Nepalese hit streets – again – for change

Since the reinstatement of parliament on April 24, citizens and popular leaders have been closely scrutinizing the parties' actions.

On Wednesday, professionals and ordinary people joined the civil society's campaign in Kathmandu and in some 30 of 75 districts of the country.

They were motivated by concern over a letter sent by Maoist leader Prachanda to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on July 24, labeling as "provocative" the contents of a letter sent to Mr. Annan by Nepal's Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on July 2.

In the letter, Prachanda objected to the prime minister's request to the UN to "assist in the monitoring of combatants of the Maoists and decommissioning of their arms" and to "monitor to assure that the Nepal Army is inside its barracks."

"Such arbitrary and unilateral application of two different yardsticks to the two armies is highly objectionable and totally unacceptable to us. Particularly any talk of 'decommissioning' of arms of only the People's Liberation Army before the election to the constituent assembly is just unthinkable," he said in the letter.

Prachanda mentioned in the letter that he and his party came to know of the contents of Mr. Koirala's letter to the UN through the media after nearly three weeks.

"... the letter was written and sent unilaterally and secretively without any consultation with us, [and] in utter violation of the spirit of ongoing negotiation between the Government of Nepal and the CPN [Maoist group]," he wrote to Annan.

While deputy Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli said that the Maoists violated their agreement with the parties by sending their own letter to the UN, there is overwhelming public sentiment that the government made a mistake by not consulting with the Maoists before drafting the letter.

The eight-point agreement signed by the mainstream political parties and Maoists on June 16 states that the two sides agree "to request the UN to assist in the management of the armies and arms of both sides, and to monitor it for a free and fair election to the constituent assembly."

Three members of a UN team arrived in Kathmandu Wednesday, while the head of the team, Staffan De Mistura, and other members will arrive Thursday.

While the team will be in Nepal for nine days to assess the UN's possible role in resolving Nepal's conflict, a senior UN official here has said that the world body can assist only if the government and Maoists are absolutely clear on what they seek. "The UN can only be of assistance if it's absolutely clear what it has been asked to do," said Ian Martin, head of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal, according to The Kathmandu Post.

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