POLITICAL CRISIS ESCALATES

SECOUND ROUND OF THREE PARTY MEET ALSO UNCONCLUSIVE UPDATE

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 27 May: The second round of Three Party summit ended inconclusively Friday evening before 7 PM (13.15 GMT).
Maoists, NC and UML agreed to meet again Saturday morning at eleven.
There was no agreement Friday evening on opposition demand for Maoist surrender of weapons and power sharing in a national government, according to a NC source.
The only outlet to the prolonged political deadlock now is a midnight resolution Saturday.
Less than 29 hours remain to find an outlet to the deadlock; the tenure of the constituent assembly ends midnight Saturday without promulgating a constitution to institutionalize a declared republic.
Exactly one year ago, the Big Three found a resolution to a similar crisis at midnight.
NC has issued a whip asking all its lawmakers to be presnt at Saturday’s session until it concludes.
Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal came down on a government position and said the assembly tenure should be extended for six months as directed by the supreme court and not one year as proposed in a government bill presented at the parliament secretariat.
The bill hasn’t been presented on the floor for discussion and approval though.
The bill can’t be approved through normal parliamentary procedure
Maoist Chairman Prachanda Friday the blood its martyrs won’t be surrendered for weapons in a hard-line position.
Prachanda is under intense pressure from a hard-line faction in his party not to surrender weapons.
NC is attempting to rectify Girija Prasad Koirala’s policy of surrender to Maoists—a policy that has triggered the present political crisis.
But executors of that policy are still in control of the party although they had no hand in its formulation because Koirala imposed his personal decisions without discussion and approval in party bodies.
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