About 350 combatants including 150 women handed over their arms to UN officials as part of a deal that granted them a 1/3rd of Parliament seats and a Deputy Prime Minister post so they can work on elections in June. The combatants registered World War I vintage .303, Indian National Small Arms System (INSAS), and self-loading rifles which will be locked in storage and monitored by UN officials using closed circuit cameras and sensors.

It is unclear how many days this will go on to register the 35000 combatants that the Maoists claim to have in their ranks and this process will hold up the formation of the interim government as required by ageing Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. India has said that the process of disarmament has to be “complete and credible” but has not defined what it considers as such.

The disarmament and power-sharing deal is worrisome as it has been worked out through the office of Koirala and given his ill-health and age, it is not clear what is the or if there is a process established for succession should he be incapacitated.