“The cabinet meeting today decided to allow the Nepal Army to buy arms and ammunition for its regular use,” Minister for Information and Communications Madhav Paudel, who is also the government spokesperson, told Republica.[break]
The national army wasn´t allowed to buy lethal weapons after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement-2006. The major parties had agreed to stop procurement of arms and ammunition for the national army until the Maoist combatants were integrated into the national army.
On Friday, the government took the decision to allow the national army to procure arms and ammunition as former Maoist combatants have either taken voluntary retirement or have joined the national army. Around 1,400 former Maoist combatants are currently undergoing NA training.
NA had been saying that it was running short of arms and ammunition even for its regular use, trainings and development activities that required explosives and other logistics.
“There was a serious problem in the army because the peace process went on for years whereas the restriction was imposed thinking the integration process would conclude in a few months,” said a senior official at the ministry of defense.
The peace process was originally supposed to conclude within six months after the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections in 2008. The army had not been allowed to buy bullets, explosives and other lethal weapons for nearly seven years now.
The official said the CPA´s provision to prohibit the national army from buying arms has now become redundant because the existence of two armies has come to an end.
The official said the cabinet decision was taken as per the understanding reached at the cross-party special committee formed to oversee the army integration process. The committee was also dissolved on Friday as the process of integrating former Maoist combatants was taken to a logical conclusion.
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