KATHMANDU, Feb 8: The Nepal Army (NA) said on Sunday it has completed the process of selecting 2,884 recruits. Defense Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa is vehemently opposed to the recruitment in the national army.On Sunday alone, the army completed recruitment process of 2,304 combatants and 245 followers. Ranger Battalion in Chhauni published the results for combatants and (Kathmandu) Valley Divisional Headquarters announced the results for followers. [break]
At the height of the war of words, Minister Thapa had even warned of taking action against NA Chief Rookmangud Katawal if the latter failed to obey the ministry’s orders to stop the selection process.
“With the [Kathmandu] Valley Divisional Headquarters publishing results of the exams Sunday morning, the selection process is now complete,” said a source at the NA Headquarters. "Now they will start training."
Valley Divisional Head Quarters and Ranger Battalion at Chhauni were the last NA units to publish results of the exams.
The defense minister and the NA Headquarters are still engaged in the war of words. Minister Thapa claims it was a disobedience of civilian authority by NA while top military generals term the government fiat as prejudiced.
NA headquarters sources said their Office of the Adjutant General, which supervises the recruitment, had sent a letter to the ministry on October 16, 2008 informing about the recruitment.
But two months later, in December, the Defense Ministry asked the NA to stop the process. “By then the selection process was already at the final stages,” said the source.
Early last month, defense minister and the army chief issued tirades against each other at public functions. Thapa, speaking in Chitwan in January, disclosed that he had already sought clarification from Katawal for making “political remarks” in Nuwakot and not obeying government´s orders to suspend the recruitment process in the army.
“Army should follow government orders without any preconditions. Going against the order is tantamount to standing against the people and the nation,” said Thapa during that time. “We have already issued instruction to halt the recruitment process.”
All the ruling parties except for the Unified CPN (Maoist) stood by the NA’s stance thus forcing the Maoists to calm down against NA leadership. However, the commanders of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army have been threatening to start fresh recruitment if the NA did not stop the recruitment process.
Related story
70 percent migrant workers say they will not choose same recrui...
