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Govt., Maoists not sincere: Oli CPN-UML leader KP Sharma Oli said Saturday both the government and the Maoists are not sincere to the peace talks, as "they are playing some other games." "Both the sides have vague views," Oli said in a program Saturday. "They are involved in some other games behind the curtain." Oli said his party is ready for all options as far as peace is concerned. In
the same program, Nepali Congress leader Ramchandra Poudel said
constituent assembly has no rationale "because the Maoists have
already said that they will respect the monarch." Pre-paid mobile service starts Hundreds of people thronged and queued up in four outlets of Nepal Telecom Corporation (NTC) in Kathmandu on Saturday, the first day of the launching of the pre-paid mobile service in Nepal. A subscriber does not have to deposit money and there is no any minimum charge for using the pre-paid phone that needs initially Rs.1700 to be paid, according to NTC. After that, the subscriber can buy small chips either on Rs.500 or 1,000 for short or long durability. According to NTC officials, incoming and outgoing call charge in a pre-paid mobile is Rs 2.34 and Rs. 4.68 respectively. In the first lot, NTC has targeted 40,000 subscribers only in the valley. Subscribers can use the pre-paid mobile all over Nepal, where the NTC has mobile phone services. So far, NTC has provided mobile phone service in 23 cities. STD, ISTD phone services and short message service (SMS) are available in the newly introduced pre-paid mobile phone. nepalnews.com mr Aug 23 Adhikari appointed Auditor General His Majesty King Gyanendra, in accordance with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990, has appointed Gehendra Nath Adhikari to the post of Auditor General, a notice issued by the press secretariat of the Royal Palace said Friday. Adhikari was appointed on the recommendation of Constitutional Council, the notice said. nepalnews.com mr Aug 23 The King has, on the advice and consent of the council of ministers, issued the Poverty Alleviation Fund Ordinance- 2060 BS and Private Investment in Construction and Operation of Basic Infrastructures Ordinance-2060 BS, the Cabinet secretariat said Friday. nepalnews.com mr Aug 23 Shailaja to sit for 10-day-fast Nepali Congress leader Shailaja Acharya said Friday she would observe a 10-day-fast starting Monday to "purify" herself and to "regret" her non-alignment to the five parties' movement, to date. In a statement issued Friday, Acharya said she would now join the five parties' "anti-regressive" movement, which she was consistently opposing. "To devote myself in the 'Maha Yagya' of people's movement, I need to be spiritually purified," she said. "The fast is also for all misdeeds that my party did. I apologise to all Nepalis for this." Acharya is well known for observing period-bound fast, silence and "Satyagraha", among others. nepalnews.com mr Aug 23 The heads of missions of the European (EU) Union in Kathmandu view the outcome of the third round of peace talks and the prospects for the next round with increasing concern, various statements said Friday. They have stated that the political position put forward by His Majesty's government at the third round of peace talks represented an important and constructive response to the Maoist demands and deserved serious consideration in a substantive negotiating process. The EU heads of mission have called upon the Maoist leadership to respond to the government position in a similar spirit and show a will to negotiate constructively given the public commitment to a peaceful settlement to the conflict in Nepal, RSS reported. They have recalled their view that there can be no acceptable resolution to the conflict in Nepal by violent means and call upon the negotiating parties to take necessary steps to maintain the cease-fire and move the negotiating process forward. nepalnews.com mr Aug 23 US applauds third round of talks The United States government has welcomed the third round of government-Maoist peace talks. A press statement issued by the US Embassy Friday said that the political proposals advanced by the government during the third round of peace talks with the Maoists directly address a number of the Maoists' proclaimed socio-economic concerns and thus offer a realistic vehicle for productive discussions between the negotiating sides, The Rising Nepal reported. The US embassy, in the statement, called on Maoists to abide by the cease-fire, and has urged both the sides to respect the code of conduct and to remain engaged in the all-important process of forging in good faith a peaceful resolution to this conflict. The embassy also said that the US government looks to the government, the Maoists, civil society, members of the political parties, and all Nepali citizens who love peace and democracy to work together in the national interests to find a lasting negotiated settlement to this conflict. nepalnews.com mr Aug 23 Nepal-India border security discussed A joint committee meeting of border security officials of Nepal and India was held Thursday in Rautahat to control criminal activities in the border areas, RSS reported Saturday. During the meeting organised by district police office, the two sides agreed to clamp down on incidents of abduction and looting, among others, the report said. nepalnews.com mr Aug 23 Indian immigration officials Thursday arrested a Maoist politburo member Chandra Prakash Gajurel, 54 at Chennai airport when he attempted to board a flight to Frankfurt with a forged passport, a report said Saturday. Gajurel claimed he was a British passport holder and was traveling to London, Himalayan Times reported, quoting a UNI report. Airport sources said after check-in formalities, officials found something amiss in the travel documents. Gajurel was produced before the Alandur Magistrate who remanded him to