An 11-member team led by Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction Bishnu Prasad Nepal had reached Pariwartan Smriti Brigade in Chitwan to begin the process, but PLA commanders told the team that the government´s decision was unilateral and taken without consulting the Maoists. “Who sent the team to the cantonment,” a government official in the team quoted the PLA commanders as asking.
Secretary of the Fourth Division Tara Pun argued that the PLA would not accept the government´s unilateral decision. “It is not a decision taken by the Army Integration Special Committee (AISC), so we will not accept it,” Pun said. The task of the AISC is to supervise, integrate and rehabilitate the Maoist combatants.
However, Maoist spokesperson Dinanath Sharma said in Kathmandu that his party doesn´t disagree with the government about the process of discharging disqualified combatants. “The views expressed by some commanders are personal,” said Sharma.
The government team had reached the cantonment on Friday, a day after Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Rakam Chemjong declared that the government was starting the process of discharging disqualified Maoist combatants from that day. There are altogether 4,008 combatants disqualified by the United Nations Missions in Nepal (UNMIN), and they are still sheltering at the UNMIN-monitored cantonments. Rehabilitation of the disqualified combatants is part of the peace process.
During the discussion with the team, the disqualified Maoist combatants said their first priority was nothing other than a status similar to that of the PLA.They said they joined the PLA not for the sake of running industries, looking after cattle and doing menial household work, but in the cause of country and its people.The disqualified combatants did not want to be rehabilitated outside the cantonments. The team had offered them various alternatives including employment, industrial skills training, agriculture and higher studies.
The government plans to provide them training and also ideas on finding jobs and opportunities after placing them in shelters.The team was accompanied by representatives of UNMIN, UNDP and UNICEF, among others.The combatants also asked UNMIN about the grounds for rejecting them even after they had fought for years. They also warned that the government would be responsible for the dire consequence after they are discharged from the cantonments.
Related story
Govt to dole out Rs 800 million to disqualified ex-Maoist comba...
