Maoist politburo member Kul Prasad KC, one of two Maoist leaders on the Committee on Rehabilitation, Monitoring and Coordination of Disqualified Combatants, said the process will see a logical end only if the government announces a policy of gratuity for the disqualified.
“It will be difficult to persuade disqualified combatants to leave the cantonments in the absence of such a gratuity scheme. The process will not move ahead in such a situation,” KC told myrepublica.com on Monday. “How can the disqualified combatants be asked to leave the cantonments with just some clothing?”
KC´s comments come a day after the government and the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) rejected the Maoist demand for a cash scheme for the disqualified - minors and late recruits - during the meeting of the committee on Sunday. AT the meeting of the committee, which oversees the process, KC had demanded that each disqualified combatant be provided a cash incentive.
There are altogether 4,008 combatants disqualified by UNMIN during its verification in 2007. The discharge and rehabilitation of these Maoists is an important aspect of the three-year-old peace process.
“The disqualified combatants want Rs 1 million each besides vocational training. I put forth their demand at the meeting on Sunday,” KC said.
KC had to give up the demand for Rs 1 million for each disqualified combatant after officials from UNMIN and other UN agencies attending the meeting vehemently opposed it. He had then pushed the demand for gratuity.
The Maoists have maintained that the government should treat the disqualified combatants as temporary staff who should be given gratuity much in the way it does with staff when they are given retirement.
But a senior government official, who prefers anonymity, told myrepublica.com that the government would not announce such cash relief since it fears that the money may ultimately go into Maoist coffers.
“If the government comes up with a cash scheme, a lot of donors will support it,” said KC.
Currently, the Peace Ministry and UN agencies based in Kathmandu are jointly working on a rehabilitation package for the disqualified. But such a package will include vocational training, not any cash incentive.
Discharge at three more cantonments
A meeting of the technical committee headed by Joint Secretary Bishnu Prasad Nepal on Monday decided to begin the discharge and rehabilitation process at three more cantonments - Hattikhor (Nawalparasi district), Shaktikhor (Chitwan) and Dasharathpur (Surkhet) - from Sunday. The process has already begun at Dudhauli cantonment in Sindhuli.
kiran@myrepublica.com
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