In its reply to the Supreme Court over the recruitment controversy on Monday, the national army said that its recent recruitment followed separate permission from the Defense Ministry and the JMCC in 2008. JMCC is responsible for monitoring, reporting and coordinating, with its members drawn from both the Nepal Army and the Maoist army.
This aspect of the recruitment of over 3,000 personnel is something contrary to public statements given by both UNMIN and Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) in regard to recruitment held in November.
Both UNMIN and the Maoists have maintained separately that the recruitment was against the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the 10-year Maoist armed conflict. The CPA bans any additional recruitment by either the national army or the Maoist army, which is currently inside UN-monitored cantonments.
“JMCC has not taken any such decision [on recruitment, as stated by the Nepal Army],” said Kosmos Biswakarma, spokesperson of UNMIN. “UNMIN continues to maintain that any recruitment is against the CPA.”
However, the Nepal Army told the Supreme Court that the Defense Ministry had informed Ian Martin, then chief of UNMIN, on January 8, 2008 about JMCC’s conclusion on recruitment.
The army said the Defense Ministry had on May 16, 2007 permitted it to fill the vacant posts. The recruitments have been a bone of contention between the Maoist-led government and the army that fought the Maoists during the conflict period. The Maoists, who lead the government, have accused the army of disobeying their orders not to proceed with the recruitment.
In the letter to the Supreme Court where the recruitment controversy has now landed, the army alleged that the writ petition against recruitment was filed in a bid to create the illusion that the national army and [Maoist] combatants have equal status. Inhured International, an NGO, took the controversy to the court in February. Terming the recruitment controversy a political one, the army has asked the Supreme Court not to interfere in the issue.
“The CPA is purely a political document. The court has not been authorized to interpret the CPA,” the army said in the letter to the Supreme Court.
Officials at the Supreme Court said they would work on the hearings date for the case after the New Year holiday on Tuesday as it has already received replies from all the defendants, including the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, over the controversy.
kiran@myrepublica.com
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