Presenting its report to Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal at his office at Singha Durbar Monday, the TC said that it would be difficult to carry out its mandate unless the political parties forge a consensus on such criteria. [break]
“Only then can we move ahead towards the mandated task of helping integration of Maoist combatants into the national army,” TC coordinator Bala Nanda Sharma told myrepublica.com.
TC members asked the prime minister to decide whether all political parties agree to integrate Maoist combatants into the national army as per the army´s existing criteria or want some changes made to them. “Integration process can be accomplished once the criteria each Maoist combatant needs to meet is determined at a political level,” he added.
The report has included suggestions on the processes for integration of the Maoist combatants into the national army and the measures to be adopted to effectively put the cantoned combatants under the direct control of the special committee.
Sharma said they have made suggestions on how many times combatants can walk out of the cantonments and what rules they should abide by. “All these suggestions are based on national and international practices,” he further said.
All 19,602 Maoist combatants currently living in seven main cantonments and 21 satellite cantonments are under the control of the special committee as per the Agreement on Monitoring of the Management of Arms and Armies. The suggestions come amidst reports that a large number of combatants walk out of the cantonments at a time.
The special committee, though reconstituted on July 14, has not been able to convene its meeting due to Maoist reservations. The Maoists said that the committee was reconstituted unilaterally. In this context, the TC members asked the prime minister whether they should continue in office.
Indra Jit Rai, another TC member, said the prime minister asked them to continue in office as there are no differences over the TC.
“I have met with representatives of all the political parties,” Rai quoted the prime minister as saying. “All of them have expressed the wish that the existing Technical Committee continue its work.”
The prime minister asked them to bring a work plan while assuring them of their term extension shortly through a cabinet decision. “We will start our work, reaching each cantonment across the country, once our term is extended,” Rai said.
koshraj@myrepublica.com
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