Special Committee meeting Monday

KATHMANDU, Jan 24: In its first meeting after bringing the Maoist army under its control, the Special Committee is taking up yet another challenging task of developing a modality of integration and rehabilitation for the ex-Maoist fighters.

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, who is the coordinator of the Special Committee that has the constitutional obligation of supervising, integrating and rehabilitating former Maoist army personnel, has a meeting on Monday to discuss time-bound modality of integration and rehabilitation of former Maoist fighters, said a highly-placed source at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.

Maoist representative in the Special Committee Barshaman Pun told Republica that the meeting will discuss the future course of integration and rehabilitation following handover of the Maoist combatants to the Special Committee on Saturday. The planned agreement on modality will open the door for an ultimate management of over 19,000 combatants. Once an agreement is reached, the Maoist combatants will be regrouped as per their choice -- those opting for integration, voluntary exit or rehabilitation in society -- and will be kept in separate camps for further processing.

As the Special Committee takes up the modality issue, it will also have to decide on harmonization of ranks and define standard norms that combatants need to meet to qualify for integration, something many believe is the most difficult task ahead for political parties. “We have prepared our modality on integration and rehabilitation,” Pun said, adding that they will present it before the Special Committee if needed.

Why PLA flag was not handed over?

As per the original plan, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal was supposed to lower the flag of the People´s Liberation Army (PLA) and hand it over to Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal to mark PLA´s handover to the Special Committee at Shaktikhor, Chitwan on Saturday. But the plan was dropped following an objection from Dahal at the eleventh hour.

According to a knowledgeable source, the proposed event was canceled after Dahal told the prime minister that such an act would mean defeat and surrender for the PLA. Though the prime minister insisted that the program should not be cancelled, he finally gave in after Dahal threatened to cancel the entire event.

But Pun, who was one of the members of ceremony organizing committee, told Republica that Dahal was scheduled to either sign a statement declaring the handover of cantonment to the Special Committee or hand over the PLA flag to the prime minister. Accordingly, Dahal only signed the statement.

PM objects to PLA participation in Maoist training

The government has taken exception to the Maoist plan to include combatants in upcoming training of the party´s state committees, saying that the new code of conduct for PLA, which came into effect from Saturday, does not allow the combatants to engage in any political activities.

Talking to Republica on Saturday, Maoist leader Pun, who is also the Maoist military in-charge, said PLA would participate in the upcoming training. He also added his party and the prime minister had reached an understanding in this regard.

“No such understanding has been reached as claimed by Pun,” said a source close to the prime minister, adding that they had only reached an understanding to allow central level Maoist combatants who are not staying in cantonments to take part in political training.

Another source close to the prime minister told Republica that the prime minister is likely to take up the issue in the meeting of the Special Committee on Monday.

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