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Ex-combatants call off agitation for now

KATHMANDU, JAN 05 -
The ‘disqualified’ Maoist combatants have temporarily called off their agitation following a two-point agreement with the government on Thursday. But despite temporary respite from the inconvenience of strike, the crux of the problems of the former minors and late recruits discharged from the Maoist army in 2010 still remains unresolved.

Their major grievance has been the label of ‘disqualified’ assigned to them by the Nepali political actors and the UN after the verification process carried out in 2007. The agitating combatants feel that the tag has turned them into an outcast and affected their integration into the society.

“The word disqualified has become a curse for us. We have an undignified existence in the eyes of the society,” says Sagar Limbu, the coordinator of the struggle committee of the discharged combatants that held talks with Peace and Reconstruction Minister Satya Pahadi at Singha durbar on Thursday.  Limbu (23) was recruited as a minor into the Maoist Army and was registered in the First Division cantonment located in Chulachuli, Ilam. He is one of the 4,008 combatants who failed the verification process carried out by UNMIN in 2007.

Minister Pahadi said none of the official documents of the government refers the minors and late recruits as ‘disqualified combatants’. “The government identifies them as discharged combatants of the Maoist army. We should not unnecessarily provoke them by using the term disqualified,” she added. Even UN officials admit that the choice of word in distinguishing those who failed the verification process was “unfortunate.”

The struggle committee, in the second rounds of talks held on Thursday, demanded that the government provide economic package to them. Minister Pahadi has asked them to list the things they wanted from the government before the next

round of talks.

“Already 2,500 to 3,000 of them have been employed. We have decided to give them priority under the youth self-employment programme,” said the minister. “Their demands can be easily addressed.”

Of the 4,008 disqualified combatants, including 2,908 minors, 2,394 were discharged through cantonment ceremonies conducted at the seven main camps from January 7 to February 8, 2010.

Each of them was provided with a pair of clothes and Rs 22,000 as travelling expenses—Rs 10,000 by the UN and Rs 12,000 by the Maoists, while the government did not offer them any package.

All the disqualified including 1,614, who did not attend the cantonment ceremonies, were eligible for the educational, vocational, micro enterprises and health training programmes offered by the UN.

Altogether 2,384 (including 449 of those who were not present at the cantonment ceremonies) were referred for various training or educational programmes by the UN. By December 2011, 1,040 have completed training, and among the graduates, 565 (60 percent) have been employed or run businesses, according to the UN Inter-agency Rehabilitation Programme.

The struggle committee has also demanded that the government release around 60 disqualified combatants facing criminal charges and jail sentences. The government has asked the committee to provide the names of those serving jail sentences before the next round of talks to be held within a week.

The ongoing protest is backed by hardliners within the Maoist party, according to sources. A Maoist Politburo member said the Baidya faction took some combatants to a gathering at Butwal last month and encouraged them to start protests against the government.

Posted on: 2012-01-06 09:32

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