US warns Maoists against trying to 'trash' elections; Senator Leahy also speaks out
At a time when India, European Union, United Nations and Japan have expressed concerns over the Maoist decision to quit the government and launch agitation to disrupt the November election, the United States, on Thursday, has come down with a strong warning to the ex-rebels against trying to 'trash' the November polls, which it has said is quite crucial for Nepal's future.
To decide sensitive questions of constitutional change and the role of the monarchy in Nepal, it is "essential" to consult the voters, top State Department official Richard Boucher said, according to a report by AFP.
"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," said Boucher, who is Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia.
"Trying to trash this election is trying to trash the whole process," Boucher said at Washington's Johns Hopkins University.
"Declaring yourselves an opponent to the democratic voting process, we can't abide that. So I hope they won't go that far," Boucher said.
Boucher said the US government would continue to treat the Maoists as extremist outcasts until the movement becomes 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," he said.
In another development, US Senator Patrick Leahy, speaking at the Senate Floor in Washington DC on Tuesday, has said that "the leaders of the Congress parties and the Maoists have done little to prepare for the elections."
Leahy, who had been outspoken against King's rule in the past, said, "At times, party members have seemed more interested in furthering their own personal ambitions and in derailing the electoral process altogether."
Leahy has said that the UML has done more to prepare for the polls. He also praised the Election Commission for its preparations. "There is no doubt that the people are eager to go to the polls, just as they were determined to put an end to the King's abuse of power."
"To the Maoists I would say that it was you who called for a Constituent Assembly. Saying you are committed to the democratic process at the same time that you withdraw from the government, make new demands that contradict previous commitments, support disruptive economic strikes, and threaten to return to confrontation, is not the way to earn the people's trust and support that are necessary to become an effective force for change. Nor is it the way to earn the trust of the United States," he said. nepalnews.com sd Sep 21 07
