- PLA has contributed a lot to the country
- Ready to sacrifice Baluwatar
- New policy on security, national army
- New constitution must under given time frame
- Conspirators out to derail peace process
HATTIKHOR, Nawalparasi, Feb 12: The Army Integration Special Committee (AISC) will assume overall command of the ´People´s Liberation Army´, said Maoist party chairman and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal here on Thursday. [break]
"You are no longer under the Maoist party," said Dahal, addressing PLA commanders and troops at PLA cantonment at Hattikhor on the occasion of the 8th anniversary of the Maoist army. "You are under the AISC, technically and in principle." He said the PLA was no longer under the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist.
The PLA´s role and status would change and would have a new command under AISC which is part of a legitimate state. However, internal command of the PLA will remain unchanged, he added.
"You will accept all decisions of the AISC unconditionally," he said during the three-hour-long anniversary celebrations that began at 1.45 p.m.
The AISC has two members each from the four largest parties in the Constituent Assembly – Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, Nepali Congress, CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and Madhesi People´s Rights Forum – and is headed by the prime minister. The committee is tasked with the integration and rehabilitation of PLA combatants.
Subel Bhandari
The PM said the special committee has had three meetings and a meeting on Wednesday decided to form a technical committee that will outline the working procedure on "integration and rehabilitation" of the PLA.
Dahal did not mention integration of the PLA into the national army. His remarks comes at a time when the issue of integrating PLA combatants living in 28 UN-monitored cantonments across the country has generated heated debate. They have been staying the cantonments since late 2006.
"I am addressing you for the first time since becoming prime minister," he said. "I have a deep emotional attachment to you and I admit there has been a break in the link between you and me." He praised the Maoist army for its "contribution to the country and the people".
The PLA and the Maoist party have sacrificed a lot for the country and would not hesitate to do so again, he added. "We will even sacrifice Baluwatar (PM´s official residence in the capital) if need be."
The prime minister also said that the government is working to change the security and army policy "as per the wishes of the people" of the country.
He emphasized timely writing of the new constitution. "We have to write the constitution in the given timeframe." He said 40 groups concerned with constitution-drafting would come to them and asked them to provide all help.
He warned conspirators against the peace process who he said have already started working against peace and the constitution-writing. He said the recent shooting of his personal secretary, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, was by "elements who are frightened by us". "But we will defeat their nefarious designs", he said. Some Maoist leaders had claimed that India was behind the shooting of Basnet who suffered bullet injuriess and is undergoing treatment in a Kathmandu hospital. These are willful people who want to unsettle us and are even trying to stoke communal feelings, Dahal alleged.
The prime minister said questions have been raised over the Maoist party´s commitment to the rule of law, press freedom, human rights and multi-party competitive politics and vowed that the Maoists would prove such doubters wrong.
Thursday´s celebrations were marked with revolutionary songs, hoisting of flag and march past by PLA soldiers, among others.
