The Nepal Army (NA)’s attempt to make fresh recruitments has stirred up controversy for reasons that can be traced back to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the then government and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and the Agreement on the Monitoring and Management of Arms and Armies with the UN as witness. The whole issue revolves round the NA’s recruitment advertisement on November 2 and 3, 2008, inviting applications for over 2,600 positions. But any fresh recruitment, according to the letter and spirit of these agreements, will run counter to the CPA as well as Clause 5.1 of the monitoring

and management accord which stipulate that “recruiting additional armed forces” is not permitted. On this, some NA officials are reported to have tried to defend the recruitment by saying that no new posts are being created but that only the existing vacancies are being filled, and that it is a regular practice in compliance with the Public Service Commission guidelines.

Till just a few years ago, it was a much smaller NA but the size was expanded to over 90,000 to counter the insurgency. But now, the country has already entered an era of peace, with the final phase of the political transition going on. So, any stress on recruitment at this juncture can only raise a suspicion of motive, apart from its departure from the peace accords. Moreover, no important NA functions as permitted under the agreements can be expected to suffer because of any postponement of the recruiment process. Even irrespective of this consideration, the government has the discretionary power to suspend the process at any stage, and NA is bound to comply as long as the directive to that effect comes through proper channels. However, it appears surprising why NA has proceeded on this ill-advised course and why the Defence Ministry has not taken any firm reversing step thus far. It is also to be noted that the agreements recognised the existence of the two armies and the provisions are binding on both. What would happen if the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) also responded by launching a recruitment drive of its own? The UNMIN head said the other day that the new NA recruitment process constituted a breach of the past agreements related to the armies.

The Defence Ministry and NA appear to take opposite stands on the issue. The whole truth must be made clear to the public. But when it comes to the question of which one should prevail, it is the elected government to which NA is constitutionally and legally subordinate. Prime Minister Prachanda said on Sunday that neither of the armies (NA and PLA) will be permitted to take further steps in new recruitment. Discipline is all the more important in the State army, and any government worth the name must be able to exact it. In this regard, it is disturbing that certain political leaders appear to be provoking, through their public statements, NA into defiance. They are thus doing a huge disservice to democracy as well as to the stability of legitimate governance. Those people should understand that democracy was hijacked in Nepal for more than once because of the political leaders’ inability to tame the army within democratic norms.