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Martin meets PM; discusses stalled PLA verification

The UNMIN chief Ian Martin met with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Friday morning, to discuss about the stalled second stage verification of the Maoist People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Martin had also met with Maoist chairman Prachanda on Thursday to discuss the same issue. "Mr. Martin held general discussion of the peace process, one of the topics of which was the verification process. He also briefed the Prime Minister on his meeting with Prachanda," Kieran Dwyer, spokesperson of the UNMIN, told Nepalnews.

Dwyer said that during his meeting with Martin, Prachanda had raised a number of issues and said they were not prepared to proceed with the second stage verification at this stage. Clarifying UNMIN's position, Dwyer said, "While the Maoists have raised certain matters not connected with verification, and while this may be important, they should not stop verification proceedings."

Although the UNMIN has completed the second stage verification of PLA in one camp in Ilam, the Maoists have requested to stop the process in other camps. Some reports have said that the Maoists are not satisfied with disqualification of some combatants during the process.

During his meeting with the Prime Minister Koirala on Thursday, Prachanda is also learnt to have proposed to defer the second-phase verification citing the current "fluid political situation" and the recent promotion of Nepal Army (NA) generals as well as the "politically motivated remarks" made by NA chief Rookmangud Katawal.

In the first phase, the UNMIN had registered 30,852 combatants and 3428 arms in seven PLA cantonment sites and 21 satellite camps. In the second stage, it is conducting detailed verification to disqualify those who were over the age of 18 on 25 May 2006, and who had joined the Maoist army before that date. nepalnews.com sd Jul 13 07