KATHMANDU, MAR 12 - Chief of the Army Staff Gen. Chhatra Man Singh Gurung said on Friday that the Nepal Army can consider the individual entry of the Maoist combatants but it cannot accept the bulk integration as it may be counterproductive.

During the meeting with UN Under Secretary General of Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe at the NA headquarters in Kathmandu this morning, Gen. Gurung said the integration of politically indoctrinated combatants in the national army could create division in it and disintegration of the country. The visiting UN official had asked the army chief about his position of integration.

United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) Chief Karin Landgren and UN focal personal on Nepal's peace process Tamuel Samrat were also present at the meeting.

"After a broad political consensus, individual combatants who meet the established standards can be taken up in the Nepal Army. But they cannot be integrated in bulk," a press statement released by the NA Directorate of Public Relations quoted Gen. Gurung as saying. 

Expressing his concerns over the political training the UCPN (Maoist) runs at the cantonments, Gen. Gurung raised questions over the party’s commitment to the integration process. Moreover, he said the option for integration should not be imposed on the combatants who are currently residing in the UN-monitored sites.

When Pascoe asked about the number of Maoists combatants that the NA can take up in it, Gen. Gurung referred to the Shaktikhor video tape in which Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal is seen telling the party cadres the strength of the party’s army was six to seven thousand and not 19,602 as recognised by UNMIN.

Prior to meeting Gurung, Pascoe held discussion with Defence Minister Bidhya Bhandari earlier this morning.

 

Posted on: 2010-03-12 09:29

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