US warns Maoists against trying to obstruct polls

Kathmandu, Sept 22: The US government has warned the Maoists against trying to obstruct the upcoming elections, saying the voters should decide sensitive questions of constitutional change and the role of the monarchy in Nepal.

Top State Department official Richard Boucher had said that it was ''essential'' to consult the voters to decide sensitive questions of constitutional change and the role of the monarchy in Nepal, according to Kantipur which quoted an AFP report.

''We're glad to see the elections scheduled for November and we think it's very, very important that everybody respect that and that everybody go through that polling process,''Mr Boucher said.

''Declaring yourselves an opponent to the democratic voting process, we can't abide that. So I hope they won't go that far,'' he added.

The Maoists on Tuesday pulled out of the government and announced a fresh stir to foil the Constituent Assembly polls slated for November 22.

Beginning from the following day, the Maoists have begun a door-to-door campaign to push for a republican set up prior to the polls.

Mr Boucher has been quoted as saying that the US government would continue to treat the Maoists as ''extremist outcasts'' until the movement became a normal political party.

''They need to give up the gun. They need to give up extortion.

They need to give up the militant youth groups that have sort of extended their power and tried to intimidate people in the countryside.'' UNI