Kathmandu, Aug 6: Chairman of the CPN (Maoist Centre) and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has revealed that his party was compelled to approve the Millenium Challenge Compact (MCC) agreement with an interpretive declaration, while keeping the option of protest open, due to the serious threat of it being passed without any amendments.
Speaking at the launch event of the book “MCC in Nepal” written by Leelamani Pokhrel, Chairman Prachanda stated that the Maoist Centre had studied and debated the MCC issue deeply from the very beginning.
“I myself led the formation of a task force to determine what to do about the MCC,” he said. “The task force submitted a report concluding that the agreement should not be endorsed.”
Referring to a meeting of the then party’s Standing Committee, he said, “There was already public speculation that Nepal had joined the Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS). Although the then Foreign Minister denied it, when the U.S. itself declared Nepal as a participating country, it became clear that the Minister had misled the party and the public.”
According to Prachanda, at that time, the Nepali Congress was strongly pushing for the MCC to be endorsed without any changes, while CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli and his party – CPN UML – were even more adamant than Congress in opposing any amendments to the agreement.
“They were insisting on passing it as it is. We even expressed willingness to hand over leadership if UML was ready for amendments,” he added.
However, seeing the unwavering stance of both the Congress and UML, Prachanda said it became clear that amending the agreement was not possible. “So we passed it through parliament with an interpretive declaration. If we hadn’t, there was a real danger of it being passed in its original form.”
He claimed that the Maoist Centre maintained the clearest and strongest position against the MCC and IPS, and the interpretive declaration was placed as a basis for possible future protests in case of any “wrongdoing”.
The book launch event was attended by senior leaders of the Maoist Centre, author Leelamani Pokhrel, and intellectuals. #nepal #MCC #prachanda
