Nepal cannot solve Maoist rebellion: Communists ================================= KATHMANDU: The head of Nepal's opposition communist party said he believes the country's Maoist insurgency cannot be solved as long as the Nepali Congress (NC) party remains in power. The insurgency "cannot be solved as long as the Nepali Congress government is in office," Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the Nepal Communist Party-United Marxist and Leninist (NCP-UML), told a meeting of students and his party's youth members on Saturday. "The moment the Congress is removed, we can assure that the half-decade-old Maoist insurgency problem can be solved through dialogue," he said, according to party sources. The Maoist rebels launched a "people's war" in 1996 against the country's constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy. More than 1,600 people have been killed in the fighting. Nepal accused both Maoists and the government of terrorizing innocent people, but cited the ruling party as the main hurdle in the crisis. "Half of the problems confronting the country will be resolved if the Congress government is removed," Nepal said. "If the Congress government is removed, our party will immediately call the underground Maoists for the talks and immediately solve the problem." At the same meeting, an MP and rightist party leader labelled as "a failure" the 1990 constitution promulgated after a popular uprising. "The social contract of 1990 has failed and this is a serious crisis," said Pashupati Shumshere Rana, the general secretary of the National Democratic Party. "All the political parties and others should join hands to find a way out," Rana said. "Mere talks between the two parties (NC and NCP-UML) is not going to resolve the problems faced by the country."(AFP)
