Outgoing United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) chief and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Nepal Ian Martin Monday urged political parties not to make the recruitments in Nepal Army a matter of competition.
Speaking at the Reporters' Club in the Nepali capital Kathmandu on Monday, Martin said that the parties and the government must agree to the peace agreement and resolve their differences through dialogue.
He mentioned that Nepal's peace process has many challenges ahead, and the challenges would extend further if parties fail to settle them peacefully, reported Xinhua.
Martin expressed hope that the army integration and rehabilitation process would be done in the next six months when UNMIN ends its mission in Nepal. Moreover, the UN Security Council has already said it is not willing to extend UNMIN term further.
Martin, who has been saying that the new recruitment in Nepal Army is a violation of the peace agreement, also objected to the statement by Nanda Kishor Pun, chief of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (UCPN-M) People's Liberation Army, that they would increase the size of PLA to 32,000.
"Challenges in peace process would increase if the parties fail to live up to their commitments in implementing the peace agreement," said Martin.
Martin, who served as the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative to Nepal for two years, is leaving for UN headquarters in New York within a few days.