Surkhet, November 23, 2006

The Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers are gathering at the cantonment sites of Surkhet as per the agreement reached between the government and Maoists on the Maoists’ arms management issue.

However, due to lack of adequate infrastructure, the PLA is yet to settle down fully in the main cantonment and sub-camps.

The Maoist soldiers have gathered at Surkhet’s main cantonment site at Dashrathpur and sub-camps at Kalyan, Gamkhola and Lekhparsa, 6th division commander of the Maoist PLA Pratik said.

Although it was agreed that the Maoist army would enter the camps by November 21, Maoist soldiers are currently putting up in local people’s homes in Dashrathpur and nearby villages due to lack of infrastructure in the camps.

The Agriculture Research Centre at Dashrathpur, which is the main cantonment site, has no infrastructure except for some employees’ quarters which are lying vacant. The Maoist soldiers cleaned up the place yesterday.

There are no arrangements for the Maoist militia to stay in the three subcamps, Pratik said.

Citizenship Bill to be tabled in House on Sunday

The parliamentary State Affairs Committee (SAC) today unanimously endorsed the Citizenship Integration and Amendment Bill 2006 with several provisions and the same will be tabled before the House of Representatives on Sunday for its approval.

SAC chairman Hridaya Ram Thani said after the Bill is passed by the House a person can get citizenship certificate in father or mother’s name. The committee has fixed April 13, 1990, as the cut off date for providing citizenship certificates.

Those born in Nepal after that will have citizenship rights. The committee adopted another provision to provide naturalisation citizenship for the foreigners living in the country after fulfilling the criteria.

Any foreigner living in Nepal for the past 15 years, who knows to speak and write Nepali or other languages spoken in Nepal, can have naturalisation citizenship certificate, provided he or she gives up the citizenship of the other country and is mentally healthy.

He or she will have to take the oath of Nepali citizen. A citizenship holder father’s son or daughter will be eligible for acquiring citizenship by descent. But the child of a Nepali women who got married to a foreigner will acquire naturalisation citizenship if he does not possess the citizenship of his father’s nation.

A person born in Nepal, living here permanently, having land ownership certificate or certificate of tenant, can be eligible for getting certificate by birth.