Nepal PM Critical of Leftist Leader's Covert Meet With Maoist
Nepal Communist Party-United Marxist and Leninist (NCP-UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal said at the weekend that he met top rebel Prachanda on Wednesday at a hotel in the northern Indian city Lucknow.
"The government does not give much importance to Nepal's meeting with the Maoist leader," Thapa said late Sunday.
But, "By covertly meeting with the leaders of the Nepal Communist Party-Maoist, which has been labeled terrorist, Nepal has been reckless about his own security," he said.
Nepal said Prachanda, who has eluded Nepalese troops for years, was willing to restart peace talks if they were held with an all-party government.
The rebels ended a seven-month ceasefire in August, after talks reached a stalemate, and resumed their seven-year insurgency aimed at overthrowing the monarchy.
The kingdom's five major parties, including the NCP-UML, do not recognise Thapa's authority because he was appointed by King Gyanendra, who dismissed the elected government in October 2002.
The five parties are demanding an all-party government or fresh elections. This month they called on the rebels to halt their insurgency and join forces with them in a peaceful campaign against the king.
An alliance between the Maoists and the parties would mark a dramatic turnaround for both sides.
The Maoists have over the seven years of their insurgency killed about 400 activists of the mainstream parties, considering them part of the elite, according to party leaders' estimates.
The Nepalese government has a 64,000-dollar bounty on Prachanda's head and has asked Interpol to help arrest him.
Meanwhile, Girija Prasad Koirala, president of the Nepali Congress (NC), another of the five main parties, said he was not consulted about Nepal's meeting.
"The Nepali Congress won't meet secretly with the Maoist rebels," he added.
The Maoist insurgency has claimed more than 8,200 lives since 1996.