Nepal's Maoists agree to join Constituent Assembly

Nepal's sulking Maoist party today agreed to join the recently elected Constituent Assembly, ending months of political turmoil and paving the way for a new government and drafting of a fresh Constitution.
The Maoists had earlier refused to join the assembly after their rout in the November 19 polls, which they claimed was rigged.
The Nepali Congress (NC), the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and the United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) have agreed on a four-point accord, incuding the formation of a parliamentary panel to look into alleged rigging, NC leader Prakash Man Singh told PTI.
The agreement does not mention who will head the probe into the rigging allegations. The Maoists have been demanding that party chief Prachanda should be made the permanent head of the mechanism.

The political parties also agreed to form a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate atrocities committed by state forces and former rebels during Nepal's civil war, UCPN-M leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha said.
They agreed in principle to draft the new constitution within six months and promulgate it in a year.

With this agreement in place, the parties are likely to request the Election Commission to again extend a deadline to submit the names of candidates for seats in the Constituent Assembly under the Proportional Representation system. An earlier deadline set by the poll panel will end tomorrow.
The formation of the new Constituent Assembly is vital for completing a peace process after the 10-year civil war that killed an estimated 16,000 people.

The meeting of the political parties, called by NC President Sushil Koirala, was attended by CPN-UML chairman Jhalanath Khanal, UCPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda, Madhesi Peoples Rights Forum (Nepal) chief Upendra Yadav and other senior Madhesi leaders.