UPDATE MAOIST FIGHTER INTEGRATION BEGINS Kathmandu, 4 July: The Nepal Army (NA) has started the recruitment process of the Maoist former combatants, the key aspect of the peace process, from Wednesday, RSS reports. A total of 3,123 Maoist former fighters in the seven army monitored cantonments who had chosen the integration are waiting for their integration into the NA for a long time. The recruitment process has started at all the seven Maoist cantonments, said NA Spokesperson and Chief of NA Directorate of Public Relations Brigadier General Ramindra Chhetri. The PLA cantonments and the combatants, arms and containers there had been brought under the supervision of the government on April 10 this year in line with the seven-point agreement reached among the major parties represented in the then Constituent Assembly on November 1, last year. But later, the task of integration of was disrupted, following the disagreement among the parties on the constitution drafting issues including federalism. According to Mr Chhetri, the selection process for the officer level will be held at the NA´s Training Center in Bharatpura and the Shaktikhor-based PLA cantonment. The recruitment process of the Maoist former combatants was begun as per the past agreements among the political parties and the direction from the government to this effect, he said. The recruitment board headed by Acting Chairman of Public Service Commission Kayodevi Yami was formed for the recruitment of the Maoist former combatants into the NA. The last meeting of the Special Committee formed for Supervision, Rehabilitation and Integration of the Maoist former combatants was held on April 15 and the meeting was affected since then due to misunderstanding among the parties. The Nepali Congress and the CPN (UML), among other political parties have been accusing the Unified CPN (Maoist) of causing obstructions in carrying out the integration of the Maoist former combatants. They have been claiming that the delay on the part of the Maoists in implementing the agreement on the army integration has affected the constitution writing process. As per the past agreement, the integration task of the Maoist former fighters had to be completed within the six-months of the CA elections. Various issues of integration including the rank-harmonization, education, age, service time of combatants and formation of the General Directorate, are still under confusion due to lack of a consensus among the political parties. However, the November 1 seven-point deal had agreed adopt flexibility on the NA established criteria related to age, education and marital status to be met by the Maoist combatants for integration. The political parties agreed to consider one level in terms of education and three years in terms of age factor for the integration of the Maoist fighters into the NA. As per the agreement, up to 6,500 Maoist combatants could be integrated into the NA. But, the number was decreased in large as the political parties could not forge a consensus on the issues in time and the many fighters opted for voluntary retirement. It may be noted that only around 19,000 combatants had been declared qualified during the verification of then United Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), despite the party´s claim for over 35,000. But later, the number of qualified fighters was found decreased by 2500 due to many reasons. The starting of the integration process of the Maoist fighters Nnnn ________________________________________ TWO DIE IN MOHOTTARI AFTER SUDDEN ILLNESS Kathmandu, 4 July: Two persons died suddenly of and three others fell sick after suddenly falling sick at Matihani in Mohottaru Wednesday. A medical team has been sent to the area. nnnn