Maoist leader makes wrong claim about reparations to the martyrs’ families

Sujit Mainali / July 12, 2016

Janardan Sharma                                                 Source: Himalaya TV/Youtube.com

Central office member of the CPN (Maoist Center) and a former minister for peace and reconstruction Janardan Sharma (Prabhakar) in his article titled “Why is a consensus government needed?” published in Naya Patrika on July 7, 2016 made the following two claims:

1. The issue of martyrs’ families is associated with the nine-point agreement. The finance minister himself had agreed to provide them reparations, but he failed to mention it in the government’s annual budget.
2. Arrangement should have been made for the treatment of those injured in the ‘people’s war’… Madhes movement and various other movements, but the government is not paying attention to the issue.

South Asia Check has examined whether these statements are fact-based or not.

1. First Statement: The issue of the martyrs’ families is associated with the nine-point agreement. The finance minister himself had agreed to provide them reparations, but he failed to mention it in the government’s annual budget.

Point number four of the nine-point agreement signed between the ruling CPN-UML and coalition partner the UCPN (Maoist) [present-day CPN (Maoist Center)] on May 5, 2016, states that “Reparations will be provided to the families of the martyrs and those disappeared, as per the decisions made by earlier councils of ministers.”

Here, Sharma has alleged that the agreement relating to providing reparations to the martyrs’ families has not been mentioned in the budget.

But point number 19 of this fiscal year’s budget speech states that “necessary budget to provide the balance amount out of Rs.0.5 million which was previously declared for the martyrs and the family members of the disappeared people” has been allocated.

Similarly, point number 22 of the budget speech has mentioned that an arrangement has been made “to provide identity cards to the families of the martyrs and disappeared people.”

Therefore, Sharma’s claim is wrong.

1. Second Statement: Arrangement should have been made for the treatment of those injured in the ‘people’s war’… Madhes movement and various other movements, but the government is not paying attention to the issue.

Point number 20 of the budget speech has mentioned that “arrangement will be made to provide free medical treatment at public hospitals to those wounded during the conflict period.”

The budget speech has no mention about providing free medical treatment to those injured during the protests in Madhes in the run up to the promulgation of the new constitution.

But prior to unveiling the budget, the cabinet had made at least two decisions about providing free medical treatment to those injured during the Madhes protests.

A cabinet meeting on March 14 2016 had decided to pay Rs 3,117,561.32 for medical treatment of the people injured during the Madhes protests. Likewise, a cabinet meeting on May 12 had decided to release Rs 588,554 for the medical treatment of Bikram Yadav of Sarlahi district who was injured during the protests.

Thus, Maoist leader Sharma is wrong in saying that the government is not paying attention toward providing medical treatment to those injured during the ‘people’s war’, Madhes movement and various other movements.

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