UN official accuses police of extrajudicial deaths

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Feb 14 - A high level United Nations (UN) official today accused the police force of resorting to extrajudicial killings in the process of controlling the four-year-old Maoist insurgency.

"I am concerned by reports and information about the number of people who have been extrajudicially executed, and at least in one instance massacred by the police force," said Asma Jahangir, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions after touring Nepal for the past nine days.

"Numerous people have disappeared following arrests or held in custody. These abuses appear to have been perpetrated with impunity," Jahangir told reporters today on completion of her fact finding mission.

She will report back about the situation to the United Nations Human Rights Commission which is scheduled to meet in March.

"I very clearly see that extrajudicial killings have taken place where the police have not been made accountable and when that begins to happen it increases people’s resentment," she said.

Since the Maoist rebels began waging a guerrilla war from the hills of midwest and central region exactly four years ago, over 1100 people have been killed.

According to the last official count, of the total number of people who have succumbed to the insurgency, over 800 are Maoists, about a 100 police personnel while the remaining 200 are "common men" - a good number of Nepali Congress (NC) workers forming the last category.

Despite the claim by the government that all the people killed by the police bullets are Maoist rebels, human rights groups and opposition parties have repeatedly accused the government of indiscriminately killing innocent people and later calling them Maoists.

"I do not get the feeling the (Nepal) government has grasped the magnitude and the real picture of the problem because everybody who is killed is called a Maoist and that is not correct," Jahangir said. "For them who die is simply Maoist."

During her stay, she visited Nepalgunj and Gorkha, gathering information, meeting local people, political representatives, judges and journalists.

"I have several lists of the number of people killed in this manner. We are in the process of looking at the incidents and have to confirm in our own manner the authenticity of this list before we come up with a number," she said when asked to give out a figure of extrajudicial deaths in Nepal.

She also met leaders of various political parties including the ruling Nepali Congress (NC).

"Apart from NC, there was not a single party we met that disputed extrajudicial killings had taken place ... in fact these parties had their own list of party members killed by the police," she said.

She said she would be recommending in her report that the government of Nepal should consider inviting working groups on torture and arbitrary detention.

"When these visits begin to take place, there will be more focus on human rights situation," she said. "Hopefully the recommendations will be implemented, otherwise there will be more visits."

Other recommendations would include strengthening the legal and judiciary system, making the investigation process more professional, training of the police force and formation of a human rights commission.

Violence reported in various part of country

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Feb 14 - Violent incidence have been reported in various parts of the country, including Dailekh, Dhanusha, Kailali, Terathum and Makwanpur a day after the fifth anniversary of "People’s War" waged by the underground Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists).

A police sub-inspector was critically injured in a bomb explosion that took place at Belashpur Danda situated a little more than one kilometre afar from the district head quarters at Dailekh. The explosion took place when Police Sub-Inspector Khadga Bahadur Rana was removing a banner propagating the Maoist movement.

Sub-inspector Rana will be flown to Nepalgunj for medical treatment, police added. This is the first time that a policeman has been injured in Maoist attack in Dailekh so far.

Likewise, Maoist rebels have also demolished an unattended police post in Laliya Village of Dhanusha in a bomb explosion. The demolished police post was recently re-constructed by local residents after it was torn down by the rebels killing two policemen in 1989, said Deputy Inspector of Police Manoj Kumar Shah.

Meanwhile, Maoist rebels torched Roshan Khadya Udyog last night in Tikapur of Kailali district. Around 15-20 rebels later fled the scene after pocketing around Rs 45,000 after giving a speech for 20 minutes setting ablaze bank drafts worth Rs 300 thousand, an employee of the industry said. Damages has been estimated to be around Rs 150 thousand.

Similarly, reports of explosion and firing were also reported from Chisa Pani, Lamki, Musuria, Chaumala, Fulbari, Hasuliya and Tikapur of Kailali district.

According to reports from Terathum, Maoists set off a bomb on the roof of the house where Sub-Inspector Jagat Subba was at Myanglung Bazar last night. However, the bomb which slipped off the roof later exploded in a nearby bamboo grove. The site of explosion is 20 meters north of the District Police Office.

The explosion which resulted from a home-made pipe bomb caused minor damages on the roof of a nearby house. The sound of the explosion was even heard in the nearby VDC shaking the nearby houses.

In Hetauda, incidence of bomb explosion in two areas of Makwanpur district have been reported last night. The first explosion took place at a public place in Ratomatim of Aaparbari VDC-8 which is 50 km east of Hetauda. Another explosion is said to have occurred in Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) at Chuprako Chaur in Hetauda Municipality.

