By SURESH NATH NEUPANE

The Maoist rebels are all set to hammer out a peace deal with the ruling seven parties’ coalition government in a historic summit talks scheduled to be held on Sunday.

The fourth session of the second round of high-level peace talks that began a week ago and scheduled to resume Sunday is likely to sort out several contentious political issues that include, among others, an interim government, modalities of constituent assembly elections, position of the monarch, arms management and an interim legislature.
The much-awaited talks is also likely to finalize the incomplete draft interim constitution which was submitted by the interim constitution drafting panel in August leaving several political issues to the SPA and Maoists to settle by themselves.
If Sunday’s peace talks settle all the contentious issues, it will open the door for the Maoists to join the interim government.

“The talks have so far been conducted in a cordial environment and are heading in a positive direction,” says Maoist second-in-command Dr. Baburam Bhattarai.
He said that the Maoists have stressed on the much talked about “package deal”, which includes all the prickly political issues. “If an agreement is reached on these issues, the government-Maoist talks will achieve a political way out.”

The contentious issues:

Interim government
The Maoists should join the interim government by mid-September to have a time period of six months before the day of the constituent assembly elections, which has already been fixed for mid-May next year.
The Moaists will represent in the interim administration as per their representation in the interim legislature. The rebels have said they should be given 35 percent seats in the interim legislature, which is unlikely to be agreed by the SPA.
The SPA government and the Maoists in a landmark power-sharing deal struck in Baluwatar in mid-June this year had agreed to dissolve the reinstated House of Representatives and the rebels’ people’s government and form an interim government following the promulgation of an interim statute.

Constituent assembly elections

Sunday’s talks are also likely to finalize the modalities of the constituent assembly elections, for which most of the leaders are close to an agreement. This will include a mixed election system - having the system of first-past-the-post along with a proportional representation system to ensure reservation for certain minorities and marginalized groups.
In the summit talks held on Tuesday, both sides agreed to hold CA elections by mid-June next year.

Monarchy

Showing maximum flexibility, the Maoists and the CPN-UML, who had been stressing on a referendum to decide the monarchy’s future, have sidestepped the issue and are likely to accept the NC’s stance of leaving the monarchy “powerless” (generally termed as ceremonial) until the results of the constituent assembly elections.
The Maoists have repeatedly called for the position of the king to be suspended during the interim period and demanded a referendum to decide the fate of the monarchy, which has been stripped of most of its powers by the new government formed after the popular April uprising. But the NC’s rigid stance on the monarchy’s position is close to consensus.
The SPA and the Maoists have promised that the first meeting of the constituent assembly will decide on nationalizing late King Birendra’s property and mobilize it in the national interest through a trust.

Arms management

The Maoists are unlikely to disarm or merge their “People’s Liberation Army” with the Nepal Army before the formation of the interim government.
Complying with the five-point joint letter sent to the United Nations, the SPA government and the Maoists, for the management of the arms of both the state and the rebels, are likely to reach an agreement within the periphery of the letter.
Though the SPA and Maoist leaders have not reached any concrete agreement on arms management, the Maoists have betted the “political package deal” with the arms management issue.
In the letter sent to the UN in early August, the two sides agreed to the deployment of qualified civilian personnel to monitor and verify the confinement of the rebel combatants and their weapons within designated cantonment areas and monitor the Nepal Army to ensure that it remains in its barracks and its weapons are not used for or against any side.
The SPA government and the Maoists have also agreed in principle to confine the PLA to seven cantonments across the country, as proposed by Maoist Chairman Prachanda earlier

Interim legislature

The interim legislature, an alternative body to the present House of Representatives (HoR), is expected to contain some 300 representatives. (An agreement has been reached to dissolve the HoR to include the Maoists in the interim legislature during the interim period.) The leaders are close to a consensus on who should represent the legislature but they are yet to finalize the proportion of representation of the parties. The Maoists have proposed 35 percent seats for themselves, 45 percent of seats for the SPA, and 20 percent for civil society representatives in the interim legislature. The present House will immediately be dissolved after it promulgates the new interim body.