NA refused to participate in the meeting, voicing serious objection to an agenda item for the meeting. [break]
NA has objected to the agenda item dealing with its fresh recruitment, on the ground that the issue does not fall under the committee´s jurisdiction.
JMCC is a body that oversees issues related to NA and UCPN-M´s People´s Liberation Army (PLA) and it is formed under the chairmanship of United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) representatives. The committee has three members each from NA and the PLA.
On Wednesday, NA had asked JMCC not to include recruitment in the agenda as the recruitment is in accordance with the interim constitution. NA decided to boycott the meeting after JMCC´s refusal to drop it from the agenda.
“We requested JMCC to drop the agenda,” NA spokesperson Ramindra Chhetri said. “After their refusal, we informed them that we would not participate.”
NA´s move is likely to infuriate the Maoist leaders. A senior Maoist leader said they are going to raise the issue seriously with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Maoist Secretary CP Gajurel said they were taken by surprise when they heard about NA´s boycott of the meeting.
"We will raise this issue seriously with the prime minister and we have also called a meeting of the major political parties to discuss the matter," Gajurel told reporters.
According to UNMIN, it had to defer the meeting as NA informed in writing that it was unable to attend as the issue of fresh recruitment in the national army was put forth as an agenda item for discussion.
"We deferred the meeting after we received a letter from NA," UNMIN Spokesman Kosmos Biswokarma told myrepublica.com. The next meeting is yet to be confirmed.
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