Though no arrests and casualties have been reported so far in both the incidence, police maintained that the explosion at the office of ADB occurred as the bank had not placed two guards and a dog for security during the night time as recently decided by the Security Committee of the district.

PM’s chief advisor refutes AFP report

KATHMANDU, Feb 14 (PR)- Prime Minister’s Chief Advisor Narayan Khadka today categorically denied that Prime Minister had accused the ultra rightists working in the name of the King and the royal palace of posing threats to democracy.

Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai yesterday was quoted by AFP as saying, "The ultra-leftist in the guise of Maoists and the ultra-rightists working in the name of the King and the Palace are the biggest stumbling blocks in the process of democracy in Nepal."

Bhattarai had further said that he would "smash both these reactionary forces." "I categorically deny this," Khadka told reporters after avoiding the question for a while. Khadka also defended the current government as the "cleanest" amongst all the governments since the restoration of democracy in 1990. "We all must accept that corruption is at its lowest now. It is due to the honest leadership," said Khadka referring to the "simple and humble" image of the Prime Miinster.

He also said that the "deadlock" between Nepal and Bhutan had ended and a major breakthrough in the Bhutanese refugee crisis was likely in the near future.

When asked to comment on the resignation of Mahesh Acharya as the Finance Minster over the differences with the Prime Minister on the appointment of governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank, he said: "No person is indispensable in a democracy. Entry and exit of people in the government is a regular democratic practice."

He said the differences between the party and the government are "genuine." "The government has to take decision in the interest of the country which may not always be in favour of the party," he said.

When asked to comment on the health condition of the prime minster, Khadka said, "He is recovering speedily from his back pain." He also dismissed claims that Bhattarai was going aborad for treatment. When inquired about the upcoming Nepal-India talks, Dr Khadka said, "All I can say is the talks would be held in a friendly environment and there are no hidden agendas."

Foreign secretary leaves for Thimpu

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Feb 14 - A five-member delegation led by Foreign Secretary Murari Raj Sharma left for Thimpu, Bhutan today to prepare groundwork for the upcoming 9th Joint Ministerial Level Committee (JMLC) Meeting.

According to Narayan Shumsher Thapa, spokesperson at the Foreign Ministry, the 3-day secretarial level meeting which will kick off on Tuesday will prepare the groundwork for the 9th JMLC and work out the modalities for the verification of the refugees.

"This (visit) is to prepare groundwork for the upcoming ministerial level meeting and to develop modalities for the verification of refugees in the camps," Secretary Sharma also told The Kathmandu Post today.

Bhutan had for the first time conceded to treat the victimised refugees kept under the category two as those under category one during the 8th JMLC meeting that concluded on September 8 1999 in Kathmandu.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Foreign Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat had said that the Bhutanese side agreed that if category two consisted people who were tortured and made to flee they could be treated as those under category one.

Category two refugees are those who migrated voluntarily while category one are bona fide Bhutanese citizens as per the classification of refugees categorised during the first round of talks in 1993. According to Bhutanese Citizenship Act-1985 those who leave Bhutan voluntarily will automatically forfeit their citizenship.

A huge number of refugees fall under category two and if Nepal were to go by Bhutanese demand on the categorisation, it would have to keep more that 50 percent of the refugees registered in the camps in eastern Nepal. Refugees claim they were forced to sign documents stating that they were leaving the country voluntarily.

Four rounds of JMLC talks had proved futile as Bhutan did not agree with Nepal’s demand to go from camp to camp for verification. The talks had failed to move ahead after the third round of talks held in April 1994 in Kathmandu decided to form a joint verification team of 10 members, five from each side.

The 7th round of JMLC meeting had ended in a deadlock that led to a hiatus of more than three years when the then Foreign Minister Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani insisted on forming the verification team in April 1996.

Bhutanese refugee activists, however, claim this is Bhutan’s ploy to hoodwink international community by showing that the talks are going on. Activist Rakesh Chhetri said that Bhutan is holding the talks now because the issue will come up during the annual meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in March. "Bhutan doesn’t want this issue to come up in the meeting," said Chhetri. "That is why it is staging this drama."

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Thapa also said that the meeting was being held at the secretarial level due to Bhutan’s request. "Nepal had proposed the immediate meeting of JMLC but Bhutan proposed to hold it at the secretarial level," said Thapa. The Bhutanese delegation will be headed by Ugen Tshering, Bhutan’s Foreign Secretary.

UPF dissolved

KATHMANDU, Feb 14 (PR)- The United Peoples’ Front (UPF), the political front of the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist), has been dissolved, according to UPF chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai.

