Kathmandu: Senior CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury met Maoist chief Prachanda on Friday. The Maoist leadership says it will remain committed to the peace process to end the decade-old insurgency in Nepal.
During his more than an hour-long talks with Prachanda, Yechury was told that the Maoists are now embracing the democratic process and do not intend to go back, the CPI-M politburo member sad.
He said Prachanda has assured him that Maoists will abide by the 12-point agreement signed between the seven-party alliance and the rebels and also another eight-point pact reached recently between the two sides.
After his meeting with the Maoist chief, Yechury said, he was confident that the rebels would return to the peaceful competitive politics and abandon the path of violence.
The rebels have publicly expressed commitment to the competitive multi-party politics, he said.
There seems to be a crisis of confidence and suspicion between the parties and the Maoists, Yechury said, adding Prachanda has assured him that the rebels would keep on holding dialogue with political parties till all differences are sorted out.
"Indian Communists have a long experience of working with democracy and they have come to power through elections, and the Maoists want to learn from our experience to come to the peaceful process," Yechury said.
"I came here with good will and good wishes of the Indian people," said the senior CPI-M leader when asked about the objective of his visit.
Yechury arrived in Kathmandu for a three-day visit to Nepal on Friday. Before his talks with the Maoist chief, the leader met Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.
He will be meeting Nepal Communist Party-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and other senior political leaders too.
The government and the people of India are very keen that democratic structures in Nepal evolve as soon as possible and peace, stability and progress are in place in the Himalayan nation, said Yechury.
Yechury said decommissioning of the Maoists' Army was necessary before they join the government and added that the rebels have already agreed to silence their guns under the supervision of the United Nations.
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It was up to Nepalese people to decide how they wanted to manage the Maoists' army, he said.
"We are willing to give our opinion on this issue but the final decision will of the people of Nepal," Yechury said.
It was for the ruling seven-party alliance and the Maoists to sit together and decide about the arms management, he stressed.
He said he discussed with Prachanda the issue of forming an interim government with the inclusion of the rebels and holding the constituent assembly election in Nepal to draft a new constitution.
To a question, he said the Maoists want a republican system but they have assured to accept whatever the people's verdict is through the constituent assembly polls.
When asked about India's views on the release of Maoists serving jail terms there, Yechury said New Delhi would positively respond if Nepal's government makes a request in this regard.
After his meeting with the Nepalese Prime Minister, Yechury said that Nepal's people and the world community were wishing that the Himalayan country would find a lasting solution to its problems under the leadership of Koirala.
India wishes that Nepal's political parties and Maoists move together for total democracy and stability, he said.
He said he discussed with Koirala issues like current political developments, peace process and democratisation process in Nepal. Yechury said he wanted to meet Koirala again before leaving for Delhi tomorrow.
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