UNDP funds Maoist-Communist Liberation Army in Nepal with Rs 1 Million

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GHANASHYAM OJHA 

• Each disqualified PLA combatant to get Rs 800,000* to one million
• Disqualified combatants including minors to be released in next one month

KATHMANDU, April 4: The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has proposed an attractive economic package of Rs 800,000 to one million for each disqualified PLA combatant, besides other alternatives, for getting them to leave the camps. 

A highly-placed government source said UNDP, as requested by the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, has also proposed vocational training, offer of foreign jobs and education to the disqualified combatants of the Maoist People´s Liberation Army (PLA).

Some 5,000 PLA combatants including at least 2,000 minors, who were disqualified by the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) in its verification process, have been living in the PLA’s 28 camps since 2006.

Despite strong pressure from national and international rights bodies including the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal (OHCHR-Nepal) to release the disqualified PLA combatants including minors from the camps, the Maoist leadership hasn’t yet taken any serious initiative in this regard.

The PLA commanders in a meeting with Maoist Chairman and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal in the second week of March urged the latter to immediately take the initiative for releasing the disqualified combatants. They had warned the prime minister that they couldn’t bear the cost of accommodating the disqualified combatants any more. The PLA commanders, however, urged the Maoist leadership to arrange better alternatives for the disqualified combatants before releasing them from the camps.

Each of the 19,602 PLA combatants receives Rs. 5,000 from state coffers.

Prime Minister Dahal, during UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Nepal last October, assured the latter that the disqualified PLA combatants would be released soon.

A PLA deputy commander said the disqualified combatants will be released in the next one month if the government okays the UNDP proposal.

“The release of disqualified combatants is very important for proceeding with the integration process for Maoist combatants,” said the deputy commander, preferring to remain unnamed.

(*corrected)

ghanashyam@myrepublica.com