They are pressed for time as word reached them just a day ago to leave the cantonment that has been their home for the last several years. [break]
The combatants are all on the go. Their cell phones are abuzz. They have been packing up their luggage and seeing their ´comrades´ to say their good bye.
At this parting time, they have mixed-feelings. The excitement about family reunion has overwhelmed their heart. The pain of separation with fellow comrades, however, is no easy to negotiate with.
They have shared in the cantonment for the last five years. Even more indelible is their memory about the war that they fought arm in arm.
It is their opinion that they spent the last five years of their dreamy-life in the cantonment in a very ´uncertain´ and ´unproductive´ way.
So, this parting for them, to an extent, is going to be a wishful happening.
But, right now, something is seriously holding them back. There have been instances when some fighters took liking to each other, fell in love and even got married during the wartime.
They have also endured moments when they had to bid farewell to their comrades labeled as the ´disqualified PLA´ by the UNMIN.
"Right now, I´m very busy meeting my comrades and packing up my luggage," Deependra Kumar Gharti Magar, Brigade Vice-commander, said.
He had joined the PLA in 1999 leaving his medical profession in his native village of Korchabang in Rolpa, with the beautiful dream of a new Nepal.
And, he had participated in dozens of the PLA strikes against the security forces (the then Royal Nepal Army, Armed Police Force and Nepal Police). He had then played triple roles –as a health worker, an artiste and a fighter.
"We had a dream to form a new classless society for the voiceless and the powerless," he said with the revolutionary zeal still not gone, "The dream is delayed but has not died yet."
“That is going to happen, for sure. If not by this (Maoist) party, by some other party. It’s just a matter of time,” Deependra said who hails from northern Rolpa, some 45 kilometers north of Dahaban.
Asked what he would do next, he said, "I´ll join the politics!”
Bikash Malla, a Platoon Commander, is also pre-occupied with having last word with his comrades before packing up his luggage.
“I have carried gun till now. Now I will like to see what I can do with pen,” he revealed his plan. “I´ll join university for my Bachelor’s Degree."
The army had detained him when he was in the district headquarters, Musikot, for his Plus Two education back in 2001.
After his release, he had joined the PLA. His home village is in Baphikot, Rukum, some 35 kilometers west of the district headquarters.
According to Brigade Vice-commander Deependra, every retiring combatant from the mountain region, the hilly region and the Tarai region will get pocket money of Rs 8,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs 2,000 (including bus fares) respectively.
On Friday, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, who also heads the Special Committee on supervision, integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants had instructed to begin the procedure for farewell to the retiring fighters within three days.
Monday onwards, 200 to 250 PLA fighters will be leaving each of the seven cantonments daily. The SC secretariat staff will go to every cantonment to send them home. A total of 7,365 fighters have opted for voluntary retirement during the regrouping process.
PLA Platoon Commander Bikash Malla (File Photo)
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