A meeting of the three major parties and the agitating Samuktya Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha on Monday agreed to revive the joint task force to sort out the differences related to federal boundaries.

Talks were stalled after SLMM dissolved its taskforce days before the constitution was put to vote in Parliament for amendment, saying “talks at the taskforce level were over” and that the top leadership needed to sort the issues out.

Parliament on January 23 voted to amend the constitution in a bid to address the concerns raised by the SLMM, but the move cut no ice with the Madhes-based parties, hence no formal talks had been held between the two sides since.

The renewed efforts by the major three parties to restart dialogue follow the agitating SLMM’s decision to continue their protests.

As per Monday’s agreement, the revived taskforce will prepare the Terms of References of the proposed cross-party political mechanism that will try to settle the boundary dispute.

In the meeting, Nepali Congress (NC) leaders accused the Morcha of practising “politics of negation”. The UML echoed NC leaders.

We strongly opposed the politics of negation practised by the Morcha in Madhes, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Bhim Rawal, adding that Morcha activists’ actions to obstruct the NC’s local level conventions were not part of political culture.

Due to Morcha’s obstructions, the NC could not hold local level conventions in as many as six districts in the Tarai.

According to Rawal, Morcha leaders apologised for the obstructions and promised not to repeat such incidents. The Mocha leaders, however, made it clear that their border protests will not be withdrawn until the major parties fulfilled their past commitments.

We told them [major parties] that obstructions in border will not be lifted until there is a political agreement on our demands, said Laxman Lal Karna, co-chair of Sadhbawana Party.

Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party Chairman Mahantha Thakur hailed Monday’s meeting as a positive step.

Dialogue will resume from where it was stalled, and the taskforce will bring a proposal for agreement, he added.  According to NC Vice-President Ram Chandra Poudel, the taskforce will be reactivated from Tuesday.

‘Morcha denied NC democratic space’

KATHMANDU: The Nepali Congress has accused cadres of the Samyukta Loktantrik Morcha (SLMM) of denying it democratic space by “systematically disturbing” its local conventions and vandalising party offices and houses of party leaders. Due to obstructions by the SLMM, local conventions have been put off in some districts, said NC leaders. The NC faced obstructions in Saptari, Bara, Parsa, Rautahat and Dhanusha districts during its local conventions. SLMM cadres also vandalised the houses of NC leaders Bimalendra Nidhi and Lila Koirala. “Protests by the Madhes-based parties have affected our local conventions,” said NC leader Ananda Prasad Dhungana who is currently in Madhes. “Our democratic rights have been grossly violated.”