Friday, June 30 2006 12:24 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kathmandu: Maoists have proposed to put the Nepalese Army and People's Liberation Army of the rebels under the joint command of Prime Minister G P Koirala during the formation of an interim government in the Kingdom.

The idea was floated by Maoist chief Prachanda during a meeting with office bearers of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), including its president Bishnu Nisthuri, yesterday.

Prachanda offered to establish a Joint Command by combining Nepal Army and the People's Liberation Army of the Maoists under the Supreme Commandership of the Prime Minister, FNJ general secretary Mahendra Bista quoted the Maoist leader as saying.

His statement comes at time when the Seven-Party Alliance has said that an interim government inclusive of the Maoists cannot be formed unless the arms of the rebels were managed under United Nations observation.

"This would be the only way to resolve the problem of 'two armies' during the transition period," Prachanda said.

He also suggested to form a joint committee comprising of Nepal Army generals and the Maoist commanders to look after the two armies but added the barracks will be separate adding that this was the process towards creating a national army.

Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai, the number two leader of the party, during their meeting with the journalists expressed commitment to press freedom and freedom of expression and said that "They will instruct all their cadres not to harassand intimidate journalists as in the past," Nisthuri said.