Maoists plan pressure campaigns for republic, PR

Kathmandu, Nov 6 (UNI) The CPN-Maoist today decided to organise nationwide campaigns to press the government to enforce proposals to declare the country a republic and introduce a fully proportional representation (PR) system for the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections.

Stressing on the implementation of the motions passed by the House, an informal meeting of the Maoist central committee held at the party head office in Buddhanagar, decided to call nationwide pressure campaigns, said Maoist leader Ram Bahadur Thapa.

He added that the details of the programme would be finalised soon, Kantipur reported.

According to Mr Thapa, the meeting discussed the party's strategy for the regular House session, which is scheduled to begin on November 19.

The Maoists want the government to introduce bills to amend the interim constitution to institutionalise the motions passed by the special House session.

''The meeting decided to move ahead holding consultations with various groups and communities to garner extensive support for the republic order and the fully PR system,'' said Maoist leader Mohan Vaidya.

However, Maoist Chairman Prachanda urged the party leaders to opt for an agreement on the issues.

The meeting also discussed murder of journalist Birendra Sah by the party cadres and widespread criticism the party faces following the incident, added a Maoist source.

UNI