The regrouping process of Nepal' s People's Liberation Army (PLA) is almost nearing its conclusion.
PLA was the military wing of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) when the party was at civil conflict.
A total of seven cantonments in different parts of the country which are housing around 19,500 PLA combatants after the commencement of the peace process in 2006 underwent the regrouping process which began on Nov. 18.
"The process now only remains in the fourth division, while it has been complete in the rest of the other cantonments," Coordinator of the Secretariat of the Army Integration Special Committee, Balananda Sharma told Xinhua on Monday.
The regrouping process was expected to end by Monday evening. However, due to some technical difficulties and hindrance that was created by some section of the PLA members due to dissatisfaction of few issues in the regrouping process, it could not be concluded as per the slated time.
"The regrouping process can be expected to end as of Tuesday," Sharma said.
As per the data until Sunday evening, 14,447 PLA members have undergone the regrouping process, where majority of them, about 60 percent, chose to be integrated, and around 40 percent opted for retirement.
"As of the data collection of Sunday evening, only two PLA members have chosen rehabilitation package," Sharma said.
Officials involved in the categorization and UCPN-Maoist commanders attribute different reasons for the unexpected number of the PLA opting for integration.
According to Sharma, the PLA members' lack of trust upon political parties was the main reason for them not to chose the rehabilitation package.
Sharma further said that committee is visiting the PLA members who are sick, mutilated, pregnant or injured in their own places to include them in the regrouping process.
Meanwhile, a group of PLA members led by Deputy Commander Udaya Bahadur Chalaune at the Third Division camp have expressed dissatisfaction over some issues. Chalaune is in line with the hardliners from the UCPN-M led by Party Vice President Mohan Vaidya who have been expressing his disapproval to the seven-point peace agreement signed by the major political parties on Nov. 1.
The Chalune group has presented a six-point demand which includes that the entire money provided in the rehabilitation package should be soon provided at once to the members opting for rehabilitation.
Not all the UCPN-M combatants going for integration will get place in the 6,500 quota agreed among parties for the PLA under a new directorate of the Nepal Army. The directorate will be formed to accommodate these combatants and the national army will choose the reserved number of the PLA combatants applying its own standard norms.
Editor: An
English.news.cn 2011-11-28 19:06:50
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by Punjita Pradhan
KATHMANDU, Nov. 28 (Xinhua)
