Koirala urges Terai armed outfits to accept agreement with the Madhesi groups; Maoists attacks UML team; CPN-UML will be wiped out, says Maoist leader Bhattarai; Army a non-political institution, says COAS
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    • On March 9, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala called upon armed groups in the Terai to join the Madhesi groups stating that they should “come under the umbrella of the agreement” that was recently signed. He also emphasised on creating a conflict free environment to facilitate the election process1. According to some reports, Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) and Madhesi Mukti Tigers (MMT), allegedly operating from bordering Indian states, have decided to disrupt the polls. In response, the Election Commission has asked the government to confiscate illegal arms and maintain law and order in these areas2.

    Meanwhile the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) stated that their reason for declining the potential alliance with the Maoists. According to UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, the Maoists had an ‘extravagant proposal’, in which they demanded 60 per cent of seats in the alliance3. In another incident, several UML members were attacked by Maoist cadres. The victims included election candidate Dev Shankar Poudenine and eight UML workers4. In a war of words, the CPN-Maoist senior leader Dr. Baburam Bhattarai claimed that “CPN-UML would be reduced to a cipher” in the forthcoming polls scheduled for April 105.

    In a recent statement, Chief of Army Staff General Rookmangud Katawal emphatically stated that the army is a “non-political institution” and that it should be the sustaining pillar of a democratic Nepal6.

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