MaoisT chief Prachanda has said that Prime Minister G P Koirala’s letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan inviting the UN for ‘decommissioning’ of the rebels’ arms was unacceptable.

Another letter sent by Prachanda to Annan on Monday says that while the Maoists are willing to cooperate with the UN, ‘decommissioning’ of their arms before the Constituent Assembly elections is ‘‘unthinkable’’. The letter was written on the eve of a UN assessment team’s visit to the region.

The Maoist chief said that a 12-point agreement between the seven party alliance and the Maoists in November, and an 8-point agreement in June this year, clearly stipulated UN assistance on ‘management of arms and armies’ of both sides.

Prachanda called the content of the Prime Minister’s letter to Annan as ‘‘provocative’’. ‘‘Such arbitrary and unilateral application of two different yardsticks to the two armies is highly objectionable and totally unacceptable to us. Particularly any talk of decommissioning of arms of only the PLA before the election to the Constituent Assembly is just unthinkable. As everybody knows, the so-called Nepal Army is still loyal to the autocratic monarchy,’’ he said. Prachanda stressed that a democratic restructuring of the Army and credible international monitoring of it was imperative for free and fair elections to the Constituent Assembly.

KATHMANDU: The Government today scrapped the ‘Military Secretariat’ in the Royal palace, setting up in its place a new system of security for the King and his family. A Security Coordination Office has been set up under the Defence Ministry which would be in charge of the security of the Royal palace as well as members of the royal family, Minister of State for Communication Dilrendra Badu told reporters after the cabinet meeting