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Koirala, Prachanda reach 8-point pact

Ameet Dhakal

Both sides express commitment to human rights, press freedom

KATHMANDU: Nepal's Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist supremo Prachanda here on Friday reached a "historical" 8-point agreement in their first meeting.

The two sides agreed to draft an interim constitution, dissolve both Houses of Parliament and Maoist's local governments through consultations, invite the United Nations to manage and monitor the arms of both armies (state army and the rebel army), hold constituent assembly elections in a free and fair environment, among others. The agreement also says both the sides have expressed commitment to competitive and multiparty politics, rule of law, civil rights and to uphold human rights and press freedom.

Drafting committee

They have also formed a five-member interim constitution drafting committee that will prepare the draft within 15 days. The interim constitution will, among others, define the process of the constituent assembly.

Speaking at a press conference, Mr. Prachanda said within one month Parliament and the Maoist's local governments would be dissolved and an interim government would be formed. "The spirit of the 8-point agreement is to form the interim government within a month," he said.

He also said that the constituent assembly elections would be held within a year, preferably by next April.

Hailing the agreements, Mr. Prachanda said, "We have jointly created a history. No one ever thought that rebels waging war and the parties involved in parliamentary politics would jointly make a revolution happen."

Mr. Prachanda also chose to speak about the future of the Nepali army and said his party was in favour of a small army. "Why do we need a big army of 90,000? At most it should not exceed 20,000 and the surplus resources that otherwise goes to the army should be used in tackling the poverty in the country."

Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the CPN-UML, said, "The country has decisively entered into the process of the constituent assembly and asserted that no force in the world could stop it."

The former Prime Minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, also hailed the agreement as historic and said, "We have proven to the world that Nepalis are capable of resolving their disputes themselves."

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