KATHMANDU: The technical committee under the Special Committee on the supervision, rehabilitation and integration of Maoist combatants held its first meeting today following its term extension of three months.

The Special Committee had extended the tenure of the technical committee by three months on Tuesday.

The government has not provided any offices for the technical committee though it has been three months since its formation. According to a member of the committee, they submitted a preliminary work plan of three months to the Special Committee. The work plan is divided into the three parts- supervision, integration and rehabilitation of the UCPN-Maoist combatants.

The Special Committee has plans to accomplish the task of army integration within three months. But, according to a member of the technical committee, it would be impossible to accomplish the task within such a short span.

"As the technical committee will take more than six months and the Special Committee will take couple of more months thereafter, it's totally out of the question to finish the task within three-month time," he said.

According to him, it will be even difficult to accomplish the task by the time the UNMIN's extended period expires. Last month, the UN has extended UNMIN'S tenure by six months.

The technical committee members said they would soon visit the cantonments again and begin their works.

Although the Peace Ministry had brought a detail work plan a month ago to discharge the disqualified 4,000 Maoist fighters, the process is yet to begin. According to an official at the ministry, the latter is planning to give them some vocational training prior to their discharge as it will be easy for them to adjust in the society. "They will be kept in the temporary camps for the training."