Arms Count Vs Trust Count
The revelation of the weapons count held by the Maoists has raised many eye-brows
By SANJAYA DHAKAL
When the UNMIN chief Ian Martin revealed the number of weapons registered by the Maoists, many people raised their eye-brows. It appeared that the Maoists were able to control “eighty percent of the country’s territory” (as used to be claimed by the Maoist leadership) with the help of just over 3000 arms.
For discerning observers, the number of the weapons was both interesting and meaningful.
According to the UNMIN, the total number of Maoist army combatants registered at the seven main and 21 satellite cantonment sites stands at 30,852. Likewise, the total number of weapons registered so far is 3428.
The revelation was met with a great deal of skepticism. While some leaders made outright accusations that the Maoists might have concealed weapons, others said that since the Maoists have already committed themselves to the peace agreement, any more weapon discovered outside the camps will automatically be deemed illegal.
On their part the Maoists have tried to draw the attention of all towards the level of their political honesty. “We have reported all our weapons. We are politically honest on this count,” said Nanda Kishore Pun aka Pasang, deputy commander of Maoist army.
The weapons registered so far include weapons of various types: 91 mortars (55 of which are locally-made); 61 machine guns; 2403 rifles; 61 automatic weapons (sub-machine guns); 114 side-arms; 212 shot guns; 253 various/miscellaneous; and 233 home-made weapons. This includes 524 weapons retained for perimeter security by designated guards, in accordance with the arms accord.
"UNMIN is not and will not be in a position to state whether the weapons it has registered correspond to the full total of weapons held by the Maoist army. The Nepal Army has made available to UNMIN a breakdown of types of 3430 weapons which it states were taken from the Nepal Army, the Nepal Police and Armed Police Force," Ian Martin said at a press conference last week.
Martin added that there were high degree of correspondence between the types of weapons listed by the NA and the types of weapons registered. "UNMIN is not in a position to confirm or refute reports of weapons purchases by or on behalf of the CPN-M, although the weapons registered include a number of weapons not held in the stocks of the state security forces, such as AK-47s," the statement read out by Martin during the press meet added.
Martin further said that full modalities of the second stage verification process are under discussion and could begin by mid-March. He said if any minor is found to be associated with the Maoist army, they will be honorably and automatically discharged, and only those who were members of the Maoist army before 25 May 2006 will be eligible for cantonment.
The weapons and ammunition stored at the seven cantonment sites are under 24-hour surveillance by the UN monitors.
Martin, however, said that any determination as to whether the registration, storage and monitoring are sufficient to allow for the entry of the CPN-M into an Interim Government is a decision "to be made by Nepal 's political leadership."
With the deposition of their arms and registration of their combatants, one chapter of Maoist movement seems to have come to an end.
Martin said brief details of each combatant have been recorded at the first stage of registration, but have not been verified, each has been photographed and issued with an identity card with a UN bar code.
"Detailed information will be collected through individual interviews at the second stage of registration," said Martin. He informed that 70 UN arms monitors and 22 electoral advisors are now in the country
During the press meet, Martin said incidents of Maoist army combatants leaving the camps were of grave concern. He urged Maoists and government to cooperate over urgent measures to improve camp conditions.
Meanwhile, following news reports that 2100 combatants left the Shaktikhor camp in Chitwan complaining lack of basic services including food, the government has decided to provide each combatant with the daily allowance of Rs 60 for their upkeep. As per the decision made by the high level committee to manage the cantonments, which is headed by the Prime Minister, the government will provide Rs 50 million per month for this purpose.
