“The combatants have come under the command and control of the Special Committee from today,” Maoist representative on the Committee Barsha Man Pun told journalists after a meeting on Thursday evening. [break]“It is an important step toward integration and rehabilitation of (the Maoist) army.”
Pun, who is also the in-charge of his party´s combatants integration bureau, informed that the combatants will formally come under the command and control of the Special Committee once a proposed secretariat gets final shape. He said that a special function will be organized soon to announce the PLA´s formal disassociation from the party.
Four more members will be added to the technical committee formed under the Special Committee and it will function as the secretariat to oversee the combatants, according to Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire, who is also spokesperson of the Committee.
One member each from the Nepal Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and the People´s Liberation Army will be added to the technical commitee. One of the 12 members will be appointed as the coordinator.
This is a significant development in the peace process which has remained practically stalled for so long. The government and the Maoists had agreed on Monday to conclude the peace process ´basically´ by January 14, 2011 and had sent a letter to the UN Security Council informing it about this.
Once the secretariat becomes functional, it will cut the link of the 19,602 combatants with the Maoist party through its command, control and direction.
A meeting of the Special Committee headed by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Thursday evening finalized two key documents relating to directives for command and control of the combatants and a code of conduct for the ex-Maoist army personnel.
The code of conduct requires the combatants to severe all their ties with the party. They will be prohibited from carrying out political activities, using pictures of communist leaders in their barracks, singing of communist songs and painting communist slogans, among other things, according to Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Rakam Chemjong, who is an invitee member on the committee. They will also have to stop greeting their leaders and fellow combatants in the way communist cadres do.
The code of conduct also bars Maoist leaders from making political speeches inside the cantonments where the combatants have been living under UN-monitoring.
Related story
Former Maoist rebels: Who took the cut from our salary?
