The Nepal Government has decided to officially invite Maoist rebels for talks, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said today while stressing that the peace process will be kept ‘‘secret’’.Deuba, who chaired the first meeting of the peace committee set up on August 12 with the objective of facilitating the peace process, told reporters afterwards that ‘‘the committee has decided to officially call the Maoists to come to the dialogue table’’.The forthcoming peace talks and the peace procedure will be kept secret this time, Deuba was quoted as saying by Radio Nepal. The five-member peace committee headed by Deuba includes Communist Party of Nepal-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, Rashtriya Prajatantra Party chairman Pashupati Shumsher Rana, Minister for Forest and Nepal Sadbhavana Party chairman Badri Mandal and Information and Communication Minister Mohammad Mohsin as members.When asked about the government’s response to the Maoists’ demand to withdraw the ‘‘terrorist’’ tag and red-corner notice issued against them, Deuba said the government had not formally received such a request from the Maoists.CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal said that the decision made by the first meeting of the committee to invite the Maoists for dialogue was a positive step toward resolving the issue. —PTI
