The Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction on Monday wrote a letter to UNMIN chief Karin Landgren in this regard. [break]
"…the Government of Nepal would like to request you to inform us if the division commanders of respective cantonments requested for your permission to leave the cantonments for their visit to China," reads the letter sent to UNMIN by the ministry.
Talking to Republica, Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Rakam Chemjong said that the government wrote to UNMIN as the PLA has in principle come under the Special Committee and the commanders visited China without approval of the Special Committee.
When asked why the government wrote to UNMIN, Chemjong said the government just wanted to know if the UNMIN had been informed about the purpose of their leave and the visit.
Govt can´t seek clarification: Maoists
UCPN (Maoist) leader Barsaman Pun said on Monday that the government doesn´t have any right to seek clarification from Maoist PLA commanders about their recent China visit.
He also alleged that Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal violated the agreement in the Special Committee for Supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation of Maoist Combatants by publicly demanding clarification from the Maoists.
"We followed the rules and laws while visiting China. So the government is unnecessarily asking for clarification from us," said Pun while speaking at Jana Sanchar Kendra in Kathmandu.
A group of Maoist commanders led by Pun left for China just ahead of Dashain and returned to Kathmandu last Thursday.
Pun, who is also the chief of the Maoist integration bureau, argued that there was an agreement in the Special Committee not to bring to public any contentious issue and that the prime minister´s demand for clarification violated the agreement. "We will certainly raise the issue in the upcoming meeting of the Special Committee," he said.
The Maoist leader said 12 percent of the registered combatants in the cantonments can go on leave at one time, and so it should not matter where they went.
He said that the media have bloated the China visit issue as they are currently running out of news stories due to Dashain holidays. "This issue is being highlighted unnecessarily," he said.
He said the visit was not abrupt and the people were not unaware about the visit. "Some television channels did know about the visit. So it is erroneous to say that the visit was secret," Pun said, "There were only three division commanders but the media reported that six commanders visited China."
Pun also said that the visit was personal and the commanders did not meet any Chinese officials.
Meanwhile, Pun left for Switzerland on Monday evening to participate in a Swiss government funded seminar entitled Role of Non-state Sector in Security Sector Reform.
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