“I have already instructed the army to suspend the process and the army must obey,” said Thapa while speaking at a meeting of the National Interest Preservation Committee of the Constituent Assembly. “We want to tell army headquarters we wish we will not have to take any strong action,” he warned. [break]
He also accused the top generals of creating a rift between himself and the army chief. He, however, did not name the generals. Thapa said some diplomats are also trying to widen the gap between the army and the Defense Ministry.
“Our [Maoist party´s] intelligence is that they [generals] have been dining frequently with diplomats,” he said. “The issue is being intensified in diplomatic circles as well.” Thapa said UNMIN, the Maoists and the army have looked upon the recruitment row from different angles. He further said the political parties have also taken the issue of integration in their own partisan ways.
Thapa said the problem over the army was not due to lack of necessary legal arrangements. “It is an attitudinal problem related to whether to follow the law or not,” he claimed.
Thapa’s statement in the CA committee has come amid increasing differences between the Defence Ministry and the army. The army has continued with the process of recruiting more than 2,800 personnel despite the ministry’s orders to suspend it.
Minister Thapa, at the meeting, said Nepal needs a national policy [that treats the country] like“dynamite” instead of its traditional policy of looking upon it as a yam between two boulders. “The new national security policy should be like dynamite,” he said.
He said drafting of the new policy will be finalized by the end of Chaitra (mid-April).
Home Secretary Dr Gobinda Kusum, Inspector general of Police Hem Gurung, Inspector General of Armed Police Force Basudev Oli and Chief of National Investigation Department Dhan Singh Karki suggested the lawmakers formulate a national policy that will address the need of the hour.
“I strongly urge you [CA members] to make necessary constitutional arrangements that will stop the political parties from turning the police force into a football,” said IGP Gurung. He said unlimited discretionary powers for the government over extension of terms and dismissal from office has created a sort of frustration among senior officers.
Karki suggested that the national intelligence service should no longer be treated as a servant of the ruling parties and the government but as a servant of the entire nation.
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