would be against the spirit of the Interim Constitution to hold the local body elections without drafting a new constitution,” reads the statement, concluding with a warning of a joint movement unless the ruling parties take their demand seriously. The government is believed to be preparing to announce the date for local election.
Leaders from both camps have said that the joint statement is a beginning of the working alliance between the two parties despite their differences on ideology.
Dahal and Baidya have been in regular talks for the last two weeks to explore the possibility of party unity or working alliance. Fearful that the war-era cases might be revived to put their cadres in detention, the two parties agreed to fight jointly, the leaders said.
“Party unification could take time, so we have decided to forge a working alliance. And it should be taken in a positive way,” Baidya said in a statement on Thursday.
After the split in 2012, the relationship between the two parties had soured, reaching to the lowest ebb at the time of the November 19 CA election. However, following UCPN (Maoist)’s poll debacle, Dahal reached out to the CPN-M urging for the unification.
Leaders from both parties maintained that two parties will continue the working alliance in the future on the issue of new constitution. “Two parties have a similar position on the issue of federalism, forms of governance and new constitution and about imparting rights to margnalised community,” said Maoist leader Haribol Gajurel.
The Baburam Bhattarai faction of the UCPN (Maoist) has said that they are not against the party unification so long as it does not put the peace and constitution at risk. “There are still some ideological differences but unification is always better than dissolution of the party,” said Devendra Poudel, leader close to Bhattarai.