Kathmandu: The US is mulling removing the
Nepal Maoists from its terrorist watch-list as the country
steps up effort to conclude the landmark peace process and
draft a new constitution.
Visiting US Congressman Steve Chabot has expressed
confidence that Washington would remove the Maoists from its
terrorist watch-list once Nepal gets a lasting peace and a new
Constitution.
Discussions on removing the terror tag attached to the
Maoists are already underway in Washington, said Chabot, who
also heads the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East
and South Asia in the US Congress, after his meeting with
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai.
"I am confident that we can remove the terrorist tag on
the Maoists once Nepal gets lasting peace and Constitution,"
Chabot said.
The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) is not included on
the Foreign Terrorist Organisation list, but remains a
designated Specially Designated Global Terrorist under
Executive Order 13224 and is included on the Terrorism
Exclusion List, pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality
Act, US State Department had earlier said.
The Unified CPN-Maoist has been asking the US government
to remove it from the terror watch-list time and again.
The US Congressman also expressed concern over the
integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants and
the statue drafting process.
The Nepal Maoists, who led a decade-long insurgency
before joining mainstream politics in 2006, were placed on the
terror list by the US administration.
The US lawmaker also raised the issue of Tibetan refugees
in Nepal amid growing pressure from China to crackdown on the
Buddhist community fleeing the country.
He said that the US is satisfied by what the government
of Nepal has been doing about the Tibetan refugees.
The US was not only concerned about the Tibetan refugees
but the refugees around the world, including the Bhutanese
refugees, said US Ambassador to Nepal Scott H DeLisi, who was
also present on the occasion.
In reply to a question, Chabot said Nepal`s decision to
support the statehood of Palestine would not necessarily
affect Nepal-US relations.
"I don`t anticipate change in our relations with Nepal,"
Chabot said.
Chabot arrived in Nepal on Thursday to take stalk of the
current situation in the country.
PTI
