"In the face of this situation, we are dismayed that some commentators try to hold the mission responsible for situations and shortcomings that by the very insistence of the parties themselves, the mission has little or no capacity to control. This is absurd and should come to an end," Pascoe said in a written statement distributed at an interaction with members of civil society, media, representatives of political parties and diplomatic community. [break]
Pascoe´s statement seems to have aimed at referring to the ongoing row between the government and UNMIN over details on Maoist combatants. Senior government ministers, including Peace Minister Rakam Chemjong, have publicly criticized UNMIN for providing the details. Chemjong had last Sunday even accused UNMIN of trying to obstruct the peace process by not providing the details.
Following his statement, participants, mostly from the civil society, raised questions over UNMIN´s impartiality in dealing with the political parties and the government.
But Pascoe took up only a few questions and did not reply questions critical of UNMIN´s role. Pascoe termed all allegations against UNMIN as "boring" and "red herring". He instead asked the participants why UNMIN should stay in Nepal if it is criticized.
"We worked to bring UNMIN here and we would like it to succeed. But the question is what UNMIN is going to do now," asked senior journalist Kanak Mani Dixit. "We did grow critical over time as UNMIN failed to live up to what is considered to be international standard in supervision of the camps [Maoist cantonments]."
But Maoist leaders Ram Karki, Suresh Ale Magar and Kula Bahadur KC accused the government of dragging UNMIN into controversy by seeking information about the combatants. They also accused the government of trying to blame UNMIN so as to hide own faults and failures in forwarding the peace process.
"Will UNMIN give the information of the old army [Nepal Army] to us if we demand?" Karki asked.
Pascoe defended UNMIN´s refusal to share the details on Maoist combatants and said the information is confidential and the global body´s principle of impartiality does not allow it to share such information with the government.
"As both parties well know, the information UNMIN holds as a result of the registration process in the cantonment is subject to confidentiality agreements that were accepted by both sides... Honoring that commitment is essential to our impartiality," Pascoe said.
He also defended the charges of lax monitoring of Maoist combatants, and said, "Even within its arms monitoring functioning, UNMIN, contrary to popular misconception, has been given no mandate or capacity to police the cantonments."
Civil society members who were present at the program took exception to Pascoe´s statement and his selection of words like "absurd" and "boring".
"He seems to have come with a closed mind. There was hardly an opportunity for dialogue, given his declared mindset," said Dixit, editor of Himal SouthAsian. "This was an admonishment."
In his statement issued at the interaction held by Nepal Institute of Policy Studies (NIPS), Pascoe also expressed concern over non-implementation of the commitments to integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants and democratization of Nepal Army.
"The question of the future of the two armies should not remain unresolved any longer. We encourage leaders to engage in serious, good-faith discussions leading to agreements and actions," he said.
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