Kathmandu, March 2:

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister KP Sharma Oli today said he was surprised over discrepancies between the number of arms and number of combatants of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army registered by the UN mission.

After a function at the Ministry, Oli said all registered combatants may not be real militants, adding that they could be Maoist cadres.

“If registered Maoist combatants are real militants, all individual combatants should have weapons of their own,” he added.

Regarding weapons retained for the personal security of Maoist leaders, Oli questioned, “Why cannot the Maoists, who are demanding the portfolios of the Home and Defence Ministries in the to-be-formed government, trust government security arrangements?”

The interim government should be formed soon, he said, calling on the Maoists to bring changes in their behaviour and implement all agreements signed with the government.