Kathmandu, Oct 21 (IANS) Nepal’s interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki on Tuesday held her first meeting with leaders of major political parties after being appointed head of the government more than a month ago.
Amid complaints from major political parties about the government not initiating talks despite the announcement of new elections for the House of Representatives on March 5 next year, Prime Minister Karki invited party leaders for talks.
Following the deadly tribal protests on September 8 and 9, in which 76 people were killed in various incidents related to the unrest, then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli resigned from his post, paving the way for Karki to form a new government on September 12.
In accordance with the demands of tribal leaders, he recommended the dissolution of the House of Representatives to President Ram Chandra Paudel, who subsequently dissolved the lower house and scheduled new elections.
Although Prime Minister Karki has insisted that the main task of his government is to hold elections within six months, party leaders have raised questions over his failure to hold talks with political parties—who are expected to contest the elections.
Earlier, on 10 October, he had attended a meeting organized by President Paudel with senior leaders of political parties, in which the President had urged them not to hold back from participating in the elections.
According to a press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Secretariat on Tuesday, Prime Minister Karki clarified the reasons for the delay in talks with political parties.
“Talks with political parties took time as the government was busy addressing the grievances of Generation Z protesters, providing treatment to those injured during the protests, cremating bodies of martyrs and rehabilitating their families,” he said.
He further said that some Generation Z youth were initially against dialogue with political parties, but President Paudel played an important role in opening the way for dialogue.
Prime Minister’s Chief Advisor Ajay Bhadra Khanal said the talks mainly focused on the law and order situation.
During the meeting, party leaders particularly expressed concern over maintaining law and order to ensure a conducive election environment. Responding, Prime Minister Karki said the government is committed to conducting elections in a free, fair and fearless environment.
He said, “Security agencies have been deployed for this. Let us go to the polling stations and play our role in making the elections successful.”
Party leaders and security experts have expressed concern over the government’s failure to recover looted arms and ammunition, as well as recapture prisoners who escaped during the Generation Z (Gen-Z) protests, and warned that these could be used to disturb law and order ahead of the elections.
According to police, more than 1,200 rifles and pistols and approximately 1,00,000 rounds of ammunition were looted during the protests. Similarly, about 15,000 prisoners escaped from prisons, and some reportedly became involved in criminal activities again. Most of the weapons have not yet been recovered, and thousands of escaped criminals are still at large.
During Tuesday’s meeting, leaders, especially from the Nepal Communist Party (Unified Marxist-Leninist) or CPN (UML), expressed doubts over the government’s ability to hold elections, the Prime Minister’s Secretariat quoted Minister Jagdish Kharel as saying.
The UML, led by former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, is pushing for the reinstatement of the dissolved House of Representatives, arguing that its dissolution is unconstitutional.
During a conversation with editors on Sunday, the former prime minister claimed that the current government, despite its public assurances, has no intention of holding elections.
According to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, senior leaders of seven political parties, including Nepali Congress, CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre), reached the Prime Minister’s official residence for talks. However, top leaders of these parties, including former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, KP Sharma Oli and Pushp Kamal Dahal (Prachanda), did not attend the meeting.
–IANS
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