First, immediately after Defense Minister Bidya Bhandari assumed office, she was reported saying that she had never ever heard of the word integration. Later, she denied making the statement.
Political events unfolding since the fall of the Maoist government speak more of the country heading towards the peace process reaching an illogical conclusion rather than a logical one.
Second, the prime minister (PM) made a more controversial remark when he floated the idea that a maximum of 5,000 PLA fighters fulfilling the recruitment criteria would be integrated into the army. When the Maoists made a hue and cry about the remark, the statement was hurriedly corrected saying the source of the figure actually came from an informal chat with Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal himself. The PM also viewed that PLA integration should be completed before the writing of the new constitution. Now, he has given a six-month deadline to compete the task. But the Maoists’ one-month deadline to initiate a debate on the president’s extra-constitutional move to reinstate the army chief is also about to expire. The country’s politics now rests on whether or not the Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Rookmangud Katawal retires a month before the official due date of September 10. The Maoists’ one-month deadline also coincides with the CoAS taking retirement a month earlier.
Third, the controversy on PLA integration was further sparked on July 9 when the government presented its policies and programs in the parliament. Contrary to the sequencing of the words – supervision, integration and rehabilitation – as mentioned in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and also in the Interim Constitution, the government carefully moved the word rehabilitation ahead of the word integration implying that it intends first to rehabilitate PLA fighters before their integration into the security forces. Maoist ideologue Dr Baburam Bhattarai was seen vehemently opposing the idea in the parliament and charged the government for attempting to dismantle the peace process. The transposition of the words – integration and rehabilitation – could bring a huge difference in its understanding and practical applications. The World Bank too is seen spoiling the peace-process by withdrawing its support to fund PLA fighters’ monthly allowances. I do not know how the Bank is helping to support the peace process by withdrawing its support from one aspect of the peace process and redirecting the fund to other aspects of it.
Fourth, on July 16, just a day before United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) Ban Ki-moon’s presentation of UNMIN’s six-month extension request in the UN Security Council, both national and international media were awash with news stories on the initiation of the process to discharge disqualified PLA fighters, mostly children, from the cantonment sites. It was nothing more than a ploy to draw international attention – to give an impression that something is finally happening in Nepal and to justify UNMIN’s six-month extension. If one reads the news carefully, nothing was happening other than a visit by a minister and his team to the cantonment sites and interviewing some disqualified PLA fighters on their needs and interests in the rehabilitation process. Nonetheless, UNMIN’s term was extended for the fourth time. Let’s hope there will not be a need for a fifth extension.
Fifth, the Minister for Peace and Reconstruction is now reported saying that the rehabilitation of disqualified fighters is a pre-condition to the integration of qualified fighters.
Sixth, now we have more spoilers in the fray. The recently-elected NC Parliamentary Leader Ram Chandra Poudel views that there cannot be a new constitution without, first, resolving the issue of PLA integration. This will be like subjugating the new constitution to a gunpoint. Meanwhile, another top leader of Nepali Congress, Sher Bahadur Deuba, has a different opinion. He is of the view that PLA integration can take place only after, not before, the promulgation of the new constitution. Sounds we are into this before-after, chicken-egg dilemma. Maoists are also no less to blame. Now, they have taken a stand that PLA integration should take place only after the promulgation of the new constitution. By making this statement, they want to guarantee us on the drafting of the new constitution. Earlier, their view was that both the things should happen simultaneously.
Seventh, and more recently, we have CPN-UML’s KP Oli throwing his own tantrums. Probably, angered by Maoists showing of black flags and unruly demonstration in Jhapa, he is reported saying that there are no more than 1000 PLA fighters in the camps. Jhala Nath Khanal, his own party president, warned not to quote irresponsible figures on PLA integration. Girija Prasad Koirala too has joined the bandwagon. He is speaking aloud that PLA fighters should be rehabilitated; definitely not integrated into the army. He even challenged us to read and re-read the CPA. He is correct when he says that there is no specific mention in the CPA of integrating PLA fighters into the army. But he seems to have forgotten to read the provisions in Agreement on Monitoring of the Management of Arms and Armies (AMMAA) signed by his deputy and Maoists’ representative and witnessed by the Personal Representative of UNSG. Section 4.1.3, para three of AMMAA clearly states that “those Maoists army combatants who have been properly registered at cantonment sites will be eligible for possible integration into the security forces fulfilling the standard norms”. Well, it is a different matter if Koirala has his own definition of security forces.
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