CHULACHULI: Disqualified fighters of the Maoist People's Liberation Army today made moving remarks before their departure from the camps they were cantoned in.

"Our sacrifice should be taken into account," Chhaya Sigdel, a combatant who was disqualified by the UNMIN, said in a lachrymose mood while preparing to leave the Chulachuli camp with her infant. We will keep pressing the government for the establishment of peace in the country, she added. A resident of Phungling VDC in Taplejung district, Chhaya said she was leaving the camp also for the future of her one-year-old son. Her husband is an activist of the Unified CPN-Maoist too. Chhaya, who had been in the camp for three years, suggested, "The country should now take a path of peace. Leaders should not repeat the mistakes and should zero in on making the constitution."

Jamin Hasda of Jhapa's Jalthal VDC-6 is heading home tomorrow. He said, "I will make a beeline for home, meet all members of the family and decide what to do next." He said he had been saddened by having to leave back the camp and the co-combatants. Fellow fighter Krishna Rajbanshi said, "We are never disqualified for the country and the people. I will spend my time with my family, though."

Pushpa Dahal, who approached the camp to take her daughter home, said, "She'll start her life anew." The first division headquarters in Chulachuli bade farewell to 476 disqualified combatants today. The number includes those camped in Tandi and Yangshila of Morang as well as Danabari of Ilam.

UNMIN spokesperson Martin Logan said 403 of 875 disqualified combatants were absent today. Of the outgoing combatants, 118 are women. A programme was organised to bid them goodbye. Addressing the function, former deputy commander of the PLA Barsaman Pun Ananta said the party would never forget the contribution of the combatants to the party and the country. Urging them to assist in institutionalising the new republican order even from outside the camps, he vowed, "The PLAs' contribution towards the establishment of peace will always be respected." Stating that a human can never be disqualified, PLA deputy commander Chandra Prakash Khanal 'Baldev' asked the outgoing combatants to contribute to the society in a noble way.

Seventeen buses had been arranged to ferry the combatants home. The buses would drop the PLA members at Birtamod, Ilam, Itahari, Dhankuta and Biratnagar. There remain 1,935 Maoist fighters in Chulachuli and its satellite camps now.