The United States ambassador to Nepal, Nancy Powell has refuted claims made by a senior Maoist leader that relations between US and Maoists were warming.

In an interview with The Himalayan Times daily, Tuesday, Powell said, “I am not aware of what the Maoists are referring to as a warming relationship. I have now been here for the past four months, there is very little that would inspire me to think that our relationship would get better or there was a reason for it to get better.”

Her response comes in the wake of claim made by Maoist leader CP Gajurel that the Maoists had received letter from the US government. Recently, two Maoist lawmakers Janardan Sharma aka Prabhakar and Suresh Ale Magar, too, visited the United States to attend the UN meeting. This visit had led to speculation that the US had changed its past practice of not giving visas to the Maoists.

Powell, however, ruled out possibility of Prachanda visiting the US anytime soon. “As long as he is part of a terrorist organisation, individual decisions are made on visas, but it would require us to issue a waiver and I don’t think that would be forthcoming,” Powell said.

The US envoy also stressed on early election and accused the Maoists for scuttling the November polls. “The Maoists got to admit the majority of the blame for the cancellation of the election with their demands and they are consistent that they could not go forward with the election,” she said.

When asked why she was taking a quieter and softer approach toward the Maoists and the King, unlike her predecessor James Moriarty, Powell said, “His noting of violation of the CPA, violation of human rights were made at a time when it was very hard for Nepalis to speak out – they were perhaps fearful. His courage in speaking out was very important. Since I came in August, I have noticed that Nepalis are speaking out now, with a great deal of courage and force. I don’t want to drown out that voice with mine.” nepalnews.com sd Dec 11 07