REGROUPING OF FORMER MAOIST FIGHTERS TO START ONLY SATURDAY

REGROUPING OF FORMER AOIST FFIGHTERS TO BEGIN ONLY SATURDAY

Kathmandu, 18 Nov.: Regrouping of 19,000 plus former
Maoist PLA combatants in seven cantonments will begin only
Saturday—three days after the original schedule, Balananda
Sharma, coordinator of a secretariat under a special committee
headed by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai.
The committee oversees integration, resettlement and supervision of the former fighters.
All 210 surveyors trained by the secretariat reached the seven cantonments Thursday; Sharma reached Chitwan with one group.
The surveyors will record preferences of former fighters for
integration, resettlement or voluntary retirement—an assignment that has to be completed by 23 November ahead of the 30 November deadline to complete the peace process.
Only 6,500 former PLA fighters are being under a directorate in Nepal Army—a move opposed by a faction of the Mohan Baidya
group which has threatened to obstruct the integration process.
Injured and disabled at the 7th battalion came out in protests
in Kailali Thursday saying they’ve been sidelined.
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