Once upon a time in a country called Nepal, seven political parties decided to sign an agreement called the Comprehensive Peace Accord. Both sides were in a hurry for peace and it seems like they didn’t read what they signed, or left some provisions deliberately vague so that they would have something to quarrel about, or changed their minds, or all of the above.

This story is about the integration and rehabilitation of People’s Liberation Army fighters. According to an unofficial translation of CPA provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

“The Interim Cabinet shall constitute a Special Committee to carry out monitoring, adjustment and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants.”

Another unofficial translation also provided by the government spells the same clause as thus:

“The Interim Council of Ministers shall form a special committee in order to inspect, integrate and rehabilitate the Maoist combatants.”

See, this is already getting tricky.

There are legitimate arguments about signing on a peace deal first and worrying about the details later. But it also means every side can be as possibly unhelpful as they want. This is how things look so far:

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal: “The government is ready to integrate the Maoist combatants in security agencies on the basis of their interests, set criterion, qualification and consensus among political parties.”

Nepal says he remains committed to the Comprehensive Peace Accord and has sent a memo to his cabinet not to make any remarks that go against the spirit of the accord. When it comes to PLA fighters, wants to encourage individual PLA fighters to consider returning to civilian life, integrate up to 5,000 PLA fighters in the army, and integrate others on other security areas like the border security, police and armed police force.

Defence Minister Bidya Bhandari: “All the decisions Prime Minister makes cannot be implemented, and my ministry does not have any obligation to integrate the Maoist combatants into the Nepal Army.”

She has said, several times in the last week, that bulk integration of PLA fighters into Nepal Army is out of the question.

Nepal Army: “The Security Sector Reform applies to a failed state. It is a concept applied in war-torn countries to form a new national army by merging the country’s army with armed groups.”

In theory Nepal Army is neutral. Army Chief of Staff Chhatra Man Singh Gurung has publicly mentioned that he will accept any decision made by the Special Committee on Integration and Rehabilitation of Maoist combatants.

UCPN (Maoist): “PLA successfully fought against Nepal Army in the past, it is far better than the Nepal Army. Therefore, we can improve its standards by integrating the PLA into the national army.” (Former Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa)

Maoist party wants at least 7,000 of their fighters integrated into the security forces, at least 5,000 of those in the army. They are also seeking ‘democratisation’ of Nepal Army.

Nepali Congress: “The country may slip into a civil war if the Maoist’s People’s LIberation Army is integrated into the Nepal Army. The Maoist PLA should not be merged with the national army, but can instead be assimilated into other national forces looking into security of the border and forest.” (NC acting-president Sushil Koirala)

Deputy Prime Minister Bijay Gachchhadar threw his hat into the party on Sunday, with threats to establish a Madhes army if Maoist combatants are integrated into Nepal Army. On Sunday he said:

“We can’t politicise the army by including members of some parties. We cannot make the the fill the army with Maoists. If Maoist fighters are integrated into the army, those fighting in Madhesh could make a similar demand in the future.”

Moral of the story: We can’t say this for sure, but we might be screwed.