KATHMANDU, NOV 21 - Political players, who brought the state and the Maoists together for peace, said on Friday that peace and constitution-making processes were in peril and wounds of the decade-long insurgency were yet to heal because political parties had failed to internalise the letter and spirit of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA). 

"We are committed to providing adequate assistance to those, who suffered during the decade-long insurgency," Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Rakam Chemjong said at the Reporters' Club, noting that close to 3,000 damaged assets are awaiting reconstruction and thousands of displaced are yet to get justice.

"The Commission on Disappearances and Truth and Reconciliation Commission will take shape soon as we are giving final touches to related bills," Chemjong said. The minister claimed that discharge of minors from cantonments will be over by mid-December. He said the government will not provide any seed money to the minors.

Nepali Congress (NC) leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula noted that integration and rehabilitation of former Maoist combatants remained a major challenge for the UCPN (Maoist). "Why could not Prachandaji tackle the issue when he was prime minister and chairman of the army integration special committee?" The peace process will derail if we fail to resolve the issue of army integration, the NC leader said. "We did not sign an accord to join the government or to topple it. Even three years after the CPA, we have not been able to deliver justice to victims of the decade-long conflict," he said, noting that Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Commission on Disappearances are yet to take shape. In this context, Sitaula said, the high-level political mechanism will help take the peace process to a logical conclusion and make way for timely drafting of the constitution.

Maoist leader and former Peace Minister Janardan Sharma stressed the need to form a permanent mechanism and rescue the peace process. "We left so many things behind us. The formation of the permanent mechanism took a back seat as parties, in their quest for power, forgot the plight of people during the war."

Posted on: 2009-11-21 09:58

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