The disqualified combatants on Saturday afternoon chanted slogans against Peace and Reconciliation Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, who had reached the party headquarters to hold talks with them. [break]
Rayamajhi assured them that the government would provide medical expenses to combatants injured during the conflict and release those in custody.
However, the disqualified combatants began chanting slogans demanding that the government address their “real concerns.”
“The government should set a deadline to address our demands. We will not sit for talks unless our demands are met,” Lenin Bista, chairman of Discharged People´s Liberation Army told Republica. According to him, the government has turned a deaf ear to their “real demands.”
Ex-combatants disqualified during UNMIN verification have been demanding removal of the “disqualified” tag, national felicitation certificate and allowances on par with those opting for voluntary retirement, among others.
They have also demanded 25 percent representation in the state organs. UNMIN had disqualified 4,008 former combatants saying they were “late recruits” and “minors”.
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