"We are going to propose to the Special Committee that the process of voluntary retirement and integration should begin within a week, concluding that there should be no delay in winding up the peace process" said Sadananda Kurmi, a member of the secretariat, about the proposal being prepared as per a directive of the Special Committee. [break]
The secretariat is submitting its report to the Special Committee during a meeting on Friday and it is subject to amendment by the latter.
The secretariat has concluded that it can complete in 12 days the process of giving voluntary retirement to 7,268 combatants in all 28 cantonments who have chosen retirement from the Maoist army.
The Special Committee, a government-formed cross party mechanism responsible for management of the Maoist combatants, had early this week directed its secretariat to prepare a calendar of events for winding up the voluntary retirement and integration of ex-Maoist fighters.
The secretariat has also proposed that the integration and voluntary retirement should be carried out side by side so that it will be easier to handle cases of combatants who fail to meet the standard norms of the Nepal Army during the integration process. Such combatants will be allowed to choose between rehabilitation and voluntary retirement.
They will then be required to fill up new forms much in the way they did during the categorization process. If the parties stick to the present integration quota of 6,500, the secretariat will have to conduct the process for 3,190 combatants as 9,690 ex-Maoist fighters have opted for integration into the national army.
Similarly, the secretariat has also laid down a plan to organize a formal ceremony at the cantonment at either Shaktikhor or Nawalparasi to mark the start of voluntary retirement and integration. Symbolic programs will also be held in all the remaining cantonments. However, it has left it to the Special Committee to fix the date for such ceremonies.
According to the proposal, shared by the secretariat member with Republica, the prime minister, top leaders of political parties, special committee members and foreign ambassadors will attend the historic ceremony.
In another context, the secretariat has proposed that the government provide security to the cantonments once they are vacated. If the proposal is approved, the combatants who have opted for integration will be gathered together in the seven main cantonments.
A meeting of the Special Committee early this week had asked the secretariat to make suggestions how the properties being used for the cantonments can be put to use now. Accordingly, the secretariat has proposed that the government use those properties as per its necessity, but has suggested that they can be utilised either to set up the directorate to be formed under the Nepal Army for integration purposes, or for the training of integrated combatants or for setting up industrial outfits, according to Kurmi.
101 more combatants categorized
Altogether 101 Maoist combatants, who missed out during the formal categorization process due to their physical condition, have been registered during the two-day categorization program that concluded on Thursday, according to secretariat member Dr Dipak Prakash Bhatt. The secretariat made special arrangements for the categorization of disabled and nursing-mother combatants as they had been unable to be present for registration during the formal categorization process.
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