'Fathers for peace' move in Nepal

By Navin Singh Khadka
BBC News, Kathmandu

Baburam Bhattarai, whose father has been approached

Peace activists in Nepal are approaching the fathers of the prime minister and of top Maoist leaders to boost their new nationwide movement.

They say the father of Maoist leader, Prachanda, will take part and they hope he and other Maoist fathers will meet PM Sher Bahadur Deuba's father.

Organisers say tens of thousands will join the peace movement, which starts on 8 February.

More than 10,000 people have died in the nine-year Maoist insurgency.

The rebels are fighting to replace the monarchy with a communist republic.

Social justice

The new movement's co-ordinator, Sudeep Pathak, said the fathers of Prachanda and another senior rebel leader, Badal, had agreed to participate while the father of another key Maoist leader, Baburam Bhattarai, was being approached.

Mr Pathak said the nationwide movement would begin in Chitwan district in southern Nepal, where Prachanda's father would light a peace flame.

The rebels have been fighting for a republic since 1995

Organisers said they believed that the participation of the fathers of rebel leaders would attract more people to join the peace movement.

They said it was an effort to break what they called the silence of the people, which has continued despite rising violence.

The organisers come from around three dozen civil, human rights and professional groups.

They said non-violence, rights and social justice would be the slogans of the movement.

Civil societies and human rights groups have in recent months intensified their campaigns to pressure the government and the rebels for a peaceful resolution to the insurgency.

Concern has grown since the rebels ignored a 13 January deadline set by the government for them to return to peace talks.

The government said it would now prepare for elections for the House of Representatives.

Prachanda has warned that elections will only increase bloodshed.