Janakpurdham, Aug 30: CPN (UML) Senior Vice-Chair Ishwor Pokhrel has said the party will move ahead with a new resolve following its 25th Secretariat Meeting. “The Fourth General Convention of the party is the foundation and launching point of the place where the UML stands in Nepal’s political realm at present. It was from this general convention that people’s leader the late Madan Bhandari had propounded the principle of People’s Multi-party Democracy,” he said. The UML is holding its Secretariat Meeting at Bishnupurkatti Sarreambas in Siraha district from today. The UML’s Secretariat Meeting is taking place at the same place where the then CPN (Marxist and Leninist) held the Fourth General Convention from August 25 to 30, 1989. Talking to media persons at Janakpurdham Airport today before going to the Meeting venue, senior vice-chair Pokhrel said, “We have returned to the same historic venue after 34 years. Sure, we will take some historic decisions once more and forge ahead taking the UML to a new height. This meeting will be a historic in making the UML’s present role in the national politics more effective.” He opined that the Bishnupurkatti Sarreambas Meeting will play a significant role in establishing the UML’s place in Nepali politics. Leader Pokhrel expressed the belief that the party will make another historic decision from the same place which played a role in establishing the UML as an important political force of Nepal by electing people’s leader Bhandari as the party general-secretary. On a different note, the UML Senior Vice-Chair reiterated that the present government should function as per the people’s aspiration. Stating that it was because of the stance taken by the UML that the government became ready to form a high-level commission for a detailed investigation into the gold smuggling scam, he said his party will provide full cooperation for finding out the facts and truth behind this scam by means of this commission. Vice-Chairs Yubaraj Gyawali, Ashta Laxmi Shakya, Ram Bahadur Thapa, Bishnu Poudel, Subas Chandra Nembang, deputy general-secretary Pradip Gyawali, secretaries Lekhraj Bhatta, Raghuveer Mahaseth, among the leaders are accompanying Pokhrel in connection with attending the Secretariat Meeting. The leaders arrived in Janakpur on a next plane of the Buddha Air after their earlier flight could not land in Janakpur due to technical reason in the morning today. UML Chair KP Sharma Oli and other leaders will reach Siraha for the Meeting via Biratnagar. Presently, there are 18 members in the 19-member Secretariat remaining as the ‘high command’ of UML. Secretariat member and party secretary Top Bahadur Rayamajhi is suspended after being implicated in the fake Bhutanese refugee scandal. The Secretariat Meeting which was scheduled to convene on August 26 was deferred due to incessant rains. —