We are the bridge, not wall between India and China: Bhattarai

October 19, 2009 01:33 am | Updated December 17, 2016 04:59 am IST - Kathmandu

Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai on Sunday said his party would serve as a bridge between the two giant neighbours, India and China, as Maoist leader Prachanda sought Beijing’s cooperation to push forward the stalled peace process.

Baburam Bhattarai, the Vice-chairman of the Unified CPN-Maoist, said his party has treated both India and China as good neighbours. Maoists do not want to stand as a wall between India and China, instead they will serve as a bridge between them, he told reporters at a meeting in the capital.

Amid media reports that Mr. Prachanda and Chinese President Hu Jintao have held ‘secret’ parleys, Mr. Bhattarai said efforts were being made to spread negative propaganda about his leader’s ongoing China visit. The visit was aimed at establishing better ties between the two countries, he underlined.

As per media reports, Mr. Prachanda and Mr. Hu Jintao, who spent two hours together while watching the Chinese national games, mainly discussed the political situation of South Asia, security matters and strengthening relations between the two Communist parties.

According to Maoist mouthpiece Janadisha, Mr. Prachanda had sought China’s “positive cooperation” in taking the fragile peace process to a logical conclusion. Mr. Bhattarai underlined that the Maoists would be flexible to end the current political deadlock.

Civilian supremacy

He said if President Ram Baran Yadav agrees to apologise for his mistake in reinstating former Army Chief Rukmangad Katawal and the government agrees to allow discussion on “civilian supremacy” in Parliament, the deadlock can be ended.

He was confident that the people’s desire for the formation of a Maoist-led government would be fulfilled soon.

The Maoists have been blocking the Parliament and organising protest rallies after the President Yadav reinstated Katawal in May. The political stand-off has put new stress on Nepal’s reconciliation efforts after the end of the decade-long insurgency in 2006, amid fears that the stalled peace process may be completely derailed if the deadlock is not resolved soon.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.