The UN political mission´s clarification in connection with the visit of a group of Maoist combatants came in response to a government inquiry on whether the combatants had approached the mission for permission to visit the northern neighbor. [break]
"I would like to confirm that Maoist army did not approach UNMIN in connection with the travel to which you refer," Yohn Medina Vivanco, political chief of UNMIN, said in a letter to the government on Tuesday.
The government on Monday had asked UNMIN Chief Karin Landgren for information on whether the division commanders had requested for permission to leave the cantonments for their visit to China. Maoist commanders have publicly defended the trip saying they can go anywhere they like while on leave, something contested by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Peace and Reconstruction Minister Rakam Chemjong.
Nepal and Chemjong have argued in public that the commanders had to get permission from the Special Committee for the trip as they are under the Special Committee -- which is set up for supervision, integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants -- in principle. In an agreement on September 17, the Maoists had announced that their combatants had come under the committee in principle.
In the letter to the government, UNMIN has further made it clear that the Maoist combatants do not require its permission for specific travel arrangements if they are on an authorized leave.
"Please be advised that UNMIN´s permission for specific travel arrangement has never been required, under the permission of AMMAA [Agreement on Monitoring of the Management of Arms and Armies] for Maoist army combatants on authorized leave," UNMIN said in the letter undersigned by Vivanco.
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