Discharge now put off to Jan 7 on Maoist request

KATHMANDU, Dec 26: The ultimate discharge and rehabilitation of disqualified Maoist combatants is going to miss yet another deadline of December 27, when the long-overdue discharge process was scheduled to kick in. [break]

Sources told myrepublica.com on Friday that the discharge and rehabilitation of 4,008 disqualified combatants has been deferred till January 7 upon a request from the Unified Communist Party of Nepal- Maoist (UCPN-M). The party made the request saying its combatants would be busy taking part in a week-long sports event in the cantonments.

December 27 deadline to be missed

Discharge to begin from Sindhuli cantonment

"We requested the UN to defer the earlier agreed date of the discharge in view of the sports week in the cantonments starting from Tuesday. The UN in Nepal replied positively to our request", UCPN-M politburo member Chandra Prakash Khanal "Baldev" told myrepublica.com on Friday.

The discharge of 4,008 combatants -- 2,973 minors and 1,035 late recruits -- is long overdue though it is one of the most important aspects of the ongoing peace process.They are ineligible for integration into the national security forces. They have been living in seven cantonments and 21 satellite cantonments monitored by UNMIN, the United Nations Mission in Nepal.

Under a December-16 tripartite agreement between the government, the UCPN-M and the UN, the discharge was scheduled to begin December 27.

An agreement to postpone the discharge till January 7 was reached during a meeting between UCPN-M leaders including Khanal and representatives of the UN country team on Thursday, according to a UN source. The meeting was called at UN House, Lalitpur to give a final touch to preparations for the discharge.

Government and UN sources told myrepublica.com that December 27 was fixed as the date for the discharge as per the suggestion of UCPN-M leader Barsha Man Pun at the time of signing the agreement on December 16. Initially, the government and the UN wanted to begin the process on December 26.

Khanal said, “The cantonments from where the discharge would begin had not been identified at the time of signing the agreement. But the UN told us on Thursday that the process would begin from Sindhuli, which coincidentally happens to be the venue for the sports week.”

Discharge and rehabilitation of the disqualified was initially begun in July 17. But the discharge calender did not work out because of non-cooperation from the Maoists. The process resumed on October 11 but was stalled again following Maoist reservations over rehabilitation packages. On December 16, the Maoists agreed to start the process again from Sunday (December 27) after coming under "pressure" from the international community, especially the UN.

The UN source further said on condition of anonymity that the UN chose Dudhauli cantonment in Sindhuli to start the discharge process as it has the lowest number of disqualified combatants.

“We wanted to begin the process from the cantonment with the smallest number of disqualified in view of our human resources and available logistics,” the source said about the UN´s choice of the Sindhuli cantonment.

The UN source further argued that in starting from a cantonment with the lowest number combatants they expect to handle the discharge effectively and learn from potential weaknesses that may crop up in the process. “We want to fix the weaknesses if any while handling the discharge from other cantonments with larger numbers of disqualified,” the UN source further said.

As per the revised scheduled on discharge and rehabilitation, all the disqualified Maoist army personnel will arrive at the seven main cantonments on December 4.

“The UN will register them and verify them on December 5 and 6. They will then be given new identity cards,” said another UN source involved in making preparations for the discharge.

The source further said that the disqualified combatants will be gathered in groups of 50 and transported to the nearest bus stops from the cantonments on their way to their respective homes.

“We are planning to give them around Rs 10,000, with 5,000 meant to cover travel fare and 5,000 as subsistence allowance,” said the UN source.

The discharged will contact government offices concerned for their rehabilitation packages a month after they reach home. The UN will monitor their rehabilitation for the next six months.

Meanwhile PLA brigade commanders and vice division commanders were briefed on the discharge action plan at a meeting of the PLA general staff Friday, according to PLA spokesperson Khanal.

kiran@myrepublica.com