A press statement issued by Dr Bhattarai on February 12 but received here only today said, "from today, all the committees of the UPF have been dissolved."

Bhattarai is one of the founding leaders of the UPF and since February 1996 has remained underground as one of the active leaders of the rebellious People’s War launched by the Maoists.

The reason for dissolving the UPF, Bhattarai said, was necessitated by the need to consolidate and "...integrate the freedom movements of indigenous and ethnic communities as well as regional groups with that of new people’s movement."

Meanwhile, Prachanda, general secretary of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) issued a press release yesterday thanking the human rights organisations and other intellectuals for pressurising the government to hold dialogue with Maoists to resolve the crisis.

"We want to make clear that we have no reservations to sit for dialogue if the government meets the fundamental criteria in creating the environment for dialogue," states the statement.

Clinton’s Asia visit to put energy in limelight

By Akhilesh Upadhyay

KATHMANDU, Feb 14 While last-ditch efforts are still under way in Washington and Islamabad to include Pakistan in the upcoming South Asian visit of US President Bill Clinton, Nepali officials say they don’t expect Kathmandu to feature in the presidential itinerary.

"We did make efforts from our side," said a high-level government official here late Monday, "but we haven’t heard anything from Washington yet. I don’t think Kathmandu will be included..."

Asked to comment on the possibility of President Clinton making a stop-over in Kathmandu, a US Embassy official said all announcements regarding the presidential visits are made by the White House in Washington.

A February 1 White House statement made available by the Embassy says: "President Clinton will be travelling to South Asia during the week of March 20, 2000. He will visit India and Bangladesh...No decisions have been made about other stops."

Neither were other destinations considered during the White House press briefing on that day--though officials gave clear hints as to what US expected from Pakistan. David Leavy, a White House spokesman said that the State Department officials had travelled to Pakistan weeks ago, and "made clear our long-standing concerns on terrorism, proliferation, the restoration of democracy. And I think the Pakistanis are well aware of our concerns."

Nepal’s non-inclusion notwithstanding, officials and business leaders here say the Clinton visit will help bring South Asia’s, including Nepal’s, long-term priorities into focus since all related agencies tend to prepare extensively for the all-important visit. They hope the region’s vast--and underutilized--energy potential will come under the global spotlight, both during the President’s visit and later during the Energy South Asia that takes place March 6-8 in Kathmandu. The three-day conference (organizers: US Trade and Development Agency, TDA; US Departments of Energy, Commerce and State; and the US Agency for International Development) will showcase a number of large-scale energy projects in the region with collective worth of billions of dollars.

TDA has conducted extensive market research to provide detailed profiles of "newly available, feasible and bankable projects in the region." The prime attraction in the Energy South Asia will be the one-on-one meetings that will follow the project presentations, allowing investors to meet privately with decision-makers to discuss their individual priorities.

In December, a number of US energy companies attended in Kathmandu what has now become a curtain raiser to Energy South Asia. The key result of the meet was that the USAID in coordination with other US government agencies and embassies will launch the $34 million multi-year South Asia Regional Initiative Energy Programme (SARIEP) in early 2000 with the establishment of an office in the region, in all probability in Kathmandu.

The purpose of the December meet was to provide an opportunity for the countries of South Asia to share energy sector development experiences, explore options for regional cooperation, and to discuss the proposed SARIEP. The participants decided that there is substantial enthusiasm from energy sector officials in South Asia for a coordinated programme focused on regional energy cooperation, giving way to reliable and low-cost energy.

Experts at a loss on women trafficking

By Suman Subba

KATHMANDU, Feb 15 - Due to the lack of concrete figures and the nature of women trafficking, experts say they are at a total loss when it comes to giving a true picture of the problem.

They generally agree that a new survey to ascertain the number of girls trafficked from Nepal and sold into prostitution in India and further afield needs to be carried out.

Says Naresh Newar, a journalist who has reported extensively on the problem, "I believe the true figure to be far in excess of 10,000. Serious steps must be taken to come to the true number of girls trafficked from Nepal."

According to CWIN, the NGO group which is involved in anti-child labour and anti-trafficking work, the tentative estimate remains at 5,000-7,000 a year. This figure has been the going currency for the last 7-8 years. Even so, for some, this is a conservative estimate.

On the other hand, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), say that a general survey would not give the exact amount of the number trafficked. "We need a situation analysis and not a survey as such. What this means is, concentrating on what makes it happen. That is, the causes," says Yadav Amaji of ILO. "We have to look for a change in attitude of people to advocacy procedures."

