Prachanda elected as Prime Minister; Ananta: PLA integration key to conflict resolution; Finance Ministry releases money to pay PLA combatants; Demand for Greater Nepal intensifies
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  • Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) was elected as the first Prime Minister of Nepal on August 15. He secured 464 votes in his favour while 113 Constituent Assembly (CA) members belonging to the Nepali Congress (NC) voted against him. The CPN-Maoist, CPN-UML and Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) had on August 14 reached an agreement to form a new government under the leadership of Dahal. These parties agreed to quickly implement the seven-point agreement reached by the seven-party alliance earlier. They also agreed to prepare a common minimum programme for the running of the government as well as decided to allocate ministerial portfolios through mutual understanding1. Prachanda defeated former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba of the NC2.

    The Maoists earned the support of twenty out of the twenty-five parties in the CA, including the pro-monarchy Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP-Nepal). Three parties – Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP), Rastriya Janashakti Party (RJP) and Rastriya Jana Morcha (RJM), did not take part in the elections3.

    The CPN-Maoist announced on August 15 that Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) positions held by Maoist party leaders elected to the CA had been terminated. This was a key demand of NC since they signed the comprehensive peace agreement. Senior leader Baburam Bhattarai also informed the CA that the paramilitary structure of the Young Communist League (YCL) was dismantled. He added that his party would implement the agreement reached among the seven parties in June 2008 to return all properties – public and private, to the concerned authorities and individuals. Bhattarai also vowed to dismantle all parallel structures of state mechanism that his party had established during the period of war4. However, another Maoist leader, Barsha Man Pun 'Ananta' stated that the CPN-Maoist would try to integrate the maximum number of PLA personnel into the Nepal Army but would not impose its agenda. Ananta noted that the integration of PLA was one of the vital parts of conflict the management “to ensure long-lasting peace in the country5.”

    In an effort to consolidate the ongoing peace process, the Finance Ministry approved the proposal of the Ministry for Peace and Reconstruction to pay the outstanding salaries of the previous 14 months to the PLA combatants in cantonments. Towards this end, the Ministry sanctioned Rs. 84 million. The nearly 20, 000 PLA combatants would each get about Rs. 42,0006.

    In other developments, the Unified Nepal National Front (UNNF) unfurled the map of Greater Nepal in Thankot - the main entry point to Kathmandu on August 12. The map, measuring 10*4 ft, shows Tista in the East and Sutlej in the West as Nepal’s territories under illegal Indian occupation. Phanindra Nepal, president of the UNNF asserted that “since the validity of the Saugauli Treaty has ceased to exist…India can no longer occupy Nepali lands. We will initiate nation wide protest programs against Indian expansionism 7…”

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