Government Spokesperson and Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Baskota has said the government will hold dialogue with Netra Bikram Chand-led CPN only if the party renounces arms.
Addressing the weekly press conference to brief about Cabinet decisions on Thursday, he stated that the government will not sit for dialogue as part of any strategy to consolidate power, and added that the party should first make the agendas for dialogue clear.
"We should first release the arrested persons and withdraw cases?" Baskota said stressing that the government will not release Chand's cadres and withdraw cases to sit for dialogue. "Do you want to repeat what happened during the decade-long insurgency?"
"Sit for dialogue and then explode bomb. There will be no dialogue to consolidate power. There will be no dialogue to release arrested persons to allow them to again pick up arms" he elaborated.
He pointed that the government will be ready for dialogue within a minute if the party abides by the Constitution and renounces violence. He revealed that there have been informal dialogues but stressed that the party must renounce violence for formal dialogue.
"Does the government sitting for dialogue with a violent group not provide recognition to violence?" he asked. "There should be clarity about what the dialogue is for and how to make a landing."
He said there will be dialogue on only those agendas that the country can bear. "They should join peaceful politics like CK Raut. They should register their party and come into competition. We will not be fooled by the cycle of making noises for the sake of benefits."
