The Times of India

MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2003

Nepal's top Maoist leader surfaces, talks peace

SUMAN PRADHAN

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

KATHMANDU: After seven years in hiding, Dr Baburam Bhattarai, one of the two
top Maoist rebels leading a violent rebellion in Nepal, surfaced publicly
for the first time here Saturday and vowed that his group would try to reach
a peaceful settlement with the Nepal government to end the insurgency.

Bhattarai emerged with four other senior colleagues, exactly two months
after the rebels reached a ceasefire agreement with the government.

During a press conference Saturday, Bhattarai said that the formal peace
talks with the government would begin within a week.

"We are committed to talks and a peaceful resolution to the problems," the
bearded and intense Bhattarai said in his trade-mark staccato speech. "We
want to explore what is possible."

The senior Maoist leader, who is also the leader of the Maoists' official
negotiating team, however expressed dissatisfaction with the government side
for delaying the talks thus far.

"We believe that there should be an environment conducive for peace talks,
but the government has not been able to give us a sense of that," he said.

Laiying out the political aims of the Maoists, he argued that the rebels
wanted a new type of democracy in Nepal which would be different from the
present system but would retain its multi-party structure.

Copyright 2003 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.