KATHAMNDU, MAR 12 - Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Rakam Chemjong has asked civil society members to monitor the government initiative to update the number of verified Maoist combatants and their salaries.

At a roundtable meeting of at least dozen civil society organisations, Chemjong said the government would recount the combatants at each cantonment with or without the help of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN).

“There is a provision for recounting and monitoring the salary distribution process as per the regulation formulated by the then Maoist-led government for giving allowances to the combatants,” Chemjong said.

In the meeting attended by representatives of human rights organisations and the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR-Nepal), Chemjong said the government would not allow the Maoists to misuse the salaries meant for combatants.

Chemjong’s call comes at a time when the government and the United Nations’body are at loggerheads over disclosure of the number of combatants living inside the seven main and 21 satellite Maoist cantonment sites. Claiming that 40 percent

of the 19,602 verified combatants have left the

cantonments, the government has demanded the current status of the number of combatants and their personal details from UNMIN. 

The UN body says it has not received the updated status on the numbers as Nepal Army and the PLA have both not fulfilled their obligation to provide the current strength of their troops.

It has conveyed to the peace minister that

confidential data related to combatants can be provided to the government

|after a formal decision from a suitable body, like the Joint Monitoring Coordination Committee (JMCC) that comprises representatives of both

the government and the Maoists.

“Information on the exact number of combatants is a must to distribute the salary to genuine combatants,” added the Minister.

He also informed that the government would provide the two months due salary within the next month. The government pays Rs. 5,000 as monthly allowance to individual combatants.

“We are ready to monitor the process if the government invites us,” said Subodh Pyakurel, the Chairman of Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) who attended the discussion.

Posted on: 2010-03-12 11:29

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