KATHMANDU, April 28: At a time when the country is falling into economic recession, the government is preparing to give funds to the 'disqualified ex-Maoist combatants' of the armed conflict period. Economists say this will put an unnecessary financial burden on the already strained state treasury. The government’s move to dole out cash to the disqualified ex-Maoist combatants will create a financial burden of more than Rs 800 million.
A Cabinet meeting held on March 20 had decided to distribute funds to the disqualified fighters. According to the same decision, the Ministry of Home Affairs has prepared and issued the 'Procedures for providing relief to disqualified combatants of armed conflict, 2079'.
In the preamble of the Procedure, it is mentioned that out of the amount of Rs 1.4 billion allocated for the rest of the peace process in the budget statement of the financial year 2079/80, funds will be gradually distributed to the disqualified fighters in the verification of the United Nations Mission for Nepal (UNMIN). In the preamble, it is also mentioned that the Ministry of Finance agreed to provide the said amount on March 16.
How many disqualified ex-Maoist combatants are there?
On November 8, 2006, there was a 12-point and eight-point agreement between the then seven parties and the then CPN-Maoist to make the elections to the Constituent Assembly peaceful, fair and fearless. At that time it was agreed that the Maoist combatants would be stationed in the seven main cantonments in Kailali, Surkhet, Rolpa, Palpa, Kavre, Sindhuli and Ilam and would be verified and monitored by the United Nations. Before that, in the five-point agreement between the government and the Maoists on August 9, 2006, it was agreed to involve the United Nations in the peace process.
According to that agreement, since August 28, 2006, Ian Martin, the special representative of the United Nations Secretary General, had returned to Nepal after preparing for the establishment of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN). According to this agreement, in the comprehensive peace agreement signed on November 21, 2006, it was further agreed to separate the Maoist fighters and their weapons in the camp.
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On the basis of this agreement, UNMIN was established on January 23, 2007 based on UN Security Council Resolution No. 1740. Over a period of about four years, UNMIN’s term was extended seven times. It was involved in verification of the Maoist fighters, monitoring of weapons and fighters and conflict facilitation.
The criteria were set according to agreement on monitoring of the management of arms and armies between the government and the Maoists on December 6, 2006. In this agreement, it was mentioned that a Maoist fighter must have joined the Maoist army before May 25, 2006, and must have been born before May 25, 1988 to be accepted for integration into the Nepali Army.
Accordingly, 32,250 fighters were first registered when UNMIN started verification. Out of them, 8,640 did not attend the verification of UNMIN. Among those present 19,602 were declared eligible fighters whereas 4,008 people were certified as disqualified combatants by UNMIN. They were declared ineligible for the integration into the national army by the UNMIN as having enlisted after the Armistice Code had been issued and underage.
Now the government has prepared to give Rs 200,000 each to those disqualified ex-Maoist combatants. In the procedure, it is said that "disqualified combatant" means the combatant whose names and details are mentioned in the report as disqualified combatants in the verification of UNMIN. It seems that if the 4,000 people are compensated at the rate of Rs 200,000 each, an amount of Rs 800.16 million will be spent from the state coffers.
Based on the details mentioned in the UNMIN report, the district administration offices will identify the disqualified fighters and the ministry will prepare the details and give 200,000 rupees each through the district administration office.
In the procedure, it is mentioned that the Ministry of Home Affairs will prepare a list of disqualified fighters and send it to the Ministry of Finance, and then the disbursed budget goes to the hands of the fighters through the district administration offices. In the case of the death of any disqualified ex-Maoist fighter, there is a provision to provide the cash to the next of kin, according to the law, and if s/he is currently outside Nepal, s/he will receive it after her/his return to Nepal.
Maoist's old stake
It is an old practice of the ruling Maoist Center to give Rs 200,000 each to the disqualified ex-Maoist combatants. Even during the government led by Dr Baburam Bhattarai, it was decided to give cash to the disqualified ex-Maoist combatants. Although the Council of Ministers decided to give the amount on October 21, 2012, it was stopped after a writ petition was filed at the Supreme Court. Then, in the coalition government with the Maoist Center, when UML Chairman KP Oli was the prime minister and Bishnu Paudel was the finance minister, Rs 840 million was allocated in the budget of the year 2073/74 for the disqualified fighters. At that time, it was said that Rs 200,000 would be given to each of the rest of the fighters who had been declared as 'disqualified ex-Maoist combatants and gone on voluntary retirement'. The then parliamentarians of the Nepali Congress and the conflict victims went to the Supreme Court against the provisions of the budget. After that, the money could not be distributed due to a short-term order by the apex court.
The same issue has been raised again now when Chairman of the Maoist Center Pushpa Kamal Dahal is the Prime Minister and Senior Vice President Narayan Kaji Shrestha is the Home Minister. In addition, the Maoist-led government is going to dole out cash to support its workers at a time when the country’s economy is in crisis. Top leaders of the ruling Nepali Congress have criticized the move.
NC General Secretary Gagan Thapa has said that the government's decision to distribute money to the disqualified ex-Maoist combatants is wrong. In a tweet on Thursday, Thapa wrote, 'The government's decision to distribute large sums of money from the state treasury to undeserving fighters at a time when resources are under pressure is wrong, it should be stopped.' He urged the government to focus on delivering justice by making a victim-friendly law and not on distributing funds while the Transitional Justice Bill is under consideration in parliament.
Similarly, Nepali Congress leader Shekhar Koirala has said that the government’s decision to distribute cash to ex-combatants from the state coffers is not acceptable, especially at a time when the government is unable to pay salary to government employees and pension to ex-teachers. Koirala has written on Twitter, “In the past, when the Maoists were unable to account for the money taken from the state for the fighters in the cantonment, they are reluctant to resolve the conflict-time problems and they cannot even pay salaries to the government employees and the pension of the former teachers because of the lack of money in the treasury, the act of distributing money in the name of the former ineligible fighters cannot be accepted.”
Surendra Pandey, a vice chairman of the main opposition, UML, and former finance minister, also says that in the current situation, it is not even possible to think of distributing funds to disqualified ex-Maoist combatants. “On the one hand, the economy is not in a position to cover the recurrent expenditure. We are working to cut down our current expenditure," he said while talking to Republica, “On the other hand, the government itself is saying that we are in a situation where we cannot afford the salary of the employees since we cannot pay the pension of the ex-servicemen. Such an irresponsible and shameless decision in such a situation is unimaginable. This is a very irresponsible thing to do.”
Pandey said that if the Maoist Center tries to distribute funds to its workers in this way, it will damage the Maoists themselves and their struggle. “Respect for those who work for change. But when money is distributed to workers in this way, people will say that they were in it for money. Such acts will also end the faith of the people in the Maoist People's War,” he said.
