DPM puts integration ceiling at 3,600

BIRATNAGAR, March 6: Deputy Prime Minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar has said the government is ready to integrate Maoist fighters into national security agencies as per ´one weapon, one army´ principle.



He said the Maoists have submitted 3,600 weapons to UNMIN and therefore an equal number of their combatants can be integrated.



"The government is ready to integrate Maoist combatants into security agencies on the basis of the number of weapons the Maoists have registered in UNMIN," Gachchhadar, who is also the chairman of the Madhesi People´s Rights Forum-Democratic (MPRF-D), told reporters at Biratnagar Airport on Saturday.



He claimed that the government was not bound to accept every decision taken by the High-Level Political Mechanism (HLPM) on integration of the Maoist combatants. "Management of the Maoist combatants is government´s responsibility, not HLPM´s," he said.



He said the mechanism was formed with a view to helping to resolve the protracted political deadlock and to help draft the new constitution on time. "If the constitution is not written within the stipulated timeframe, the mechanism will be answerable but the government shouldn´t be blamed for that," Gachchhadar said.



He accused the big parties of being negligent toward constitution making and running after the power.

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