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Six years after civil war, Nepal peace process ends
Nepal’s much delayed peace process which began in 2006 with end of the decade long civil war has finally reached conclusion, Utpal Parashar reports.
Nepal’s much delayed peace process which began in 2006 with end of the decade long civil war has finally reached conclusion.
The end came on Friday with dissolution of the Special Committee entrusted with supervision, integration and rehabilitation of thousands of Maoist combatants who had given up arms.
“The committee has been dissolved and with it the peace process has ended,” committee member and Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) leader Bhim Rawal told journalists.
The tenure of the committee which came into existence in 2008 as per Nepal’s interim constitution to act as a transitional mechanism for overseeing the Maoist combatants ended on Saturday.
The final meeting of the committee chaired by former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai has asked the government to conduct an audit of the expenses incurred on the Maoist rebels and their camps.
Discrepancies in the total number of Maoist combatants when the peace deal was signed and in subsequent years have led to allegations that huge amounts were embezzled in names of fictitious rebels.
The total number of Maoist rebels in 2006 was listed as 19,602. Since 2011 when the peace process picked momentum 15,610 opted for retirement with cash benefits and six opted for rehabilitation.
Nearly 1,400 of them are at present undergoing training to join the Nepal Army and 47 who had earlier got selected to join the defence forces have sought permission to leave.
Since over 2,000 Maoist rebels were found ‘missing’, most members of the special committee have sought a thorough auditing of expenses.
The committee decided to provide compensation of NRs 2.55 lakh (Rs. 1,59,000) to the 47 Maoists who have opted to leave training for integration into Nepal Army midway.
It was also decided to entrust Lieutenant General (retired) Balananda Sharma the task of coordinating with government agencies till training of the Maoists to be integrated into Nepal Army is over.
