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 as the head of the government more than a month ago. Amid complaints from major political parties about the government not starting talks despite announcing fresh elections for the House of Representatives on March 5 next year, Prime Minister Karki invited party leaders for talks. After 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 compliance with the demands of tribal leaders, he recommended the dissolution of the House of Ram Chandraudel to the president and the lower house of Ram Chandraudel who subsequently dissolved the lower house of Ram Padel. newly scheduled 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 about his failure to hold talks with political parties—which are expected to contest the elections. Earlier, on October 10, he attended a meeting organized by President Paudel with senior leaders of political parties, in which the President 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. “Discussions 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 went on to say 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. Ajay Bhadra Khanal, Chief Advisor to the Prime Minister, said the talks mainly focused on the law and order situation. During the meeting, party leaders expressed particular concern over the maintenance of law and order to ensure a conducive election environment. Responding, Prime Minister Karki said the government was committed to holding 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 part to make 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 it could be used to disrupt law and order ahead of the election. According to the police, more than 1,200 rifles and pistols and around 1,00,000 rounds of ammunition were looted during the protests. Similarly, approximately 15,000 prisoners have escaped from prisons, and some are believed to have re-engaged in criminal activities. 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 (United Marxist-Leninist) or CPN (UML), expressed doubts about the government’s ability to hold elections, 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. Speaking to 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 the 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 DKP/
Nepal Prime Minister Sushila Karki meets party leaders to discuss upcoming elections
