Nepal's elderly Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said yesterday he had gambled his 60-year political career to strike a deal with Maoist rebels and bring peace to the Himalayan country.
The veteran leader's comments came after former rebels were sworn into a new interim government Sunday, a major step in a peace process that ended a decade of civil war.
"We have managed to bring the Maoists to the mainstream. A new chapter is going on in Nepal," Koirala, seen as an elder statesman of national politics, told a conference of South Asian nations in New Delhi.
"I have gambled 60 years of my political career," Koirala said in a speech on the opening day of the
two-day South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (Saarc) conference.
Koirala recalled how he felt strongly that discussions with the Maoist rebels were needed to end the conflict, which claimed more than 13,000 lives.
"I wanted to have a dialogue with the Maoists but was told by many that 'terrorists are not to be believed'," he told leaders of the eight nations belonging to Saarc which includes India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Now "they (Maoists) have come within the democratic framework" and "the situation has calmed down," said the veteran Nepalese leader.
The 85-year-old Koirala, who has been in poor health, said he had travelled to New Delhi against the advice of his doctors to bring
news of developments in his homeland.
"Doctors had told me not to attend Saarc because of my ill health but I could not resist the temptation to come here," he said.
Former Maoist rebels hold five portfolios in a cabinet tasked with steering impoverished Nepal into new elections on June 20, which will lead to a decision whetherthe country keeps its monarchy.
Koirala said that as a democrat he could not be merely a silent spectator.
"I thought, if I fail, the nation should not fail as it would be my personal loss," he said.
As well as fighting for democracy in Nepal, Koirala was also involved with the Indian independence movement against British colonial rule.