NC Unity Efforts Continue
Continuing the efforts to unify the Congress, Prime Minister and president of Nepali Congress (NC) Girija Prasad Koirala met with president of NC (Democratic) Sher Bahadur Deuba on Sunday (August 26) in Baluwatar. The two leaders are reported to have agreed to announce the unity soon. PM Koirala urged Deuba to expedite the unification process by ignoring petty issues while Deuba replied that he would respond soon by discussing with his party leaders. Leading dailies report
Panel Proposes Nationalizing More Palaces
The cabinet team led by Home Minister has recommended nationalization of more royal palaces and forests. The group recommended nationalization of eight forests under the ownership of royal family, which were looked after by the army. Likewise, the group has recommended nationalizing Nagarjuna palace, Gokarna retreat, Diyalo Bungalow in Chitwan, Ratna Mandir in Pokhara and Hetauda palace. Earlier, the cabinet had announced nationalization of seven palaces based on the group's recommendation. Leading dailies report
Pokhara Hotels Fully Booked
All the leading hotels in Pokhara are said to have fully booked for this tourist season. Tourism entrepreneurs said that the peace agreement is the main reason for such an encouraging trend. "We have stopped reservation for the month of October, November and December. However, the situation is still gloomy for the small hotels," hotel entrepreneurs said. "All the 165 rooms in Fulbari Resort and Spa, a five star hotel, have been booked for this season," Dashrath Pandey, sales and marketing assistant manager of the hotel said adding that the rooms priced between $150 and $600 were reserved by European tourists. Shangrila Village Resort, another leading hotel in Pokhara, has also been booked by Japanese tourists, the hotel informed. Gupta Giri, assistant front office manager at the hotel said, "All 61 rooms were booked for this season; October to April. Peace is the only factor for such an encouraging trend." The rooms in Shangrila Village Resort cost between $70 and $180. Gyan Bahadur Thakuri, a front office staff at Fish Tail Lodge said, "Five dozen rooms in the hotel are already reserved for the months October to February." Laxmi Bahadur Bhattarai, president of the Regional Hotel Association Pokhara, said that the small hotels have also encouraging reservation though they are not fully booked. "Small hotels have not received full booking", he said adding that peace could be a driving force for such an encouraging booking. He owns Pokhara Mountain Resort. "This tourist season should be very encouraging, if bandh, strike and chakkajam were not organized," said Basudev Tripathi, president of Visit Pokhara Year 2007 and member of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB). Tourist office Pokhara said a total of 94,799 tourists visited Pokhara in 2006. Nearly 60 percent of them came for trekking. Around 400 hotels in Pokhara have over 8,000 beds, according to the data of regional hotel association Pokhara. The Himalayan Times daily reports END
Maoists Pick Their Nominees For Ambassadors
Maoists have chosen their four ambassadorial nominees. Maoist leader CP Gajurel, who heads the party's international bureau, has said that the party has picked Pampha Bhusal as envoy-nominee for France, Hira Bahadur Thapa for Malaysia, Ajay Sharma for Australia and Bijaya Kanta Karna for Denmark. Bhusal is a central leader of the Maoists and Sharma is a regional bureau member. Karna is a teacher and Madhesi activist while Thapa was an acting foreign secretary during royal regime. Gajurel said that his party will present these names at next cabinet meeting. "We have tried to pick names from women, Madhesis and bureaucracy," Gajurel said. Earlier, Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan had blamed the Maoists for the continuing delay in the appointment of ambassadors by not handing over the list of their nominees. Compiled from reports
Security Of Refugees Worries UN, US
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the US have expressed concern over the security situation in the Bhutanese refugee camps, which has affected their preparations for resettlement process of the refugees. UNHCR has been administering the refugee camps and the US is a member of the core group to announce absorbing 60,000 Bhutanese refugees. The UN agency is ready to start identifying and referring cases to third countries for resettlement, but the process has not started because the UNHCR has said it wants continued political, logistic support and security measures from the Nepal government to initiate it. The UNHCR feels the need for the government to announce its policy on third country resettlement of the Bhutanese refugees in the camps. UNHCR Representative in Nepal Abraham Abraham, in an email response to queries, said that they are "deeply concerned" over increasing incidents of violence, threats and intimidation in the refugee camps. Similar views came from a US official working on Bhutanese refugee affairs. "Security is the main problem to begin resettlement process," the official said insisting anonymity. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) as the Overseas Processing Entity (OPE) is yet to establish its office in Damak of Jhapa. It will start operating as soon the agreement is signed with Nepal soon. Prior to beginning the process, the UNHCR would organize a mass information campaign to update all stakeholders about the process and inform the refugees about resettlement and all three durable solutions to enable them to make an informed choice about dealing with their future, Abraham said. The UN refugee agency feels that the government has started stepping up security to prevent the outbreak of more incidents. "We fully recognize and respect the many difficult political and security issues the government has to deal with, but we are confident that the refugee issue is high on the agenda of the government," he concluded. Meanwhile, Chairman of the Bhutanese Movement Steering Committee and rights defender Tek Nath Rizal on Saturday said that no pro-repatriation organization has opposed the third country resettlement offer. "In fact, responsible groups of people who aspire to resolve the refugee problem have appreciated noble proposals from different nations, including the United Sates, as an alternative to repatriation," Rizal said in a statement. The statement said: "We have repeatedly stressed that the refugee families or individuals have every right to choose their destiny. We had only urged for clarity with regard to their future." "It must be made clear that there has been no opposition to the third country resettlement offer from any corner of the Bhutanese movement for repatriation and democracy," the statement added. The Himalayan Times daily reports
