NEPAL: Nepal army refuses to induct Maoists

FROM GULF TIMES, DOHA, QATAR

Nepal Army chief General Chhatraman Singh Gurung has refused to hire fighters from the opposition Maoist party’s guerrilla army en masse.

Gurung, who became army chief last year after his predecessor, General Rookmangud Katawal, caused the collapse of the Maoist government, told visiting UN Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs B Lynn Pascoe that the fighters of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) should not be taken en masse in the Nepal Army.

The general’s stand goes against a peace pact signed between the Maoists and the ruling parties in 2006 that saw an end to a communist insurrection that had killed over 13,000 people.

It was also the stand adopted by Katawal that led to the Maoist government trying to sack him last year.

Gurung said the PLA could be accommodated in the police, border security forces and other non-military agencies. They could also be sent overseas for jobs or be rehabilitated with an economic incentive.

The general said some PLA combatants could be inducted in the army individually if they met the international yardsticks followed for recruitment. At his meeting with Pascoe Friday, Gurung also expressed concern at Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda giving training to the PLA in their cantonments and urging them to be ready for another revolution if the government failed to implement the new constitution by May 28.

The general has also negated a UN count that put the strength of the PLA at over 19,000, saying Prachanda had been caught admitting in a secretly taped video that there were only about 6,000-7,000 bona fide fighters. The army chief’s statement comes at a time the government is trying to slash the allowances to the PLA.

There is growing uncertainty over the fate of the fighters with their own leaders saying the new statute should be promulgated before they are disbanded while the ruling parties are demanding the discharge of the PLA first.

Gurung’s statement is bound to trigger Maoist anger. It has already been condemned by party spokesman Dinanath Sharma who said it was a political statement.

Sharma also said the integration of the PLA was a matter to be decided by the parties and not the army, which is bound to obey the government.

Pascoe is an envoy of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent to assess Nepal’s fraying peace process. He has asked the coalition government to rehabilitate the guerrilla army of the Maoists and democratise the national army, warning that Nepal still had two armies though the communist uprising had ended four years ago.

“The question of the future of the two armies should not remain unresolved any longer,” said B Lynn Pascoe in a statement issued by the UN on Thursday.

“Unfortunately, Nepal today still has two armies, and no agreed strategy for what to do about this… We encourage leaders to engage in serious, good-faith discussions leading to agreements and actions.”

Pascoe, who arrived in Kathmandu on a three-day visit Wednesday, held talks with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and Girija Prasad Koirala, who heads the largest party in the government, the Nepali Congress. He is also expected to inspect the cantonment in Shaktikhor in southern Nepal where part of the 19,600-strong Maoist army – the People’s Liberation Army – has been confined since they ended their 10-year “People’s War” in 2006.

The peace pact signed by the ruling parties and the Maoists, which ended the insurrection, had agreed to induct the PLA combatants into the state army.

However, the merger is yet to take off due to opposition by senior army officials and now ruling party leaders who are accusing the Maoists of having inflated the strength of the PLA.

Pascoe said the integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist army personnel along with the democratisation of the Nepal army and the enforcement of a new constitution in May were the two major tasks before the government.

“The effective integration and rehabilitation of former combatants is one of the most important factors distinguishing those countries that successfully navigate these transitions to peace,” he said.

“Former combatants need to be afforded a real stake in the economic, political and institutional life of the country.”

The army, which had supported deposed king Gyanendra in seizing power in 2005 and was charged with gross violation of human rights, has refused to toe the line even after the fall of the royal regime and its pledge to obey the elected government.

Army personnel named in torture and extrajudicial killings have not been punished despite court orders for their arrest.

With the parties having failed 10 deadlines in the process of drafting the new constitution, Pascoe indicated the UN had realised that the May 28 deadline for the new constitution may also fail and recommended backup action in that case. “We strongly encourage that every effort be made to accelerate progress in the days and weeks ahead,” he said.

“At the same time, inclusive discussions are needed to prepare carefully for the possibility that a final draft of the constitution will not be completed by the deadline.” The Maoists, who went to war demanding the new constitution, have warned of a new revolt if the ruling parties fail the May 28 deadline.

There is also mounting anger and frustration among civil society members at the delay and many constitutional experts have warned that a failure to meet the deadline would see chaos and violence. IANS