KATHMANDU: A meeting of the Special Committee on Supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation of former Maoist combatants today discussed setting up a chain of command and a secretariat for the integration process.

The meeting held at the Prime Minister's office discussed the action plan tabled by the chairman of the Special Committee Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal. The meeting started discussions on the Terms of Reference to bring the combatants under the command of the special committee. Currently the former rebels are under the command of the UCPN-Maoist.

The action plan tabled by the PM at the committee plans to accomplish the task of army integration within the next 112 days. Emerging from the meeting, Jitendra Dev, spokesperson of the Madheshi Janaadhikar Forum-Democratic, a member of the special committee, said discussion has started on the chain of command and the formation of a secretariat to head the ex-rebels. According to another member of the committee, Jaya Prakash Gupta, it has been agreed that the number of combatants to be accommodated in the forces would be finalised through a political consensus.

Discussions in the meeting today focused on the operational procedure, which would be finalised in the next meeting on Tuesday, he said.

Another member of the committee, DrRam Saran Mahat, said Maoists have also agreed on deputing any government officer or a retired officer as the secretariat’s convener.