The trouble is, as the debate to survey or not continues, trafficking has definitely continued to escalate.

"In the last 3 years, the number of cases reported to the police by returnees has increased by 83 percent," says Geeta Uprety, in charge of the Women’s Cell at the Valley Police Headquarters. "...This is an alarming increase, for it also gives an indication of the huge amount of cases that go unreported. And this is just within the valley."

Classically, poverty is seen as being the root cause for the trafficking problem. Family members often turn a blind eye to the problem, and in many cases, are involved themselves just to make a few bucks.

The Centre for Legal Research and Resource Development (CeLRRD) understands says the problem lies within the structure of individual families. The basic root cause is the attitude taken against women within the society, it says. Unless these attitudes change, then, even with anti-poverty measures, the trafficking problem will not go away.

Yubaraj Sangroula, coordinator of CeLRRD says, "we see that change must come from within family units. Education of parents is essential to fight against trafficking."

There are, according to estimates, more than 200 NGOs registered as working in the field of anti-women and children trafficking. But police say, many are there just in name. Only a few are really committed.

The Ministry of Women and Social Welfare have, in the past, identified 24 districts prone to trafficking. But all experts agree that its reach has become much more broader. As the area in trafficking has expanded, so the ethnic makeup of those trafficked has also taken on different hues to that of the past.

"I believe that even prostitution, the main result of trafficking, could be contained by such grassroot approaches," suggests Newar, again. "Generally, a lot of prostitution is a direct outcome of the poor state of development in the hills."

This is one area of reform advocated by activists. Sapna Pradhan Malla, an advocate closely working for the legal rights of prostitutes comments that the exploitation of prostitutes will be minimized if they have access to legal resources.

She is also concerned over the fact that the penalty in raping a prostitute carries only a years imprisonment and Rs 500 fine.

One key area of debate is whether to see if prostitution falls into the legal definition of work as defined by the ILO’s Core Conventions where only child labour and forced labour are disputed areas of work.

But for some experts, any attempt at legalising prostitution will mean benefitting the traffickers more. For it does not, ultimately, solve the trafficking problem.

Teachers’ meet concludes with call to end anomalies

By a Post Reporter

LALITPUR, Feb 14 - The executive-level meeting of two prominent teachers’ associations - Nepal Teachers’ Association (NTA) and Nepal National Teachers’ Association (NNTA), ended here today with resolutions to fight together against educational anomalies.

With the realisation that professional rights can be achieved only through unified efforts finally dawning on them, the two organisations had started their executive-level meeting yesterday.

The two-day meeting of more than 40 executives from both the associations was aimed to "explore the problems of teachers, find ways to fight for professional rights and go ahead in the movement together", according to Madhav Prasad Bhattarai, president of NTA.

While NTA is an association close to Nepali Congress, NNTA is a pro-Communist association.

The declaration passed by the teachers’ meeting, has decided to form a joint committee, with nine members from each of the association to resolve problems faced by the education sector, and formulate and implement Teachers’ Code of Conduct.

"We have realised that political alignment of the associations has not actually been able to render us with the kind of facilities that a teacher should enjoy," said Madhav Prasad Marahatta, vice-president of NNTA. "Both Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, when they were in power, did nothing to encourage the teachers. We are trying to make concerted efforts and find solutions to our problems."

However, the associations do not hold the same view on how to go ahead for "unification". NTA has put forward its plans to establish a federation and bring all the teachers’ associations under one umbrella.

According to the proposal submitted by NTA, any group associated with education which has at least 15 district committees and a minimum of 5,000 members in the country can be incorporated in the federation. NTA is pushing forward such a proposal because "merging is likely to create further problems due to the ideological divisions of the associations," said Bhattarai.

NNTA, however, is determined on "merging" of the two associations rather than joining under the umbrella of a federation.

"If we set up a federation, any association, even those set up according to religious beliefs or teachers teaching a particular subject, can come up to be a part of the federation," said Bam Dev Gautam, central advisor of NNTA. "This would, in fact, create factions within the federation."

The resolution passed today also has decided to seek opinions from the district level committees of both the organisations on whether to go ahead with forming a "federation" or "merger".

Though the associations claim to have been working together to tackle problems associated with education since 1994, presidents of both the associations were reluctant to say that they were heading for unification.

"We will make consolidated efforts to recognise the problems and coax the government to fulfil them," said Madhav Prasad Adhikari, president of NNTA. He accused NTA of not having "professional commitment. If they had the commitment they would not hesitate to merge."

Time-frame for the possible unification has not yet been fixed, but according to sources it will probably materialise in the next five years.

