The first week of CA extension and five-point deal saw little progress in finding a common ground for parties to work together besides a token declaration by the Maoists to end the dual security of senior Maoist leaders. The Army Integration Special Committee (AISC), which met once over the week has decided to start the verification and classification of the Maoist fighters at the ‘earliest’ recruiting professionals for the task. Both the decisions are yet to be implemented. The parties had agreed to begin the regrouping within a week.
However, if the disputed issues regarding integration and rehabilitation process already been settled as the leaders claim, we have something to cheer about the week’s work. But agreement on number of fighters, individual qualifications for integration, rank harmonisation, rehabilitation and economic package for remaining combatants is still outstanding. Without settling these issues, the integration and rehabilitation process is sure to run into a limbo.
Despite the party’s approval of the proposal floated by the Nepal Army, the Maoist hardliners are against the integration arguing that to dissolve PLA before constitution is drafted is a surrender. It is to be noted that
the management of the Maoist fighters at earliest was the first condition of NC for the extension the CA term. If the integration does not move ahead as scheduled, things will go back to pre May 28 deadlock and the peace process and constitution would run into crisis once again.
The resignation of the prime minister is another issue that has hindered the consensus among the parties. NC and Madhesi parties are demanding immediate resignation of the PM while UML and the UCPN (Maoist) have been insisting that he continue until there is an alternative to lead the government. It is a collective responsibility of the political parties to find a candidate to lead the government, but if PM’s resignation helps to open dialogue in this direction he should resign immediately.
CPN(UML)has formally decided that the Maoists should lead the next government. But NC has put a condition that before the Maoists lead the government, their combatants be integrated and rehabilitated. As the largest party in the CA, the Maoists deserve to lead the government but they must first agree to settle the PLA integration as per the 5-point deal and prove that they are indeed committed to peace process and constitution writing.
The current hiccups in the peace process and coldness among the political partners will end only if NC and the Maoists who initiated the peace process work together once again.