“They (NC and CPN-UML) have placed conditions before us. But no condition is acceptable to our party,” UCPN (Maoist) Spokesperson Dinanath Sharma told media after a party standing committee meeting.
Lately, the NC and UML have been saying they are ready to accept a Maoist-led government if the former rebel party agrees to a modality for integration of their former combatants and a plan of action to complete their management. [break]
Despite this stance, a meeting of the three-party taskforce preceding the standing committee meeting found “many meeting points” on the technical aspects of integration. The taskforce mandated to set out integration modality, is presenting its report on the integration issue to top leaders of the three parties Saturday.
Leaders say in private that constituting a government of political consensus will be on the horizon if the parties agree on the timing for implementation of agreements on the management of Maoist combatants and transfer of government leadership to the Maoists.
The NC and UML want to see the integration and rehabilitation of over 19,000 before a Maoist government is formed. But the UCPN (Maoist) insists that it should be allowed to form a government after agreement is reached on the integration modality.
The parties have five days more to agree on the timing for the implementation of integration and government leadership transfer as parliament is holding the first-round voting for prime minister on February 3.
Earlier, members of the taskforce acknowledged that integration is going to happen only once and the standard norms of the security agencies for recruitment should be relaxed without compromising their professionalism.
The leaders concluded that security experts and security agencies concerned should be consulted to determine to what extend norms for recruitment can be compromised for the integration.
At the meeting, Maoist representatives said that if standard norms are applied, none of the PLA members would be eligible, and asked other parties to find a middle way.
“We have common positions on some issues while there are differences on some others. Top leaders will take up these issues tomorrow,” said one leader on condition of anonymity. “The mood and development seen at today´s meeting suggest that we can reach an agreement on all the issues soon.”
The taskforce discussed in detail the pros and cons of the three modalities of integration presented by the Maoists, according to the source. The three models are -- creating a separate force for Maoist combatants, unit integration and mixed integration.
Maoist leader Barsha Man Pun said the meeting held open discussions on modality, standard norms and the number of combatants to be integrated in security agencies. “We had invited Secretariat convener Balaji [Bala Nanda Sharma] for a technical discussion. We found that things are positive,” he said. “We feel there would not be any problem either over the number of combatants to be integrated.”
Emerging from the meeting, Home Minister Bhim Rawal also said the meeting ended on a ´positive note´. “We need further discussions on some issues. The discussion has not reached a conclusion,” he added.
Related story
Entrepreneurs set various preconditions to resume public transp...
