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Peace
process: Prachanda's letter to U.N. of 24 July 2006, with unofficial English
translation
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H.E.
Mr. Kofi Annan
Secretary-General
of the United Nations
New
York.
Dear
Mr. Secretary-General,
This
is to draw your attention to the letter sent to you by the Government of
Nepal on 2 July 2006 and to register our strong protest and disagreement
over certain crucial points of the letter.
Firstly,
the letter was written & sent unilaterally and secretively without
any consultation with us in utter violation of the spirit of ongoing negotiation
between the Government of Nepal and the C.P.N (Maoist). We came to know
about the letter through the media after nearly three weeks, and hence
this delay to register our disagreement over it.
Secondly,
and more importantly, the content of the letter, particularly as stated
in points nos. 3 & 4, is in complete violation of the 12-point
Understanding of 22 November 2005 and 8-point Agreement of 16 June 2006
reached between the two sides. For your kind recollection, clause-3 of
the 8-point Agreement clearly states: "To request the United Nations to
assist in the management of the armies and arms of both sides (emphasis
added) and to monitor it for a free & fair election to the constituent
assembly". Against this, the said letter self-professedly and provocatively
talks of "Assist in the monitoring of the combatants of the Maoists and
decommissioning of their arms" and "Monitor to assure that the Nepal Army
is inside barracks" etc. Such arbitrary and unilateral application of two
different yardsticks to the two armies is highly objectionable and totally
unacceptable to us. Particularly any talk of "decommissioning" of arms
of only the PLA before the election to the constituent assembly is just
unthinkable. As everybody knows, the so-called Nepal Army is still loyal
to the autocratic monarchy and its democratic restructuring and keeping
under credible international monitoring is more imperative & important
for free & fair election to the constituent assembly.
We
would like to reiterate our appreciation to the United Nations and to you
personally for the positive role played so far in favour of democracy,
peace and progress in Nepal and expect the same in future. We shall be
happy to co-operate in any manner with the UN team planning to visit Nepal
soon.
Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of our highest consideration.
Prachanda
Chairman
Communist
Party of Nepal (Maoist)
24
July 2006
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