Nepal Govt resumes talks with Maoists

Kathmandu: Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist chief Prachanda held the second round of talks on Tuesday on the thorny issue of ending the decade-long insurgency in the Himalayan nation and both sides voiced confidence that the parleys will end with concrete agreements.

The two leaders and other senior members of the Seven-Party Alliance, who had earlier met on Sunday, held talks at the Premier's residence at Baluwatar here.

The parleys focused on deciding the date and procedure of the constituent assembly election, finalizing the interim constitution, arms management and position of the King, said Rajendra Mahato, general secretary of Nepal Sadbhavana Party, who is also attending the meeting.

The two sides began talks on Sunday after a break of four months. The meeting between Prime Minister and Maoists aimed at pursuing rebels to lay down arms and bringing them to mainstream had failed to produce any "concrete results" on Sunday but they had agreed to continue the parleys on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Vice Chairman of the Nepali Congress Shushil Koirala told reporters that his party is making efforts to forge collective consensus on the proposed agenda and would not create any hitch in the process.

General Secretary of CPN-UML Madhav Kumar Nepal said the peace talks will now move towards consensus and assured that his party will make best efforts to make that happen.

CPN-UML's Bharat Mohan Adhikari struck a positive note about the outcome of the talks and informed he was assured by the Prime Minister that the date of the constituent assembly polls would be announced on Tuesday.

Stressing the need to forge a consensus on the question of republican state, Maoist leader Badal said his party will concentrate all its efforts in that direction. Mahato also said that there was need to forge consensus on the question of interim constitution, interim parliament, arms management and constituent assembly polls.

A member of the negotiation team, Minister for Land Reforms and Management, Prabhunarayan Chaudhari said he is upbeat that the top leaders will reach an understanding in order to forge a common consensus on political agenda.

A large number of people, including human rights activists, youth leaders, students, those injured in the April's movement and journalists gathered outside the talks venue at Baluwatar to exert pressure on the leaders to make the talks conclusive and bring lasting peace in the country.

"We will not let the political leaders attending the meeting come out of the venue without making the talks conclusive," said a human rights activist.

Those staging sit-ins carried banners which said Nepal be declared a republican state.

The citizenship certificate issue must be resolved before the constituent assembly polls, said NSP leader Mahato.