Nepal Maoists are fascists, says UML chairman Khanal

Kathmandu, June 2 (ANI): CPN (UML) chairman Jhala Nath Khanal has said that he had given the nod to take action against army chief Rookmangud Katawal but blamed Maoists for not consulting coalition partners about its procedures.

Speaking at a party gathering here on Monday, Khanal said his party had suggested for compulsory retirement of two top brass of the army to end the dispute, adding, the Maoists ignored his recommendation.

Alleging Maoists to be fascists, Khanal claimed the cause for fall of Maoist-led government was the behaviour of the Maoist leadership ignoring other coalition partners while taking important decisions.

Khanal also called for forgetting the bitter past and ending hostilities for fresh start of cooperation and consensus so that mandated tasks of state restructuring and writing a new Constitution would be completed on time.

He claimed all communist parties in the country must follow the path of UML for bringing the dream of communist unity into reality.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has asked Defence Minister Bidhya Bhandari to forward the proposal regarding the extension of tenure of eight brigadier generals of the Nepal Army, who were pensioned off by the Maoist-led government.

"Such a controversial case should be decided only after the Cabinet gets full shape," a CPN-UML central leader quoted Prime Minister Nepal as saying.

According to a UML source, the Prime Minister had asked the Defence Minister not to make a hasty decision as it was a sensitive issue and asked her to wait till the cabinet gets full shape.

The Prime Minister said this after Bhandari made the ministerial level decision regarding the case pending at the Supreme Court.

According to Kantipur, Bhandari is all set to forward at the upcoming Cabinet meeting the proposal for extending the tenure of Brigadier Generals Nara Bahadur Kandel, Narendra Bahadur Rawal, Kumar Budhathoki, Pawan Bahadur Pandey, Pradip Bikram Rana, Shiva Kumar Poudel, Ramesh Bistha and Raju Prasad KC.

The Apex Court issued a stay order against the decision on March 2 after the generals moved the apex court against the decision. The court is yet to issue a final verdict on the case. (ANI)