New Delhi
7 June 2007
Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal has said in an interview to this newspaper that India
was not seeking to isolate the Maoists. He also said that the Maoists should introspect
and change their attitude because their "activities" created suspicion in the minds of the
people of Nepal and the international community alike.
"Maoists should just teach their own cadres to behave in a democratic way. Just to be
adjust in the new circumstances so that people have people have the faith that they are
now moving in a democratic spirit, [that] democratic norms and values are being
respected by them ... so that is the thing people are expecting from them," he said.
"All are disturbed by one fact, that some activities of the Maoists are not proper. So
those sort of activities, if it is creating suspicion about the intention of the Maoists, that
needs to be corrected. So don't blame others just for the sake of blame. Rather see in
yourself whether the problem has been inside you or not," he said, making a distinction
between the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist),
which joined the SPA to make it the Eight Party Alliance (EPA).
Mr Nepal, who met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, clarified that India has not
urged the CPN(UML) to side with the Nepali Congress led by Prime Minister Girija
Prasad Koirala or to distance itself from the Maoists. "[India is] not telling us to isolate
the Maoists," he said, before giving a word of advice to the international community.
"You should give space to them [but you should also] be very careful and ask them all
the time and remind them all the time (that Maoists need to change)."
He sought India's "assistance and support" in the run-up to the Constituent Assembly
election in November. "India should be very clear that a stable Nepal is in the interest of
India ... so India should extend all sorts of cooperation [to ensure that] any activity that
will lead to disturbances [is] discouraged," he said.
Mr Nepal has met with Minister of External Affaiurs Pranab Mukherjee, Leader of
Opposition in the Lok Sabha LK Advani, former prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and
IK Gujral, BJP President Rajnath Singh, CPI General Secretary AB Bardhan and others.
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