Disqualified to get Rs 10,000 from party

KATHMANDU, Jan 4: After rejecting the relief package offered by the donors for return home of disqualified Maoist combatants, the Maoists have decided to provide travel expenses to the combatants on their own, said PLA spokesperson Chandra Prakash Khanal. [break]



Speaking at a program on Monday, he said, “The PLA has unilaterally decided, upon the recommendation of the party, to provide Rs 10,000 to each disqualified combatants and send them home.”



According to him, the process of discharge will begin Thursday from the PLA third division in Sindhuli. The discharge process will be monitored by UNMIN. “The UNMIN has also pledged to give some bucks to them, but we don´t know how much,” Khanal said.



There are 4,008 disqualified combatants languishing in seven cantonments and 21 satellite camps monitored by the UNMIN.



“They say they will buy them notebooks and pay fees for a four-month training. But there is no guarantee that the training will ensure their employment,” said Khanal, justifying why the relief package was rejected.



Khanal also objected the statements made from ruling party leaders against the integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants. “Some Nepal Army leadership, defense minister and party leaders are making statements against the integration. They are saying that the Maoists are criminals and so they should not be integrated into the army,” he said.



He argued that even Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala were involved in armed struggle and going by their argument, Nepal and Koirala cannot also be spared.

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