By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu, Nov 21 (IANS) As their week-long ultimatum to the coalition government of Nepal expired without an agreement with the ruling parties, the former Maoist guerrillas Saturday announced fresh turmoil and a three-day general strike that, their chief warned, could lead to an indefinite strike next month.

“Since the government did not show any seriousness in addressing our demands, we are compelled to announce a third phase of ‘People’s Movement’ that will culminate in a three-day general political strike,” Maoist supremo and former prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda announced at the party office in Kathmandu after the top leaders of the formerly underground party decided to go on the warpath.

“If the government does not address our demands even after that, we will be moving towards an indefinite general strike,” Prachanda said.

The new protest movement starts Sunday when the biggest party in the Himalayan republic will hit the streets with rallies and demonstrations.

The disruption of the state machinery starts from Dec 1, when Maoist organisations will begin anti-government protests culminating in a three-day strike from Dec 20.

Maoist lawmaker and former finance minister Baburam Bhattarai, who will be heading the protests, said the party will also continue to oppose the President Ram Baran Yadav, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and other ministers by showing them black flags during public programmes and boycotting their programmes.

The new protests were announced on the heels of disruptions started earlier this month that left the coalition government paralysed.

However, the Maoists have agreed to lift their siege on parliament temporarily to allow the budget to be passed and rescue the government from a financial crisis.

“This is a unilateral decision taken by the Maoists,” Prachanda said. “Like the ceasefires we had announced in the past during the times of undemocratic governments.

“This is to show the people that while the government is anti-people and anti-nation, the Maoists, the largest party in Nepal, have a sense of responsibility towards the people.”

Prachanda said the siege on parliament, started in May when his government collapsed, would be lifted for three days to allow the budget to be passed.

The former guerrillas are demanding an apology from the president, who, they say, acted unconstitutionally by reinstating the chief of the army the had sacked.

They have also asked the government, as an option, to allow a debate in the house on the role of the president, a proposal that has been rejected by the ruling parties.

The new protests come close on the heels of the anniversary of a historic peace act signed between the parties and the Maoists in 2006, that ended a decade of civil war in Nepal.