Peace process: NC, Maoist war on weapons handover goes on

KATHMANDU, MAY 26 - The war of words between Nepali Congress and the UCPN (Maoist) over the violation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in November 2006 is as old as the agreement itself—with the NC accusing the Maoists of reneging on their commitments, while the former rebels feel that the Congress has been “shifting goal posts” repeatedly. The row over the handover of Maoist weapons to the government is the latest in a series of conflicts. Unveiling the party’s 10-point charter of demand last week, the main opposition had said the handover of the weapons stored in cantonments to the government and the deployment of state security personnel to supervise the cantonment sites were its pre-conditions for extending the CA. The NC’s stand followed the Maoist Standing Committee’s decision to accept the integration modality suggested by the Nepal Army and its willingness to address the NC’s long-standing demand by fixing the number of combatants that would go for integration. While the Maoists vehemently oppose the handover, leaders of the NC and the UML are discussing different modalities of the weapons handover. NC leaders have publicly said 2,885 weapons stored in the seven main cantonments can be brought to Kathmandu in helicopters and kept under the government’s custody. Some NC leaders have indicated that a handing over to the District Administration Office would be equally acceptable. But that appears to be public posturing as well. “We could even consider accepting the weapons of all the seven cantonment sites being brought to one particular cantonment and stored in a single container,” said an NC leader, on condition of anonymity.    UML leaders want the Maoists to hand over the keys of the weapon containers to Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal, who also heads the Special Committee. “They should hand over the keys of the containers to the Special Committee and transfer the ownership of the combatants to the government,” said Ishwor Pokharel, the UML General Secretary, who is also a Special Committee member. The Maoists have flatly rejected the NC and UML conditions, but they have suggested that they could offer a concrete timeline for the completion of the peace process, constitution writing and power-sharing with rotational leadership—that would include an agreement on modality and number of combatants to be integrated. “The Constituent Assembly will not see an extension if the condition for arms handover is imposed,” said Maoist Standing Committee member Barsha Man Pun. The terms of reference (TOR) endorsed by the Special Committee in 2008 under the leadership of Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal states that the supervision, control and direction of arms and ammunition of Maoist combatants both inside and outside the cantonments will be looked after by the committee until the completion of the integration and rehabilitation process. The keys of the containers storing the Maoist weapons at the cantonment sites and a container at the Chhauni barracks of the Nepal Army are with the two sides concerned. An eight-member team comprising two representatives each from the Nepal Army, the Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force and the PLA are monitoring the eight containers since the departure of UNMIN early this year.


Posted on: 2011-May-25