Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Poudel’s no to army integration


A senior leader of the main opposition party has said that the Maoist combatants cannot be integrated into national army.

Ram Chandra Poudel, vice president of Nepali Congress (NC), said that they can only be rehabilitated.

“The Maoists are only talking about army integration and not about rehabilitation,” he said pointing at the words ‘integration’ and ‘rehabilitation’ used in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

“The meaning of rehabilitation is to send the combatants to their families and homes in villages – it does not mean providing jobs in the national army,” he said, speaking at a party program in Tanahun district, Sunday.

“One must not do politics by weakening the faith of Nepali Army,” he added.

He also dismissed appeals made by some Maoist leaders that NC should join the government.

No comments: