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Pushpa Adhikari in Kathmandu
Maoist rebels fighting for a republic in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal have announced a three-member committee to negotiate with the government.
The chairman of the Maoist movement, Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda, issued a signed statement saying the committee would be headed by former parliamentarian Krishna Bahadur Mahara and include Bahadur Rayamajhi and Agni Sapkota.
Mahara was one of nine members elected from the Samyukta Janamorcha or United Left Front Party in Nepal's first general election in 1991 after the restoration of multi-party democracy.
To negotiate the settlement of the worst insurgency in Nepal's history, the government and Maoists announced a temporary end to hostilities last month after Sher Bahadur Deuba took over as prime minister.
After assuming power, he called upon the Maoist leaders to stop the violence and come to the negotiating table to end the six-year-old insurgency that has already claimed nearly 2,000 lives.
Observers have taken the Maoist announcement of the committee as a good sign as it coincided with Deuba's call to end demands for a republic saying "constitutional monarchy is a symbol of national unity."
"Once the Maoists come to the table for talks excluding the demand for a republic, there is all possibility of a peaceful solution to the problem," Political Science Association of Nepal president T N Jayasawal said.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka, Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat and Minister for Physical Planning Chiranjibi Wagle held talks with a five-member team of the All Nepal Women's Association Revolutionary on their demand for Nepal to be declared a liquor free zone from August 17.
The ANWA is affiliated to the Maoist movement.
"The talks will continue on Friday and the ANWA has agreed to postpone their deadline. But the chances are quite high that the issue would be settled in the form that government will regulate the production and sale of liquor in the country," a source at the prime minister's office told IANS.
Indo-Asian News Service
ALSO SEE: Nepal PM calls Maoists for talks
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