MJF Warns Of Agitation
The chairman of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) Upendra Yadav has warned of another agitation in Madhes if their demands are not fulfilled within a week. Talking to reporters in course of MJF's central committee meeting on Thursday (August 23), Yadav said if the demands are not fulfilled within a week, then agitation will be launched. He said MJF will not compromise on its demands for ethnic autonomy and proportional representation. He said that MJF will take part in Constituent Assembly elections but only after their demands are fulfilled. The MJF is going to make public the decision of its central committee on Friday. Compiled from reports
Absence Of Elections Will Endanger Legitimacy: Nepal
Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML), has said that the European leaders told him that absence of Constituent Assembly elections on time will raise questions on the legitimacy of the government. Upon his return from ten-day visit to European countries, Nepal told reporters that European leaders including Norwegian minister Erik Solheim told him that they hope the elections will be held on time. On the issue of Maoists' agitation, Nepal said that a party in a government cannot talk about taking "people's action." "They have signed the agreement to decide the fate of monarchy by the first meeting of elected CA. They have also signed an agreement to abolish monarchy by two-third of parliament if monarchy tries to derail elections. They must stick to those agreements. I hope they will not demonstrate a political betrayal by going against those agreements," he said. Compiled from reports
UML Suspects India And The US
The Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) has concluded that the United States and India have advanced their interests by taking advantage of transitional phase. It has said that while the US has shown its interest to give continuity to monarchy, India is seeking to extract maximum gains by exploiting the transitional phase. In a document prepared for internal circulation by the party's school department, the UML has concluded that India is working to bring Nepal under its security umbrella, capture its natural resources and its market. Likewise, the party has also concluded that China is re-evaluating its traditional policy towards Nepal. Kantipur daily reports
Shortage Of Air Tickets Hit Passengers Hard
Due to an acute shortage of international air seats, a 'critical' situation has come to grip the airlines industry. Even with 109 international flights per week with an annual capacity of around 12 lakh seats, the airlines have not been able to accommodate those wanting to fly from or to the country via any route. The situation is expected to continue for two to three months more. In particular, the Kathmandu-Delhi flights are totally overbooked.
"The problem of overbooked flights has actually been there since the beginning of this year, but in comparison, this is a bad phase we are currently facing," said Sangeeta Rana of Jet Airways. Jet Airways has a capacity of 154 seats and it is trying to bring another aircraft in October, she added. With the onset of the peak tourist season now, the situation is going to get worse. "The number of Nepalis wanting to fly out of the country is increasing tremendously," Prabhat Chitrakar, ticketing officer, Jaya Travels, said, adding: "This is also a time when Nepali students studying abroad fly to various destinations, especially to India, which has added to the rush." In addition, a whole lot of Nepali laborers are flying to various countries in the Gulf and other Asian nations. The crisis was also caused as the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) suspended all its international flights for almost ten days. NAC halted all flights on August 1 and resumed its flights with one Boeing on August 11.The airlines cannot make adjustments as they are bound by the Air Service Agreement with Nepal. Meanwhile, the government has granted air licenses to Silk Air (Singapore) and Etihad (UAE). The two airlines are set to begin their flights by the end of October. The Himalayan Times daily reports
YCL Joins Maoist Call For Agitation
A day after the Maoist chairman Prachanda issued the call for agitation, its sister wing has welcomed it and vowed to make their agitation successful. The president of Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League (YCL) Ganesh Man Pun has said that physical action cannot be ruled out in course of their agitation. Addressing a press meet on Tuesday (August 21), Pun said that YCL will "morally and physically" support the agitation program announced by the Maoist chairman Prachanda. The YCL has decided to hold rallies, demonstrations, and political strikes to support the Maoist agitation. "When the movement reaches to a climax then people may take even physical action (against regressive elements)," said Pun. He was referring to the statement by the Maoists in which they have said that "people's action" will be taken against such elements in course of agitation, which is set to begin from mid-September. In the past period of conflict, the term "people's action" was used by the Maoists to physically assault, intimidate, abduct or even murder opponents. Compiled from reports
