Kathmandu, Sept 25: A top Maoist leader has blamed Washington for breaking up the peace talks in Nepal and interfering in the internal affairs of the country, media reports said here today. In a hard-hitting open letter to the US Ambassador to Nepal, Michael E. Malinowsky, the chief Maoist negotiator Baburam Bhattarai asked Washington to vest the Nepalese people with the right to decide their own future. "We are asking all foreign powers, particularly the USA and our immediate neighbours India and China, to ... let the Nepalese people choose their destiny themselves", he said in the letter sent to local dailies through e-mail, which was in response to recent anti-Maoist remarks by Malinowsky. Bhattarai also blamed the US Government for breaking up of the dialogue, saying Washington's decision to list Maoists as 'other terrorist organisations' came at a time when the Government and the rebels had agreed to hold their first round of talks after the cease-fire in January. "USA signed a five-year anti-terrorist cooperation pact with Nepal and provided military assistance to fight the rebels, which contributed to the breaking up of the peace process", the Maoist leader was quoted as saying by Nepal Samacharpatra.
Bhattarai said that if those who launch arms struggle are terrorists, then the USA is the biggest terrorist, because it also fought the war against Iraq.
Rejecting Malinovsky's remark that the Maoists did not have any public support, Bhattarai said that if the Government is ready to hold Constituent Assembly elections, the Maoists are ready to announce cease-fire and resume the peace process.
Bureau report