UPDATE MAOIST MEETING POSTPONED BECAUSE OF DEATHS AND INJURIES OF DELEGATES IN VEHICULAR ACIDENTS Kathmandu, 16 Jul: Maoist plenary session that was to be attended by 5,000 plus delegates in the capial has been postponed until Tuesday following deaths of activists is vehicular accidents, Agni Pokhrel said adding many delegates could be missing. At least three dozen passengers are feared missing when a bus plunged into Trishuli river in Dhading. Nine die din the accident in the neighbouring district Delegates were being ferried by another bus which collided against a tipper in Nawalparasi injuring more than 28 persons. Nnnn TWO SCHOOLS VANDALIZED IN CAPITAL Kathmandu, 16 July: A Lalitpur school bus was damaged in an arson attack Monday. The school was charged for increasing fees. Six persons have been arrested. Maoist students vandalized two schools in the capital with foreign names Monday morning. A campaign has been launched to rename such schools.l nnnn PRACHANDA ASKED FOR CLEAR POSITION ON INDIA RELATIONS Kathmandu, 16 July: Committee members of the UCPN (Maoist) have urged party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to come up with a clear position about ending the current political deadlock and the party’s policy towards India, Lama;Dev Bhattarai writes in The Kathmandu Post.. Commenting on Dahal’s 38-page political document, which will be presented in the party’s seventh plenum beginning on Monday, leaders said lack of party’s clear policy on resolving the current political stalemate has caused confusion in the party rank and file. In his document, Dahal said that the new constitution should be drafted through the Constituent Assembly (CA)—but he is not clear whether it is through CA revival or fresh election of the assembly. They also expressed dissatisfaction as Chairman Dahal and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai are giving conflicting views on CA election and its revival. While Dahal has publicly expressed the possibility of CA revival as a viable option, Bhattarai has insisted on conducting fresh CA polls. Leaders close to PM Bhattarai and Vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha urged Dahal to modify the document clearing all ambiguities and confusions therein. In Sunday’s meeting, Dahal pledged to modify the document incorporating leaders’ suggestions prior to the plenum. After his pledge, CC meeting endorsed Dahal’s document. In his document, Dahal has said the party’s tactical line is to work to institutionalise the achievements such as federalism, secularism, and republic. However, leaders have claimed that Dahal’s document has failed to carve a clear roadmap about party’s ultimate strategy of establishing socialism. “Prachanda (Dahal) is not clear about it and has proposed general convention to make a clear position on party’s ultimate strategy,” a CC member said. According to leaders, Dahal has urged party cadres to understand the line of peace and constitution-writing process as part of the party’s long-term plan for actual “revolution”. Leaders have also demanded that the party specify its position towards India. During the sixth plenum held in Gorkha in 2011, Dahal had said that the party’s “principal enemy” was India, which was similar to the policy taken by the party’s then Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya. The Bhattarai faction had registered a note of dissent to this view stating that principal enemy of the party is “domestic regressive and reactionary forces”. But in the recent document, according to leaders, Dahal lacks a clear position on it despite a hint of cooperation with India. Bhattarai, however, has clear stance that problems with India should be dealt through diplomatic channels. In the meeting, leaders Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Amik Sherchan, Lilamani Pokhrel and Biso Bhakta Dulal demanded that party raise the issue of national independence as a symbolic protest against Indian interference, the agenda vehemently raised by CPN-Maoist led by Mohan Baidya. Nnnn