This article was published on eKantipur on January 22, 2010
Maoists call off agitation
KATHMANDU: Hours after the High Level Political Mechanism (HLPM) asked the UCPN (Maoist) on Friday to withdraw its protests, the main opposition announced it had called off the entire protest programme, including the indefinite strike scheduled to begin from Sunday.
A meeting of Maoist party office bearers on Friday decided to put off its indefinite general strike for now, Maoist Vice Chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha said. “We decided to suspend the agitation as efforts are being made to forge consensus,” he said.
Earlier, at the HLPM meeting, Nepali Congress and CPN-UML leaders had urged Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to call off the planned general strike to prepare a conducive environment to address Maoist demands. The meeting also agreed to give top priority to the current political deadlock. It also accorded priority to constitution drafting and the peace process. Read the rest of this entry »