A three-hour meeting between the Maoist leadership and the chairmen of five Madhes-based political parties held at the prime minister´s residence at Baluwatar on Saturday morning has decided to expedite the process of recruiting Madhesi youths into the Nepal Army (NA). [break]
“We agreed in principle to begin the process of recruiting Madhesi youths into the NA. And, the next meeting between the Maoist leadership and UDMF will finalize the number of Madhesi youths to be recruited and the recruitment modality,” Information Minister and Chairman of Madhesi People´s Rights Forum-Republican (MPRF-R) Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta told Republica.
UCPN (Maoist) and UDMF leaders are scheduled to hold talks on Sunday afternoon to finalize the recruitment issue.
“We have agreed to hold talks to sort out the issue as Monday´s cabinet meeting is scheduled to endorse a policy paper regarding the entry of Madhesi youths in the national army,” said Health Minister Rajendra Mahato, who was present at the meeting.
Gupta of MPRF-R also confirmed that the Maoist and Madhesi leaders have agreed to endorse “some Madhesi issues” through Monday´s cabinet meeting. However, he did not elaborate what the Madhesi issues are.
Madhesi leaders have been exerting pressure on the prime minister to begin the recruitment of Madhesi youths by the national army as per the four-point agreement signed between the UCPN (Maoist) and the Madhesi alliance on August 29 just before electing Bhattarai as prime minister.
Madhesi leaders have proposed that the government announce the 3,000 vacancies in the NA and recruit youths to fill them.
According to Mahato, they have proposed recruiting 2,000 youths from the Madhesi community and the remaining 1,000 from indigenous and marginalized groups and women.
Earlier, they were demanding recruitment of only Madhesi youths to the vacant posts, but they changed their mind as the Maoist leadership argued that other communities could protest such a move.
A senior Madhesi leader claimed that even the NA is positive on recruiting Madhesi youths.
“I also belong to an indigenous community and we will have no objection to recruiting Madhesi youths into the NA,” a leader quoted Chief of Army Staff, General Chhatraman Singh Gurung, as saying to a senior Madhesi minister at informal talks.
However, according to the leader, Lieutenant General Gaurav Samsher Rana has opposed such a move, saying that other communities would also raise similar voices for recruitment into the NA. Rana, who is NA second-in-command at present, is taken as the next army chief after Gurung´s retirement.
At the meeting, the Maoist and Madhesi leaders also agreed to take a decision on resolving the citizenship problem and advancing the inclusion bill, at Monday´s cabinet meeting. Once the cabinet takes a decision, the sons and daughters of those who have Nepali citizenship by birth can also get their citizenship.
Similarly, both sides agreed to strengthen the present coalition by implementing the four-point agreement
At a meeting with the Maoist leadership last week, UDMF leaders had warned the Maoists that they would rethink the present coalition if the latter remained indifferent about implementing the four-point deal.
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