![]() | This article needs to be updated.(August 2021) |
People's Liberation Army (Nepal) | |
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जनमुक्ति सेना, नेपाल | |
![]() Members of the People's Liberation Army (Nepal) in Chitwan | |
Country | ![]() |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Size | 5,000[citation needed] |
The Nepalese People's Liberation Army (Nepali: जनमुक्ति सेना, नेपाल) was the armed wing of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN(M)). The PLA was founded in 2002, in the midst of the Nepalese Civil War initiated by the Maoists in 1996. The chief commander of the PLA during the war was Prachanda (Pushpa Kamal Dahal). On 12 September 2008, Nanda Kishor Pun was appointed new chief commander of the PLA, as Prachanda had become Prime Minister of Nepal. This move was in line with a pledge issued by the CPN(M), issued prior to the 2008 Constituent Assembly election, that their members elected to the Assembly would leave their PLA positions.[1][2]
Following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the PLA's soldiers were to be kept in cantonments with agreement stipulating that PLA and Royal Nepal Army should be integrated together.[3] Despite multiple delays, the government of Nepal, led by the former chief commander of the PLA, promised that the PLA-NA integrations would be completed within six months.[4]