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Maoists cadre rush for quick degrees in Nepal

by Sanjay Jha | January 27, 2009 at 10:50 pm

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After Maoist came to power one of the major issue cropped up about the future of Maoists soldiers. They have been demanding their comrades to be merged into regular army. The stand-off in Nepal between the government and the Army headquarters got worse on Tuesday with Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’ chastising the Army for dabbling in politics in collaboration with some “foreign diplomats”.
The minister warned of serious consequences if it was not stopped immediately.

The minister, whose earlier instruction to stop recruitment was defied by the Army, asserted that such a defiance goes against the principle of civilian control of the forces.

Thapa, who is also a central committee member of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists, however, did not identify the diplomats whom he blamed for inciting the Army.

The Army headquarters had earlier declined to stop the recruitment for more than 2,700 junior posts against the normal vacancies. The minister wanted the recruitment to stop, which was endorsed by Ian Martin, chief of the United Nations Mission to Nepal, as it “went against the spirit of the peace accord signed between the Maoists and the government in November 2006”.

Only those who have passed the higher secondary level can apply for the post of second lieutenant. Hardly 10 percent of PLA commanders here have passed that level and this has led to mad scramble to acquire the fake degree to get a job.

Driven by the desire to get integrated into the Nepal Army (NA), combatants of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) here are busy buying "fake academic certificates".
While many PLA commanders of the seventh division at Talbanda and Badaipur camps are reportedly frequenting neighbouring Indian cities to buy "fake certificates", some have enrolled in local schools and colleges.

For instance, Ananda and Sangharsha, the nom de guerres of two brigade commanders of the division, are enrolled as bachelor-level students in Khaptad Multiple Campus here.

But they are rarely seen in the college, and even if they come, they just go out after a couple of classes. "They are not taking classes regularly," said Campus Chief Madan Raj Joshi. According to him, around 10 PLA combatants are enrolled in the campus.

The neighbouring Janapriya Higher Secondary School at Badaipur has more than 35 PLA men in its higher secondary and secondary-level programmes.

"Even those PLA men, who are not enrolled, come to us to enquire where and how they could get academic certificates," said Janga Bahadur Deuba, the school principal.

A source said on condition of anonymity that commander-level PLA men had been visiting Nainitaal, Khari, Paliya and other colleges of Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh states of India to acquire fake academic certificates.

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rumana husain

at 01:05 on January 28th, 2009

wow, the fake degree bug seems to be all over southasia...or am i generalising?

Looks Like Happy

at 04:28 on February 20th, 2009

Taken in October of 2007. A very peaceful demonstration by Nepalis Maoists in central Kathmandu. Protesting the terms that would govern, the by then postponed for a second time, elections.

Looks Like Happy has contributed a photo to this story.