A cease-fire announced Jan. 29 between Maoist rebels and government forces has been holding, raising hopes that a peaceful solution to the 7-year-old conflict can be found. Peace talks have not yet been scheduled, and in an effort to get a national consensus on how to proceed, the government called an “all-party” meeting to discuss the conduct of such talks. Most of the major political parties, however, boycotted the meeting, saying that the current government is unconstitutional. The moves suggests that making any kind of peace here, even a political one, will be difficult.
