PLA division commanders made the proposal during a meeting with Prime Minister and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal last Sunday. [break]
“CM (Chairman Dahal) was much positive about the proposal and told us to wait until a meeting of the Army Integration Special Committee (AISC),” said Kali Bahadur Kham, PLA division commander of Shaktikhor cantonment.
The AISC, headed by prime minister Dahal, deals with security issues of both the Nepal Army (NA) and the PLA.
Representatives from three major ruling parties — Unified CPN (Maoist), CPN-UML and Madhesi People’s Rights Forum — and main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) are members of the AISC.
Prime Minister Dahal told the PLA division commanders that he will put the proposal at a meeting of the AISC soon for approval.
The PLA informed the prime minister that the combatants in the cantonments should not be kept idle.
“Basically, we want to engage our combatants in construction activities,” said Kham, adding, “We want to cooperate with the government in development works.”
During the meeting, the prime minister asked the PLA commanders to submit a detailed financial plan for the purpose.
The commanders told the prime minister that the combatants will concentrate on development works until they are integrated with Nepalese Army.
In a preliminary proposal, the commanders have said they want to engage in construction and maintenance of roads and bridges near the cantonment sites.
Kham, PLA division commander from Chitwan, said he has mentioned in the proposal PLA´s desire to construct embankments in a river near Sauraha resort besides constructing a road from Bharatpur to the Chepang settlement in the district.
“Our combatants will construct roads at much cheaper costs than any contractors,” he said.
PLA’s proposal, however contravenes with the agreement, what the Maoist signed with the government in the past.
Clause 4.1 of the Agreement on Monitoring of the Management of Arms and Armies, signed by both the government and the Maoist on 8 December 2006 states that Maoist combatants shall be confined within their designated cantonment area. The agreement also states that no more than 12 percent of the total retained force can leave concerned cantonments at one time.
The PLA commanders however argue that the combatants will remain engaged near the cantonments.
“Since our proposed construction sites are located much closer to the cantonments, I don’t think our activities will violate past agreements,” said Kham.
There are 19,602 UN-verified PLA combatants and at least 5,000 disqualified ones in seven main and 21 satellite cantonments across the country.
ghanashyam@myrepublica.com
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