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Exit of UNMIN?
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UNMIN
WM correspondent
The United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) was very cagey about divulging the exact number and other identities of the Maoist combatants housed in different cantonments across the country.
So, the government is sending a third letter questioning the impartiality as well as professional integrity of the UN mission.
According to the mission, it is bound to keep the details secret as per the agreement on the management of arms and armies.
However, the government is unwilling to subscribe to this justification.
The provision 2 of the agreement states: "The parties (government and the Maoists) will report detailed information about their troops and this information will be treated with appropriate confidentiality by the United Nations."
The UNMIN cited the same provision while giving the thumbs down to the request of the government to share information about the Maoist combatants.
However, the government claimed that the UNMIN's flat denial to divulge names, addresses and photographs of the combatants has much to do with the latter's unjustifiably warm friendliness with the Maoists.
The number of the disqualified combatants was found to have been reduced by 40 percent.
So, the government suspects that even the number of qualified ones might have gone down.
On the other hand, the Maoist leadership argues that the details about the combatants could be shadily leveraged against the party
In fact, it is not the first time the UNMIN came under fire from the government.
Earlier, the government severely accused the UNMIN of openly backing the Maoists when the UN secretary general presented report on Nepal saying that national consensus government was desirable in Nepal to complete the peace process and constitution writing.
The competency of the UNMIN was also questioned with the public exposure of the Shaktikhor video in which Maoist chieftain Puspa Kamal Dahal was boasting how his party managed to manipulate the actual number of the combatants.
Likewise, the government had raised doubt over the UNMIN's impartiality in cases like the murder of businessman Ram Hari Shrestha and the arrest of the combatants with weapons.
It is the government's jittery distrust towards the UNMIN that made the former to extend the term of the latter for just four months in contrast to traditional six months.
The UNMIN was invited to help the peace process to conclude but the thorny issue of integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants is impeding the smooth accomplishment of the process.
The major parties are poles apart when it comes to the integration and rehabilitation.
The government ministers are up in arms over the role of the UNMIN and they are averse to the idea of extending the term of it till the successful of the peace process.
It goes without mentioning that UNMIN's presence is crucial till the logical conclusion of the peace process. Moreover, there is every possibility of the escalation of political confrontation if the UNMIN exits prematurely.
The untimely expulsion of UNMIN is sure to prop up the southern regional power to further invigorate its furtive footholds in internal affairs of Nepal.
"India simply wants Nepal to be its vassal state. And, it is now up to the ruling parties to decide what they want," say experts.
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