“I heard through the FM radio that the PLA was still recruiting,” says the 20-year-old Chaudhari. "So I tried my luck, with my parent’s encouragement.” He also says that all the members of his group did not know that the PLA had stopped recruiting for now. “I want to join the PLA because there are no jobs in our village,” Chaudhari says.
Shopkeepers around the Surkhet main cantonment site say that they know Chaudhari’s story all too well. They say that many of the youngsters who arrive here wanting to join the PLA do not know that the PLA has suspended recruiting, and that the youngsters often leave dissatisfied or disappointed.
Last month, to fill vacant positions in its ranks, the PLA started a recruitment drive; and three weeks ago, the recruitment process got underway in various cantonments across Nepal. The PLA received close to 1,800 application forms in Surkhet alone, according to the 6th division commander Tej Bahadur Oli.
The PLA’s recruitment drive came as a response the Nepal Army’s recruiting about 3,000 personnel, an act the Maoists claim was in violation of the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Accord. But the PLA has currently suspended the recruiting of youths because the PLA is awaiting a decision from both the Supreme Court and the Special Committee regarding the integration of Maoist Combatants. "We respect this decision and have suspended recruitment,” says the the 35-year-old Oli, also known as Pratik.
“However, if the Supreme Court allows the Nepal Army to recruit, it has to allow the PLA to recruit as well,” adds Oli. He says that his division had already recruited close to 500 combatants during their last recruitment drive.
“Those who want to join the PLA are those who understand the PLA’s purpose and struggle, the problem of unemployment notwithstanding,” says the commander. A PLA press release shows that Oli’s claim may be warranted, or that at the least, the PLA may be playing to the prevalent sentiment among some of the country’s jobless youths. The press release says that the PLA is looking for Nepali youths above the age of 18 to join the PLA, youths who are “healthy, willing, capable and filled with a sense of sacrifice.”
The 15 youths who accompanied Ram Kumar Chaudhari—a group that includes six women—also mention that despite having little or no education, the PLA would have accepted them as long as they fulfilled the criteria mentioned in the press release.
“I have only a fifth-grade education,” says 20-year-old Anganu Chaudhari, a member of Ram Kumar’s group. "Where else can I find a job?” One PLA combatant who did not wish to be named says that recruits receive an allowance of Rs 3,000 per month.
The group, after cooking their own dinner, spend the night in a small guesthouse—where they all share two rooms--before making their way back home the following day.
“Most of the combatants here come from my district; my family will be disappointed to see us return home,” Anganu says.
“When recruitment starts again, we will try again.”
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