Nepal Army not hindering army integration: Prachanda

Kathmandu, Nov 25 (UNI) Maoist Chairman Prachanda today said the Nepal Army was not a hinderance to the integration of the Maoist People's Liberation Army (PLA) into the state army.

The integration process was delayed due to the government's indifference and lack of interest over the issue among the concerned parties, he underlined.

Talking to journalists here, Mr Prachanda who reached Chitwan to address the seventh anniversary of the PLA yesterday, informed that after various rounds of talks held between the two armies, he found that the Nepal Army was positive in its outlook.

Mr Prachanda also informed that he had proposed the Nepal Army to train the PLA men separately for few years after integrating them in two levels of brigade and company.

Stating that the Nepal Army personnel could become democratic and the PLA personnel could become professionals after the separate trainings for few years, Mr Prachanda said the actual integration process could begin after that.

However, the Maoist Chairman ruled out any possibility of Constituent Assembly (CA) elections unless the peace process moved ahead properly.

Mr Prachanda was due to hold discussions with industrialists and intellectuals of the Chitwan district, the party source said.

Likewise, on the occasion of its seventh anniversary, the PLA was organising a week-long sports and cultural event in Chitwan.

This is the first time the PLA men from seven different cantonment converged at the Shaktikhor camp of Chitwan district to organise a sports event amidst general public, the sources added.

UNI