Former PLA men unite under new body

Former Maoist combatants have united under a new body called 'Ex People's Liberation Army Association', which is headed by former PLA chief Nanda Kishor Pun ‘Pasang’.

The association was announced at a programme attended by the leaders of the Maoist establishment including party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai on Friday.

Ex-PLA commanders who chose voluntary retirement package and hundreds of discharged combatants were present in the gathering held at Khanna Garment, Lalitpur.

Apart from the 4008 combatants who were disqualified in UNMIN verification, over 15,000 combatants have already left the cantonments under the voluntary retirement scheme.

The formation of the Ex-PLA Association comes two days after the hardliner Mohan Baidya faction reactivated its ‘combat’ organisaton ‘People's Volunteers Bureau' which includes a number of discharged former combatants. nepalnews.com