The special committee issued the direction to the technical committee in view of the non-implementation of its earlier decision to bring the combatants under its command.
“Bringing the combatants under its chain of command has not been functional. So the special committee has directed the technical committee to prepare a proposal on how the combatants can be brought under it,” said Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, Nepali Congress leader and a member of the special committee, after a meeting at the Prime Minister´s Office on Sunday morning.
The special committee, according to another member Barsha Man Pun, also directed the technical committee to prepare a code of conduct for the Maoist combatants. There are 19,602 combatants currently staying in 28 cantonments monitored by the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN). Their management lies at the center of the ongoing peace process.
Besides, the committee at the end of its meeting with the members of the technical committee also directed the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction to resume the stalled process of discharging 4,802 disqualified Maoist combatants, said committee member JP Gupta.
In the meantime, the seven-member technical committee has, in its report, suggested the special committee to give two choices to the combatants -- whether they want to be active in politics or want to be integrated into the national army. "The Maoist party should decide how many combatants it wants to be active in politics before taking any decision on integrating and rehabilitating the combatants," a member of the technical committee said.
According to the member who wants to be anonymous, the committee has also asked parties to settle the modality of army integration at the political level.
kiran@myrepublica.com
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