Kathmandu: Thousands of former Maoist combatants have started leaving special camps to join the regular army or start new lives as Nepalese authorities began a verification campaign of former guerrilla fighters as part of a historic transition process in the country.
Official survey teams started interviewing 19,000 former communist rebels in seven camps to screen who among them would join the army and who would be asked to return home with cash benefits to embark on new careers.
The exercise would bring to an end a five-year ordeal of these former guerrillas, who were herded into these camps after the Maoist made the decision to give up their guns and return to ballots, ending their bloody revolt in 2006.
The Maoist revolt triggered a decade-long civil war against Nepal in which more than 16,000 people were killed.(PTI)