Kathmandu, July 13: In a bid to put the stalled peace process back on track, the Nepalese government has released three rebels even as a senior Maoist leader ended his 13-day hunger strike following talks between the two sides. The three rebels who were released yesterday include, Narayan Dhungana, Banishara Pun and Rup Bahadur Shrestha. They were released in a gesture to create conducive atmosphere for the third rounds of talks, which will be held soon, said Padmaratna Tuladhar, one of the talks facilitator.
In another move, the government fulfilled the demands of a central level Maoist leader Rabindra Shrestha, who was on a two-weeklong hunger strike. Shrestha ended his hunger strike yesterday following a decision reached between home ministry officials and rebel leaders. The government also agreed to Shreshta's demand to double prisoners' allowance. His other demands included immediate release of the Maoist detainees and disclosure of whereabouts of the Maoist cadre missing during the conflict.
Shreshtha, one of the most senior Maoist leaders in Nepalese government custody had refused to eat or drink since june 30 as he pressed for rebel demands, including elections for a "constituent assembly" to redraft the Constitution. Meanwhile, the informal meeting between the government's representatives and the Maoist negotiator began this morning in Kathmandu.
Nepalese communication and information minister and the government's talks coordinator Kamal Thapa and Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara are participating in the informal talks, which will finalize date for the third round of talks some time next week, said Malla K. Sundar, a member of the government-Maoist talks monitoring committee. Bureau Report