People involved in drafting the plan of action for integration say technical “bugs” have prevented them from finalizing the integration plan. They say these glitches need to be removed at the political level. [break]
First, members of the Special Committee secretariat are worried about maintaining chain of command in the Maoist army in case Maoist commanders opt for voluntary retirement. As per the March 22 decision of the Special Committee, the commanders will be given voluntary retirement package and will be released before the integration process starts.
“It is a technical issue. It will not be logical to ask the commanders to stay in the cantonments until the integration process starts while releasing others,” said a member on condition of anonymity.
The Maoist representatives on the committee have suggested that the commanders be given the choice of integration or voluntary retirement. But other members of the secretariat have argued that the Maoist suggestion is not only impractical but also illogical as doing so would invite complications.
Another technical issue relates investigating past human rights record of 6,500 combatants, which is not only time consuming but also a complicated process as no single national institution has a centralized and verified record of the Maoist combatants. It is not yet clear what kind of mechanism should be put in place to vet the combatants to be integrated into the national army.
Similarly, there is also a question over criminals who escaped from prison during the conflict time. These people have also joined the Maoist army and identifying them would take time.
As of now, the Maoist representatives in the secretariat have been demanding that the conflict-time record of the combatants not be reopened. However, existing standard norms of the army requires one to come clean to be eligible for integration. The Nepal Army has already made it clear that it will not integrate Maoist combatants with a criminal record.
“We will verify the combatants´ human rights and criminal record from the National Human Rights Commission, credible human rights organizations like INSEC and the police before integrating the combatants,” said a senior army official.
Even those who deserted the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force are in the Maoist army and are awaiting integration. The parties are yet to decide if such deserters should be integrated while the NA has made it clear the deserters would be court marshaled.
Another technical problem relates to whether the UNMIN verified age or the age mentioned in citizenship of the combatants should be considered during the integration process. In most cases, the combatants have been found younger in their citizenship certificates than in the UNMIN verified documents, according to secretariat sources.
“In other cases like rank and years of service in the Maoist army, we are relying on UNMIN documents but the army´s existing norms recognizes only citizenship for the age of aspiring candidates,” said another member at the secretariat.
As of now, the Maoist representatives have demanded that the combatants´ age mentioned in UNMIN documents be considered but other members have argued that the existing military act and standard norms recognize only citizenship as proof of age of any individual aspiring to join the national army.
As these issues remain the bone of contention, the secretariat has not been able to come up with a consensual plan of action, according to secretariat members.
Related story
More students opt for technical education
