PCN-Maoist CPN-Maoist CC threatens to launch people’s revolt and announces February 10th strike over Dailekh case

KATHMANDU, Jan 31: Making public its protest program Wednesday to exert pressure for a roundtable assembly to break the political deadlock, the CPN-Maoist has threatened to launch a people´s revolt. A meeting of the party´s central committee concluded that the ruling alliance led by the UCPN (Maoist) and the opposition alliance led by the Nepali Congress were focused only on power, leaving out the people´s agenda.
“We would have no alternative but to go for a people´s movement if we cannot find a solution through a roundtable assembly,” said Mohan Baidya at a press meet at his party´s head office. He claimed that the ruling UCPN (Maoist) was involved in anti-national activities, referring to the Baburam Bhattarai government´s signing of the BIPPA agreement with India and also its turning over of security at the national and international airports to India. The opposition parties were just demanding leadership of the government without any agenda, he said.
“We will move ahead criticizing both sides – the ruling parties´ anti-national activities and opposition parties just demanding leadership of the government,” said Baidya, claiming that neither camp had a solution to the political and constitutional deadlock. Baidya said that the roundtable assembly could find a solution through fresh elections or a revival of the constituent assembly.
The Maoists´ immediate program was to hold a roundtable assembly while a people´s revolt on the foundation of people´s war was the party´s political line, he said. The Maoist party has scheduled a program of struggle against the ´anti-national´ activities of the government and for national sovereignty and people´s livelihood, from February 12. Demanding the scrapping of all unequal treaties with India, dismissal of cases dating back to the insurgency period, and a roll back of price hikes, the CPN-Maoist has said that it is to launch a people´s movement.
Maoist party has made public a program of interactions, gatherings, sit-in protests and mass rallies in the cities. The party also decided to hold extensive dialogue among the federalists, republicans and nationalists, to form a joint front. Earlier, the Maoists had formed a joint front under the leadership of Vice-chairman CP Gajurel. Eleven fringe leftist parties were involved in the front. The joint front is one of the “magical weapons” of the revolution. The revolutionary communist party, the revolutionary army and joint fronts are supposed to be the magical weapons. The party also decided to uphold a policy of one person one post for party leaders and cadres. Similarly, the party decided to dissolve its non-geographical state committees, but non-geographical braches would be formed in the main cities. The CPN-Maoist has a total 14 state committees, including geographical and non-geographical ones.
KATHMANDU: Dubbing them “political prisoners”, the CPN-Maoist on Saturday demanded that the charges against Maoist cadres held in Dailekh for the 2004 murder of journalist Dekendra Thapa be withdrawn and they be immediately released. Issuing a statement on behalf of the party, General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa announced that a nationwide strike has been imposed on February 10 to protest the arrest of the Maoist cadres and, what he said, revival of the cases during “people’s war”.
The Dailekh District Court on Friday remanded five persons —four affiliated with CPN-Maoist and one with UCPN-Maoist—to custody till a final verdict and issued an arrest warrant against four others who allegedly murdered Thapa in Dailekh almost nine years ago. As per the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA), both the parties – government and the then rebel group– had agreed to solve the war-era cases through Truth Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Thapa said in a statement. He claimed that the arrest and the prosecution are a clear violation of the Interim Constitution of Nepal as it has envisaged the formation of TRC to deal with conflict-era cases.