The Maoists’ People’s Liberation Army is reported to be in dire straits as it is facing a severe resource crunch to sustain its cadres. This perhaps explains their resorting to the ‘donation collection drive.’ Shockingly, even in the recent past, some Maoist leaders and cadres have gone on record in justifying their ‘donation’ spree as a necessity to keep the bodies and souls of their militiamen and women together. In this connection, the CPN-UML general secretary Madhav K Nepal has already discussed the expenses required to keep the Maoist army afloat with foreign money. But one fails to understand the rationale behind such an idea. It doesn’t suit a leader of Nepal’s calibre to approach the donor agencies with a begging bowl, that too, not for any reconstruction or development projects but for feeding the militia.

Though Nepal’s donor partners have expressed their commitment for economic packages, reconstruction works and even rehabilitation of the Maoist militia, this tremendous goodwill in no way should be misconstrued as a means to sustain a militia that is still armed and appears reluctant to give up the politics of terror and intimidation. The question of maintaining the Maoist militia is none of M K Nepal’s headaches and wither goes the lesson in self-sufficiency preached by the leaders of his brand? Instead the matter had better be left for the government to decide as it is already committed to bringing the Maoists to the national mainstream through a peace-oriented dialogue. As opposed to the earlier stance, now with the cessation of hostilities, the need to embark on a recruitment drive has also run out of steam. Which is the reason why both the Nepal Army and Maoists are expected to go slow as the new government, unlike its predecessor, cannot entertain the idea of siphoning off development budget to unproductive defence expenditure.

Now that the peace process has already kick-started with the successful conclusion of the first round of talks between the government and the Maoists, the most important question that needs answering with utmost seriousness and sincerity is that of decommissioning of the Maoists’ illegal weaponry. Though the current dispensation has in principle agreed to incorporate the Maoist militia in the Nepal Army, the spadework can be furthered only after holding wide-ranging consultations. As the matter concerns the sensitive issue of national security, a set of criteria needs to be evolved first and then strictly adhered to before launching any drive towards that end. As agreed upon by both the seven-party alliance and Maoist leaders, it would be wise to allow the two armies to be monitored either by the UN or some other credible international agency, prior to going to the polls for constituent assembly. Any further delay on the matter may turn out to be a recipe for disaster.