Based on what they were promised by the party leadership, the combatants had expected to be integrated into the NA wing armed, unit-wise, and with combat roles.[break]
But the peace deal signed by the major parties on Tuesday came as a disappointment, if not as a shock, to a sizable number of combatants.
The deal, which doesn´t fulfill the key promises made to them by the party leaders, has left them in a dilemma.
“We are neither comfortable going back home with the promised money nor can we join the NA directorate under such humiliating conditions,” said a PLA division vice-commander who is close to party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
For another division vice-commander from the Dahal faction, returning home with the money amounts to a “humiliating defeat”, not through the strength of the “enemy” but through the “surrender” of the higher-ups.
“We will fight and die, but we won´t surrender. It is our bottom-line that the PLA should be integrated into the state forces armed, unit-wise and with combat roles,” said another vice-commander who is close to Dahal. “What does this peace deal mean except a document of surrender?” he questioned.
But vice-commander from first division Hari Bahadur Shrestha, who is close to Maoist Vice-chairman and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, said he is largely satisfied with the deal. “Not all the promises made by the leadership have been addressed in the deal. But it is still okay,” he said.
Udaya Chalaune, who is vice-commander of the third division and close to party hard-line leader Mohan Baidya, says he doesn´t want to comment on the deal.
“It makes no sense commenting on the deal as the whole spirit of the deal is against what we PLA personnel learned over the years,” says Chalaune.
Nep Bahadur Tharu, who is vice-commander at the seventh division and is close to Dahal, summarizes the dilemma in the cantonment this way: “River has burst its banks, and it is yet to see which course the river flows.”
However, the number and rehabilitation packages as agreed in the deal seem to be okay for the combatants. “In fact, the rehabilitation package and the number are not problems for us,” says Chalaune.
But there are some division commanders and vice-commanders from the party establishment, including Santu Darai, security chief of Dahal, who have welcomed the deal.
All the seven division commanders and a majority of 16 division vice-commanders are from the party establishment. But not all of them have supported the deal.
In fact, the party largely accepted the model and integration norms presented by the Nepal Army. Dahal fully accepted the non-combat mandate of the NA directorate, though there are some concessions on the integration norms. The peace deal has agreed to give one level bonus on the education qualification requirements of the combatants, assume three years younger than the real age of the combatants and dismiss the marital status impediments.
The PLA commanders, however, argue that the peace deal has the provision for recruitment, not integration, as each combatant, bereft of his arms, is required to meet certain criteria to enter the directorate.
“Now joining the directorate depends on individual choice, and it is recruitment, not integration. So it is still uncertain how many will join the directorate,” said a division vice-commander.
Maoist PLA Chief Nanda Kishore Pun dismissed the claim that the integration deal is humiliating for the PLA, but argued that his party made certain sacrifices.
“It is a matter of give and take, and the Maoist party has made a sacrifice during the process,” Pun said.
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