Nepal Army attends JMCC meeting

Recruitment row reffered to political leadership

KATHMANDU, SEP 06 -
The Joint Monitoring Coordination Committee (JMCC) has asked the political leadership to look into the recruitment row in the Nepal Army (NA) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The tripartite mechanism comprising representatives of UNMIN, the NA and the PLA made an understanding to this effect on Sunday afternoon. The NA had earlier boycotted the JMCC meet on Aug. 27 after its decision to enlist of 3,464 personnel was kept on the agenda of the meeting.

“The Nepal Army attended the JMCC yesterday after the recruitment row was not kept as a formal agenda of the meeting,” said a government source. However, Maoist representatives raised the issue in the “open meeting” saying that the decision violates the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the Agreement on the Monitoring of Management of Arms and Armies (AMMAA).

The NA representatives, however, said the JMCC was not the proper mechanism to discuss the decision on recruitment taken by the government. “Both sides have agreed that the row should be addressed by the political leadership,” added the official requesting anonymity. UNMIN Spokesperson Kosmos Bishwokarma said issues of mutual concerns were discussed in Sunday’s meeting.

Following the decision, Chief of the Nepal Army Chhatra Man Singh Gurung met Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Defence Minister Bidhya Bhandari and requested them to resolve the row at the political level.

PLA Chief Nanda Kishore Pun “Pasang” said they demanded the national army scrap its recruitment but no decision was reached in Sunday’s meeting. “We also clarified that the PLA will open fresh recruitment if the row is not settled by the political leadership,” he said.

Pun added that the PLA would take a call on its new recruitment, if the controversy isn’t resolved before the next week’s JMCC meeting.