E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, OCT 22 - Defence Minister Bidhya Bhandari on Wednesday said the government would resume recruitment in Nepal Army (NA) by the end of this month. She said fresh recruitment can be carried out so long as the number remains within the 95,753 ceiling.

“The government is currently engaged in an exercise to resume recruitment. I have asked the Army to submit the number of personnel needed and the departments where positions are vacant,” Bhandari said after meeting a dozen top Army officials at the Defence Ministry. “I think we will resume recruitment within October.”

Responding to a writ petition on the recruitment row in March, the Supreme Court had issued a stay order to stop recruitment in the Army. This has created 5,000 vacant positions, maintains the NA. Bhandari also said recruitment in vacant positions within the ceiling doesn’t violate the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed between the Maoists and the Seven-Party Alliance government in 2006. “We can’t keep the Army at a standstill by referring to clauses in the CPA,” she said. “CPA has only prohibited increase in the number of Army personnel above the existing ceiling. If that’s a problem, we should review it.” 

Senior officials of the Army and Defence Ministry discussed the process for resuming recruitment, keeping in mind the court’s stay order. Some urged it would be best to wait for the court’s final verdict, while some claimed the stay order wouldn’t create an obstacle for recruitment, said a

source.

The NA presented a slide show of its short, medium and long-term plans. In the long term, the Army aims to develop itself as a light infantry with a strength equivalent to that of the armies of SAARC countries, with capability to fight against such armies in hilly areas within 10 years. The long term plan also aims to replace the 34-year-old short machine guns and self-loading rifles. The Army has proposed housing for 51 percent of soldiers living in bunkers under the three-year short term plan. It has also requested the government to purchase an MA 60 aircraft from China, whose purchase order was cancelled after the abolition of monarchy in 2006. For implementing these plans, the NA has asked for allocation of seven percent of the annual budget. The Army also stressed the need to formulate a national security policy.

Minister Bhandari said the plans proposed by the Army on Wednesday are preliminary and have to be approved by the Cabinet for implementation. She also said that top level discussion between the Defence Ministry and NA will now be organised on a monthly basis “to understand each other’s problems.”

WHAT THE ARMY wants

    National security policy

    Recruitment to fill 5000 vacancies

    Short, medium and long term plans

    - To develop strength equal  to   

       armies of SAARC countries

    Seven percent budgetary allocation

Posted on: 2009-10-22 10:05

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