E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, DEC 22 - Nepali Congress leader Ram Sharan Mahat has accused the government of staging a publicity stunt in the name of recruiting Madhesi youths in the Nepal Army.

The government is trying to promote corruption and bad governance by raising the issue of Madhesi recruitment, he said speaking at an interaction in the Reporter's Club in Kathmandu on Thursday.

Saying that nobody voiced against the government's move, Mahat said a separate battalion of the persons from a same class shouldn't be formed in the NA. Other communities should also be included in the proposed battalion, he said. 

Mahat alleged that the government hasn't prioritise the peace process. He, however, said that his party was not in favour of immediate resignation of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai for the sake of the peace process. The Bhattarai-led government has failed to give momentum to the peace process and thus his premiership holds no meaning anymore, he said. 

“There has not been even a minimal progress in the peace process in the last three weeks,” Mahat said. “Three meetings of the Special Committee remained obstructed. Thus, there are no moral grounds for PM Bhattarai to stay in this government.”

At the same programme, CPN-UML leader Bhim Rawal claimed that the issue of recruiting the Madheis in the NA was in line with a “plan” to separate 22 Tarai districts from the country. He dubbed the government's motive to recruit Madhesis as the “second gamble” after the Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (Bippa) with India.

Rawal said the government should recruit 20,000 youths from the Far-Western Development Region if the Madhesis are recruited in the NA in a bulk.

Also speaking at the same function, UCPN (Maoist) leader Haribol Gajurel warned that any objection to the recruitment of Madhesi youths in the NA would do no good to anyone. He said the parties should discuss the issue even though the government has endorsed the policy paper of recruitment.

At the programme, Irrigation Minister Mahendra Raya refuted the charges that the government was going to recruit only Madhesis in the NA. He clarified that candidates from indigenous, Dalit and Janajati communities from Hill and Mountain can also avail of the opportunity.

Posted on: 2011-12-22 06:54

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