Kathmandu, July 26: The victims of Maoist violence have demanded that the rebels surrender their arms before holding the next round of peace talks with the Nepalese government, according to reports.
Submitting their 13-point demands to Prime Minister
Surya Bahadur Thapa yesterday, the Maoist Victim Association
(MVA) urged him to consider them while holding the next round
of talks.
The victims, who held a seven-day sit-in in front of
the Prime Minister's residence here, have also demanded that
the Maoists should stop all activities, including extortion,
issue public repentance for their cruelty and inhuman
treatment, compensation to the families of the victims and
medical treatment facilities to the wounded, the Kathmandu
Post reported today.
According to an estimate about 50,000 people were
affected by the seven year-long insurgency which claimed about
8,000 lives.
The over two hundred victims, who had staged a sit-in,
later withdrew their protest after receiving assurance from
the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, the government yesterday handed over the
second letter to chief Maoist negotiator Baburam Bhattarai
asking him to come for the third round of talks by mid-August
and offered to discuss the entire gamut of the Maoist demands
within the framework of the Nepalese constitution.
The government said that it will fulfil all the six
decisions made during the two rounds of talks but rejected the
Maoists demands for restricting the movement of army within
five kilometres from the barracks.
Bureau Report
