The Army on Tuesday said it cannot start the recruitment process of former Maoist combatants until the structure—leadership and size—of the general directorate is finalised at the political level. The Army also said the selection process of combatants could be carried out, but that training will take place only after the structure of the directorate is finalised.
In an informal meeting with members of the Special Committee, Army officials said the directorate should be under a lieutenant general as it is a special unit for peacekeeping and has broad mandates including disaster management, infrastructure development, industrial security, forest and environment security.
The Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML have, however, said it should be under a major general.
An NA team led by Chief of Army Staff Chhatra Man Singh Gurung also requested the committee to endorse the vacancy for the general directorate to speed up the integration process. The seven-point agreement signed on April 14 says the structure and leadership of the directorate will be finalised once the NA completes the selection of combatants eligible for integration. The committee said the Military Act will be enforced on combatants once they go to the barracks for training.
“We will take a decision on issues once we get the actual number of Maoist combatants opting for integration,” said NC leader Ram Sharan Mahat.
The November 1 deal commits to integrate a maximum of 6,500 combatants in the Army, but the number has decreased to around 3,000 as combatants started opting for voluntary retirement.
Parties have earlier reached an informal understanding to appoint a lieutenant general to lead the general directorate and appoint a brigadier to head each of the directorates.
As the number of combatants opting for integration decreased and the size of the directorate is going to be relatively small, there is confusion about its leadership and size. Maoist leader Barsa Man Pun said that though the number has decreased, the directorate should be led by a lieutenant general as it is going to be formed under special circumstances.
Committee members also held consultations with Acting Chief of the Public Service Commission (PSC) Kayo Devi Yami on the selection procedure of Maoist combatants.
The Special Committee also suggested the PSC to not accept combatants who have been involved in grave human rights violations during the insurgency, but give due concession to those who have sustained minor injuries.
Retirement process ends in six camps
KATHMANDU: The voluntary retirement process of PLA combatants has completed in six of the seven division camps.
As of Tuesday, 6,177 of the 9,705 combatants opted to retire from the PLA. Our correspondents reported that among those who chose retirement were 545 of the 796 combatants under the first division camp in Ilam, 446 of the 805 in the Sindhuli-based second division, 1,587 of the 2,214 in the Chitwan-based third division and 796 of the 1,282 in the Nawalparasi-based fourth division.
In the Rolpa-based fifth division, 740 of the 1,287 combatants went for the retirement option; while in the Surkhet-based sixth division camp, 987 of 1,559 combatants chose the scheme. The voluntary retirement process in the Kailali-based seventh division camp is expected to complete on Wednesday. As of Tuesday, 1,076 of the 1,762 combatants from the division have chosen retirement.
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