Besides these two associations, there are two more teachers’ associations -- Nepal National Teachers’ Council, a pro-RPP teacher’s association and Nepal Teachers’ Forum, which is pro-NSP. The number of teachers in Nepal is estimated to be around 140,000 and both NTA and NNTA claim to have around 80,000 and 70,000 members respectively, more than the total number of teachers.

"This is because there are many dual members," said Hari Binod Adhikari, central advisor of NTA. "More than 60 percent of teachers in Kathmandu have dual membership."

"The teachers who take dual membership are mostly doing so because they want to acquire rights and facilities, whatever that means," said Arjun Poudel, central advisor of NNTA.

Hindu reformer passes away

By a Post Reporter

DHARAN, Feb 14 - A veteran Hindu pundit who advocated various reforms in the orthodox Hindu rituals passed away here yesterday.

Pundit Chhavi Lal Pokhrel passed away at his residence in Dharan-6. He was 96. The liberal priest denounced rigidity in the caste system. He preached that higher caste like Brahmin was "achieved" by struggle rather than "ascribed" by birth.

"Guru revolutionised Hindu rituals by shunning the caste discriminations in the dogmatic religion," said Surya Bhandari, a young cleric.

Pokhrel is claimed to be the first Brahmin in the country who performed holy rituals in the Dalit communities. Meanwhile, the Deputy Prime Minster Ram Chandra Poudel has expressed deep condolence over the demise of the great social reformer.

His dead body was taken around the town in funeral procession before the last rites. He was suffering from asthma.

NC lashes out at abductions

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Feb 14 - Nepali Congress today condemned the recent abduction of Hari Kumar Shrestha, Bijaya Adhikari, Dhruba Adhikari, Hom Bahadur Hamal - all workers of sister organisations of NC - by Maoist insurgents.

The party has demanded immediate attention from the government to get the kidnapped released.

It also condemned the recent arson on a chopper and called for the government to investigate the criminals involved in various Maoist related activities.

Nepal, India to combat poaching

KATHMANDU, Feb 14 (PR)- A bilateral agreement to coordinate and collaborate in order to solve the problem of poaching and illegal smuggling of wild life and timber across the Nepal-India border was made today.

According to a press release issued by World Wild Life Fund, WWF, agreements were made to increase patrolling on both sides of the borders as well as to include the issue in other bilateral meetings.

The decision were made at a transboundary meeting between the officials of the District Forest Office and local wild life reserves, held on Feb 3 and 5 at Katarniyaghat Wildlife Reserve and Tiger Sanctuary, India.

Experts call for regulated use of groundwater

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Feb 14 - In order to stop depletion of groundwater in the valley, the government should register and license the major users of groundwater, said experts here today.

They have pointed out the need for a legislation to regulate exploitation of groundwater resources to protect and improve the quality of such resources.

According to Dinesh Chandra Pyakurel, executive director of Melamchi Water Supply Development Board, there are numerous inadequacies in the Water Resources Act 1991 and its corresponding regulation. "Nothing is clearly stated in the Act on groundwater management. The existing laws have also been ineffective due to lack of enforcement," he said.

The findings and recommendations of research conducted by Metcalf & Eddy, a foreign consultancy firm, in association with CEMAT Consultants on water related issues in Kathmandu Valley, were disseminated in Groundwater and Wastewater seminar today.

"A proposed primary agency should be designated as the primary regulatory agency responsible for setting tariff and metering water use by private wells," states the recommendation. "When Melamchi water project supplements supply, increase groundwater tariffs to encourage reduced abstraction programmes."

The findings of the study states that groundwater has been heavily exploited over the last 20 years in Kathmandu valley. The major users of groundwater are -- hotels, industries and hospitals. Nepal Water Supply Corporation uses over 62 percent of the ground water.

The total groundwater use through shallow and deep tubewells and dugwells is estimated to be 46.86 million litres per day (MLD) in 1999. According to a study carried out by JICA in 1990, pumping of 15 MLD is the "safe abstraction" for the valley.

For the improvement of waste water situation in the valley, the study has recommended for registration of septic tanks combined with the collection and disposal of septage.

Earlier, in the inaugural session, secretary at the Ministry for Housing and Physical Planning Khagendra Basnet assured that appropriate actions would be taken by the government to implement the recommendations. "If the recommendations are practical and applicable, we would surely implement them," said Basnet.

According to Basnet, the ministry is planning to table a bill in the upcoming session of parliament that will have provisions for unified development of the valley, including the construction of outer ring road and facilities of telecommunication, water supply and electricity.