Kathmandu, July 21
The arrest of a senior leader and Valley in-charge of the banned Nepal Communist Party led by Netra Bikram Chand ‘Biplav’ has sent shockwaves through the outfit as it engages with the government.
After the arrest of Maila Tamang, one of the key contact persons of the party, on Saturday night, the party has doubted the government’s intention to sit for talks with the splinter Maoist group. A leader of the Maoist group told onlinkhabar that the government still continued to arrest the party’s cadres even as it tells the people that it is holding talks with the rebels.
The arrest came at a time when the Biplav group was negotiating the release of its cadres. This was the precondition it set for any talks with the government. However, officials involved in informal negotiations shot down the demand saying that they would not allow the party to regroup in the pretext of talks.
Various sources say that the government has mobilised different channels to talk to the rebel group. Prime Minister Oli has entrusted party General Secretary Bishnu Paudel to talk to the party while his party co-chair Dahal has named former minister Janardan Sharma for the job. Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa has also deployed two teams for the same purpose. Party sources say that Lama was in touch with one of these teams.
