A meeting of the prime minister-led committee on Tuesday set the deadline for conclusion of the peace process which should have been completed by November 2008. [break]
The committee also decided to bring the arms of the ex-Maoist fighters under the control of the government by August 27, four days before the August 31 deadline to complete the fundamental works of the peace process.
“The Special Committee has prepared a calendar to complete the tasks related to integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants,” said JP Gupta, a member of the Special Committee, after the meeting.
Under categorization, those ex-fighters who opt for integration will be segregated in one group while those opting for rehabilitation will be put in another group. Similarly, those who prefer voluntary retirement will be kept in a third group.
Integration and rehabilitation of over 19,000 ex-combatants is at the center of the peace process that began in November 2006 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The parties initially had planned to complete the peace process within six months of the Constituent Assembly polls conducted in April 2008.
“The categorization of ex-combatants will begin immediately after their survey and profiling,” Gupta said.
The Special Committee has planned to deploy 120 experts for survey and profiling of the ex-combatants on June 24. The experts -- either conflict experts or ex-UN officials -- will be simultaneously deployed in cantonments in four groups of 30 each. The Special Committee has planned to complete categorization of the ex-combatants between 60 to 63 days.
“Categorization of the ex-combatants would begin once their profiling and survey completes,” Dr Dipak Prakash Bhatt, a member on the secretariat under the Special Committee, told Republica.
With the finalization of the calendar, the Special Committee is now focusing on the finalization of integration modality, standard norms for integration and rehabilitation package along with fixation of the number of the combatants to be integrated. These are the most contentious issues in the peace process. Implementation of the plan of action will depend on how quickly the parties agree on these issues.
“The next meeting scheduled for Thursday will start discussions on these issues,” Gupta said.
Though the UCPN (M) have decided to accept the Nepal Army-proposed modality that the ex-Maoist combatants should be integrated by forming a separate directorate under it, the former rebel party is yet to accept the proposal in its entirety. But the party has said it is open to discussions on the details of the proposal.
The Special Committee has set June 19 deadline for the finalization of integration modality, standard norms, rehabilitation package and fixation of the number of the combatants to be integrated.
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