 KIRAN PANDAY |
Govinda Raj Joshi: We believed that UNMIN would play an important role in bringing the peace process to a fair conclusion and having an independent election. However UNMIN has failed in both these tasks.
What wrongs did UNMIN commit during the elections?
They made the people go against the candidates of other parties who were being targeted by the Maoists. Then they didn't go to all the constituencies. Shouldn't they have monitored all the places?
Can you give us any examples?
They used to attend my public meeting all day long and instigated people to go against me. They even said that they would cancel my candidacy.
Why do you think UNMIN did this?
The main chief of UNMIN, Ian Martin, seems to be a leftist. Being a communist himself, he forgot he worked for the UN, set out to help the communists, and helped the Maoists in every way he could. Plus, he doesn't seem to be able to tolerate the NC. Martin acted unethically. The election for the constituent assembly was not conducted fairly.
And NC found out about this only now?
We knew about this before, but our party as a whole just found out now.
So you must be be displeased about UNMIN's term being extended.
We are. This is about ethics. Girijababu even told the UN secretary-general that UNMIN did not behave correctly. Yet the government is getting ready to ask UNMIN to extend its term again.
But the government probably needs UNMIN.
It's the Maoists who need UNMIN, not the government. UNMIN provides the legality that the Maoists need to be in government. That's why even if the government asks UNMIN to stay on, the NC will not accept it.
