Just one day after they said they would join hands with Indian Maoists to take on both the Governments—and even the United States—the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (CPN-M) today declared a ceasefire for three months.A statement issued by CPN-M chief Prachanda said that the ceasefire had been announced in the hope that it ‘‘would create a conducive atmosphere for resolution of the problem for all—political forces within the country as well as the United Nations.’’The statement also made it clear that elections to the constituent assembly to institutionalise ‘‘a democratic republic system’’ which means end of 237-year-old monarchy is the minimum condition for resolution of the present political crisis. And that mere restoration of the democratic process, or the Parliament dissolved way back in May 2002, would not be accepted.The dramatic move comes six days before King Gyanendra—stiffly opposed to any negotiations with the Maoists—is to leave for New York to address the UN General Assembly during which he is expected to face a hostile international community which wants restoration of democracy at the earliest.‘‘We believe that this announcement will encourage—both internal and external forces—to take new initiatives to find a political way out and the peace”, the statement said. It warned, however, that the ceasefire would be withdrawn immediately if the ‘‘Royal regime’’ intensified military activities or set up new military camps anywhere in the country.Major political parties, the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist), besides former Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, have cautiously welcomed the ceasefire and asked the Maoists not to use this period to consolidate their strength or extort money like they did during two similar occasions in the past. However, the Government has not yet reacted to the ceasefire call.The Maoists’ invitation to the United Nations comes close on the heels of about five dozen NGOs and civil society groups writing to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to broker a peace initiative to end the 10-year-old insurgency which has so far claimed more than 13,000 lives.There are apprehensions that the Maoists probably fear that the King, under pressure from the international community, might try to reach out to the political parties or even re-instate Parliament which would mean coming together of Constitutional forces, the King and political parties.This is a scenario that Maoists do not want. Secondly, they also want to send out a message to the international community when the UN assembly is in session that they are not ‘‘terrorist forces,’’ but a political group which has taken a unilateral initiative for peace.This is perhaps the first time that Maoists have claimed that their violence is because of a ‘‘compulsion,’’ alleging that the Royal Nepal Army Generals and their leader, ‘‘the feudal king,’’ were turning ‘‘cruel against the people and trying to impose military authoritarianism.’’Prachanda also sounded a note of caution to the political parties. ‘‘Pro-democracy political parties should be ready to demand elections for the constituent assembly under an interim government,’’ he said.Prachanda added that the parties, by officially stating that they would go for a democratic republican movement instead of constitutional monarchy, had cleared the way for their working together in the future and hoped that the parties would stick to this position.
