US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU292

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000292 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, NP, Political Parties 
SUBJECT: NEPAL:  PARTIES BOYCOTT PM'S MEETING ON PEACE 
INITIATIVE 
 
REF: KATHMANDU 0198 
 
1.  (U)  Five of the six parties that had MPs in the previous 
Parliament boycotted a February 17 meeting called by Prime 
Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand to discuss Government of 
Nepal (GON) efforts to begin negotiations with Maoist 
insurgents.  The all-party meeting, which the GON had billed 
as an effort to brief and consult with the parties on its 
peace initiative, drew attendance only from Deputy Prime 
Minister Badri Prasad Mandal's Nepal Sadbhavana Party, along 
with representatives from a host of smaller, 
non-Parliamentary parties.  Citing the lack of participation 
from Parliamentary parties, PM Chand's own National 
Democratic Party (RPP) stayed away from the meeting as well, 
although RPP General Secretary Pashupati S.J.B. Rana 
reportedly met with the PM one hour before the scheduled 
all-party meeting as an apparent compromise. 
 
2.  (SBU)  The Nepali Congress (NC) Party (Koirala) did not 
attend the meeting because the party has not recognized the 
constitutionality of Chand's interim government, according to 
NC Party member Basant Gautam.  Gautam added that the NC will 
formulate its own position on possible peace talks with the 
Maoists after the Feb. 19 Democracy Day holiday.  RPP Central 
Committee Member Khem Raj Pandit told the Embassy that while 
his party is "positive" about the peace process and stands 
ready to assist in any way it can, it did not attend the 
meeting because of the presence of non-parliamentary parties. 
 Chaitya Raj Shakya, Central Committee member of the far-left 
Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, told us that his party had 
boycotted the meeting both because it does not recognize the 
Chand government and because it believes an all-party meeting 
should not include parties not represented in the previous 
Parliament. Instead of the current Chand government, an 
all-party government should be formed to address negotiations 
with the Maoists, he added. 
 
3.  (SBU) Comment: The major parties criticized the January 
29 announcement of the ceasefire between GON forces and the 
Maoists for its lack of "transparency" (Reftel)--which, in 
Nepal's political shorthand, translates to the parties' 
collective disgruntlement at the interim government bypassing 
them to take the initiative in seeking a peaceful resolution 
to the insurgency.  This initial GON effort toward greater 
"transparency" has obviously failed to mollify the parties or 
to appease their fears of marginalization.  The GON knows it 
will need the support of the principal political parties in 
order to engage successfully with the Maoists.  So far, 
however, GON overtures to win such support continue to 
founder on the parties' refusal to deal with the interim 
Chand government. 
MALINOWSKI