The prime minister, in his capacity as chairman of the Special Committee, called the meeting at his office but representatives from the UCPN-M, MPRF-D and TMDP parties did not turn up. [break]
Maoist representatives Barsha Man Pun and Janardan Sharma had informed the Special Committee secretariat that they would not attend the meeting until the prime minister stepped down. MPRF-D representative Jitendra Dev was out of the country. TMDP representative Mahendra Prasad Yadav did not turn up though he was in Kathmandu.
The prime minister and other members waited for an hour, expecting the Maoists, MPRF-D and TMDP to be present.
"The meeting should not have been called because the prime minister knew that the Maoist representatives would not attend," said committee member JP Gupta, "The prime minister wants to show the public that the government is committed to forwarding the peace process."
Another member, Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, said that the absence of the Maoists at the meeting shows they are not committed to the peace process. "They only want change of government," Mahat said.
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