- Army chief Katawal holds meeting with senior generals on how to respond to govt letter
- Katawal meeting with President Yadav at 4 p.m.
KATHMANDU, April 20: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamala Dahal on Monday briefed President Dr Ram Baran Yadav about the cabinet´s decision to seek clarification from the chief of army staff (COAS) Rookmangud Katawal over the latter´s alleged defiance of the government´s orders, according to our correspondent Ghanashyam Ojha.
"I discussed with the president the issue of seeking the army chief´s clarification," PM Dahal told the mediapersons coming out of the president´s office. "The president told me to discuss the issue with other political parties as well." [break]
The prime minister said he would settle the dispute by taking into confidence all the political parties. The meeting focused on the army chief´s defiance and the cabinet´s response to it.
Earlier, the Defense Ministry sent a letter to army chief General Rookmangud Katawal seeking his clarification on his “defiance of government orders”. The letter followed the cabinet´s decision to act against Katawal.
Katawal has to reply within 24 hours of receiving the show cause letter.
The letter was sent to army headquarters Monday, a day after some senior ministers agreed to Maoists’ proposal to tighten the screw on national army “to bring it under government’s full control”. Senior Maoist and UML ministers had decided to take action against Katawal in Sunday’s cabinet meeting. Ministers from other parties were also informed.
The letter asking Katawal to clarify why he asked eight brigadier generals to join office while their case was in the Supreme Court, why he ordered army’s sports team to boycott Fifth National Game and defied government’s orders to stop recruitment in the army was sent Monday.
“The government has sought clarification on these three issues from the army chief,” said Krishna Bahadur Mahara, government’s spokesperson. "These were defiance of the government orders and violation of Comprehensive Peace Accord."
The letter also asked the army chief to explain as to why he challenged the government’s appeal to the Supreme Court to scrap the stay order reinstating the brigadier generals.
Katawal was blamed for defying the Defense Ministry’s orders to stop recruiting about 3000 personnel. The Supreme Court settled the issues asking the army headquarters not to repeat such an act but not to cancel the appointments which were already made. The generals whose term was not extended by the government and retired ipso facto were given responsibility by Katawal when the final verdict on the case is pending. After Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ordered for participation of Maoists´ People’s Liberation Army, Nepal Army team had boycotted the six events of Fifth National Games in which the PLA took part.
After receiving Defense Ministry´s letter Katawal called an emergency meeting of senior generals available in the capital to discuss the ways to respond to the government letter. According to a source, the meeting concluded that the Maoist-led government has started planned attack on Nepal Army. They also suggested Katawal to meet with President Dr Ram Baran Yadav who is also Supreme Commander of Nepal Army. Katawal is planning to meet Yadav at 4 p.m.
yuvraj@myrepublica.com
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