Pushpa Kamal Dahal in conversation with journalists at his residence on 22 March after the cancellation of the visit by UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.

"I was part of the delegation which extended an invitation to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to participate in the International Conference on Lumbini. The visit by Secretary-General Ban had been set for the last week of April. We got a letter from the United Nations saying that the visit had been pushed from March to April because of his busy schedule. We agreed, and felt it was appropriate to go along with the Secretary-General's schedule. We had already made our plans according to the time suggested by Secretary-General Ban.

Meanwhile, we completed the formation of the Greater Lumbini Development Directive Committee. We had already started setting up sub-committees and dividing work on plans for the world peace city and concept note for the conference. A group of people was unhappy that Ban was coming to Nepal, that Prachanda was going to be coordinator of the Directive Committee, and that Prachanda and Ban would co-chair the international conference.

The conference was suspended after we received a message via the Foreign Ministry that, given the leadership here is confronted with the task of peace and constitution-writing, it would be better to postpone the conference. It is unfortunate for Nepal that Ban's visit has turned into such a controversial issue.

This episode has proven how narrow-minded and irresponsible our so-called intellectuals are. It has become clear to what level they can descend to fulfil their self-interest. As far as my understanding, the Secretary-General's visit has not been cancelled. He will come to Nepal and we will hold the conference. The 'intellectuals' may have played some role in preventing the visit, but I do not believe their position was pivotal.

At a time when we should be engaged in completing the work of integration and constitution-writing, organising a conference with the participation of heads of state and government would have taken up to 10-15 days. On a personal level, I would have been greatly pressured. From one perspective, therefore, I was relieved to receive the news of postponement of the visit from the United Nations. We can now concentrate on peace and constitution-writing."