custody. He was thereafter sent to the Chennai Central Prison, the report said. nepalnews.com mr Aug 23 Lab tests on sample products of some soft drinks, including Coca-cola and Pepsi, gave no clue that they contain any kind of hazardous ingredients or pesticides, a report said Friday. "The Department of Food Technology and Quality Control will make the results public next week," The Kathmandu Post reported Saturday quoting an undisclosed Department official. "Lab tests, in particular, 'screening' and 'acceptable' level tests determined the tested products meeting the local standards," said the official. However, the samples were not examined under the Euro standard till date, the report said. The Department last week had collected several samples of soft drinks that included Coca-cola, Pepsi, Sprite and Fanta, among others, following a string of protests against these soft drinks in neighbouring India. The Indian government Thursday gave clean chits to Coke and Pepsi, which were alleged of containing "pesticides". nepalnews.com mr Aug 23 Durga
Kumari Rana, mother of Bhola Bikram Rana, the senior correspondent of
Nepalnews.com passed away on Wednesday evening. She was 81 years old and
suffering from lung cancer. Refugees demand fresh verification Bhutanese refugees Friday submitted a memorandum to Prime Minster Surya Bahadur Thapa demanding a fresh verification of Khudunabari camp refugees and dismissal of the current categorisation result. "The refugees should be categorised only as Bhutanese and non-Bhutanese," said the document submitted by Bhutanese Refugee Women Forum. "The forthcoming 15th ministerial joint committee meeting should not endorse the recent verification results."
Involvement of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in status determination and repatriation process is another demand of refugees. "All refugees should be granted Bhutanese citizenship prior to their departure to Bhutan," said the document. On international community's role, the memorandum said, "The international community must guarantee the safety of the returned refugees. Plus, they must guarantee full reintegration of all returnees and protection of their social, economic, cultural and civil rights." On Nepali citizenship issue to refugees, the Forum said, "We are surprised that Nepal has agreed to grant citizenship to Bhutanese refugees unwilling to return as per the agreed position in the 'four categories' signed during the 14th meeting." "Bhutanese refugees will not apply for Nepali citizenship. All of us want to go back home." Officials of the Forum also met leaders of Nepali political parties, according to Garima Adhikari, coordinator of the Forum. nepalnews.com mr Aug 22
Peace process may break: Tuladhar Asserting that the Government-Maoist peace talk has entered a critical phase, talk facilitator Padma Ratna Tuladhar said Friday, “peace process may break now.” “This is the final chance for peace,” Tuladhar said in a program Friday. “The talk has entered the phase where it may fail.” As a solution to the problem, Tuladhar said it is high time that both sides make compromises. He said the facilitators are fulfilling their role honestly, but such a role may not be enough. “Maybe we need conflict management experts to broker the peace talks.” The deadlock, he said, was due to the government and the Maoists’ stubbornness on their respective agendas. “We facilitators cannot flatly express our view for constituent assembly or for constitutional amendment, but the civic society can do it. Otherwise, the fourth round of talks will be a failure,” he said. He was speaking at a discussion program on “Possibility of long lasting peace and solutions” organized by Human Rights Organization (HURON) Friday. Government talk convener Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani also attended the program. nepalnews.com mr Aug 22 Dr. Lohani speaks on govt. position Constituent
assembly, as demanded by the Maoists, is not the appropriate solution for
the time being, Finance Minister and talk convener Dr. Prakash Chandra
Lohani said Friday Justifying his logic, Dr. Lohani said, “Many world constitutions made by constituent assembly have failed, since those constitutions were not free of faults.” “Take the German constitution for instance,” he said. “It was made by a constituent assembly, but it gave rise to persons like Hitler,” he said speaking at a discussion program on “Possibility of long lasting peace and solutions” organized by Human Rights Organization (HURON) Friday. Even
the constitutions of With this, Dr. Lohani said it was totally wrong to say that amendment can do nothing. “Even we are ready to rewrite the constitution from A to Z excluding some inevitable factors.” Such factors are the bottom line of the 1990 constitution, in particular, constitutional monarchy, guarantee of multiparty democracy, people-based sovereignty and national integrity, he said. He further said the government agenda has incorporated all demands of Maoists as far as reforms are concerned. “I don’t see any logic to go for a constituent assembly,” he said. Dr. Lohani further admitted that the talks have entered a “critical phase”, as both the sides are firm on their own stances. “But still we are committed to talks,” he said. According to the agreement of the third round of peace talks in Hapure, Dang, facilitators will have to fix the talk date and venue within this week after consultation with both the sides. nepalnews.com mr Aug 22 Dr. Lohani to make govt. view public Finance Minister and talks convener Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani is scheduled to attend a program Friday noon, in which he would make the government view on constituent assembly public, sources told Nepalnews Thursday. Some of the talk facilitators will also attend the program, sources said. nepalnews.com mr Aug 22 |
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