Nepal's Maoist govt to return land, property

Nepal's Maoist prime minister has pledged that former rebels will return land and property they seized during the country's bitter civil war, officials said yesterday.
Nepal's Maoists signed up for peace in 2006 and now control the government after winning elections earlier this year that led to the abolition of the country's unpopular monarchy.
During the decade-long insurgency that killed at least 13,000 people, Nepal's Maoists grabbed land and property owned by thousands of absentee landlords in the rural areas they controlled.
"The prime minister said that if the property was not returned before the December 15 deadline the government would provide compensation," said Ram Chandra Poudel, a lawmaker from the Nepali Congress party.
The ultra-leftists were elected promising revolutionary land reform in Nepal, one of the world's poorest countries, and vowed to help landless agricultural workers.