Big 3 top leaders to go to Cambodia for 'peace talks'

HONGKONG, Feb 10: Top leaders of the three major political parties in Nepal are scheduled to reach Cambodia to discuss the peace process that has been marred lately by political misunderstandings.

Newly-elected Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal along with Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala are going to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, to take part in ´peace talks´ related to Nepal being organized jointly by the Cambodian government and the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAP) at February-end.

It is learnt that representatives of Japan, China and India will be present as observers at the talks between the three senior leaders.

Prime Minister Khanal has already said that his first visit abroad after assuming the post of prime minister would be to Cambodia. Khanal had received an invitation in his capacity as chairman of the CPN-UML prior to his becoming prime minister.

Sources said Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is sending a separate invitation to Prime Minister Khanal to make his visit an official one.

Outgoing prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal had also visited Cambodia some two months ago to take part in the sixth general assembly of ICAP.

ICAP, in its official website, has termed the talks on Nepal ´informal´ and claimed that the date of the meeting was scheduled to suit the convenience of all three top leaders. Details of the program, however, have not been disclosed.

This will probably be the second such talks in a foreign land after political party leaders inked a 12-point deal in New Delhi, India, back in 2005. Though the New Delhi talks included only representatives from India, the talks in Cambodia will have representatives from India, China and Japan as observers.

A three-member ICAP delegation that arrived in Kathmandu on January 19 had fixed the date and venue of the talks after holding consultations with the political party leaders concerned. Senior UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal is the representative from Nepal in the South Korea-based organization.

A Standing Committee meeting of ICAP held two months ago had decided to organize peace talks in order to resolve the deadlock in the ongoing peace process in Nepal. Accordingly, ICAP sent a delegation to Nepal to fix the date and venue for the talks.

ICAP is also planning to organize similar talks in some other countries for the leaders of India and Pakistan to resolve the long running stand-off between the two neighbors. .