Special committee on integration has six months

(Updated)



KATHMANDU, Sept 1: The first meeting of the reconstituted Special Committee on Supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation of Maoist combatants on Tuesday morning fixed its term for six months, according to Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, a member of the committee. [break]



This is the first time the committee has convened its meeting since the fall of the Maoist-led government on May 4 due to dispute over the reconstitution of the committee and the Maoist claim for the chairmanship of the committee. Though Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal reconstituted the committee on July 14, the panel became inactive after the Maoists protested the panel´s reconstitution under Nepal´s chairmanship.



According to Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta, another member, the committee is meeting on September 6. "As it was the first meeting, there was no specific agenda at today´s (Tuesday´s) meeting. No agenda has yet been fixed for the next meeting as well," Gupta told myrepublica.com.



The committee also decided to extend the term of its technical committee by three months.



The committee is part of the Agreement on Monitoring of the Management of Arms and Armies signed between the then government of the seven parties and the then Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) on December 8, 2006, in presence of Ian Martin, special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General.



After a prolonged deadlock, the prime minister reconstituted the panel. It has two representatives each from the CPN-UML, Nepali Congress and Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist); one representative each from Madhesi People´s Rights Forum, Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (Democratic) and Tarai Madhes Democratic Party.



Nepal and Ishwar Pokharel represent the CPN-UML in the committee while Mahat and Minister for Culture Dr Minendra Rijal are the NC representatives. Similarly, Minister for Tourism Sharat Singh Bhandari, Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta and Mahendra Prasad Yadav represent MPRF (D), MPRF and TMDP respectively in the reconstituted committee.



According to the Interim Constitution, the special committee will come up with plans for integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants currently living in the 28 cantonments monitored by the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN). There are 19, 602 verified Maoists fighters in the cantonments.



kiran@myrepublica.com

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