E-Kantipur

JAN 28 - The Special Committee on Friday decided to initiate the process of bidding farewell to 7,365 combatants who opted for voluntary retirement during the regrouping process within three days. The decision is expected to accelerate the integration and rehabilitation process of former Maoist combatants. Political parties have hailed the decision as a step forward in the peace process, which has not gained momentum despite several agreements among them to expedite it.

 With the Special Committee directing its Secretariat to begin the process of discharging the combatants at the earliest, the Secretariat is likely to dispatch teams to the cantonments for this purpose on Tuesday.

The opposition Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML have been criticising the government for delaying the process of releasing the combatants as per the Committee's earlier decision. In the meeting, NC leader Ram Saran Mahat expressed his dissatisfaction over the Maoists' failure to implement the past accords. The farewell process supposed to start in the first week of this month was delayed due to intra-party rift within the UCPN (Maoist).

Last week, the Cabinet had released Rs 1.97 billion to the Peace Ministry to make the first installation payment to the combatants. The Secretariat has decided to issue account payee cheques to each of the combatants and deposit amounts in their bank accounts.

 Apart from the first installment of the cash package of Rs 500,000 to Rs 800,000, the Special Committee has decided to provide cash allowances to the departing combatants. Combatants leaving for their homes in the Tarai, Hills and Himalayan districts will get Rs 2,000, Rs 4,000 and Rs 8,000, respectively, as transportation allowances.

Although the retirement process of 7,365 combatants begins, parties are yet to agree on rank determination and on initiating the process of integration and arrangement of nearly 3,000 combatants who have expressed willingness to go for integration. The opposition parties have been maintaining that rank determination should be as per the seven-point agreement, while the Maoist party seeks a political decision to grant top posts to some of its former combatants. 

Posted on: 2012-01-28 02:00

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