4 held on religion conversion bid

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RAJBIRAJ, Oct 31 - Police have arrested four people including three Nepalis and one Norwegian national on the charges of proselytising people to Christian faith, District Police Office (DPO) Saptari said.

They were staying at local Anupdas Dharmashala and trying to convert the people to the Christian faith, Sanandan Kurmi,

Superintndent of Police, at DPO Saptari.

Those who were arrested by police include Norwegian national Trond Berg, Timothy Rai, 40, of Lalitpur Dhobikhola, Devi Prasad Bhattarai alias David, 38 of Udayapur Tapeswori-5 and Prem Bahadur Rai of Saptari Phattepur-1.

According to the police, these people had been staying here for the last four or five days and trying to convert local people to Christianity with temptations of employment and money. Eyewitnesses said they also organised a religious congregation on Sunday and delivered a lecture .

They also tried to bribe a resident of Brahmapur-5 Lokendra Kumar Jha urging him to renounce Hinduism and join Christianity. They had promised him Rs 40 thousand and it was on the basis of the complaint of Jha that the accused were arrested. "The accused are being interrogated and further investigation is continuing," Kurmi said. "A case will be filed against them on the charge of their attempt to convert Hindus into Christians," he added.

A number of organisations and associations including World Hindu Federation, Bajarangabali Bhajan Sandhya Samiti and Charitra Nirman Sangh (Character Building Association) have alleged that Christians are converting Hindus to Christianity through various temptations in different places including the northern belt of Saptari district.

They have urged the government to stop such efforts which are in violation of the Constitution of Nepal.

Bhutan poses on deferring policy: FM

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BHADRAPUR, Jhapa, Oct 31 -Minister for Foreign Affairs Chakra Prasad Bastola said the international community has finally realised that a decade-long Bhutanese refugee problem remains unresolved due to Bhutan's procastination.

Minister Bastola also indicated that a solution to the refugee problem is still in the early stages despite the ninth-rounds of talks between Nepal and Bhutan which could not sort out the refugee verification process.

Regarding the pertinent issue of refugee identification procedure, Nepal, who is giving asylum to over 1,00,000 Bhutanese refugees, has the stance that the refugee verification process should be carried out based on family-head count whereas the Bhutanese side is insisting on counting on an individual basis.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Minister Bastola claimed that Nepal has been able to persuade the international community on her side regarding the Bhutanese refugee problem.

"The international community has now realised that Bhutan is following a deferring strategy against the early repatriation of its exiled citizen," he said.

"Nepal wants to apply every possible means bilateral, multi-lateral and international to verify the refugees in each refugee camp," Minister Bastola said.

He added Nepal had accepted the recent proposal of UN High Commission on Refugees on the Bhutanese refugee verification process.

The Bhutanese refugee leaders, however, have been insisting that the refugees are to be classified into two broad categories: Bhutanese and non-Bhutanese refugees.

The Joint Ministerial Level Meeting of both Nepal and Bhutan agreed to categorize the refugees into four groups on October 7, 1993. The refugees were to be classified as genuine Bhutanese, those who left the country on their own, non-Bhutanese and the Bhutanese with criminal background.

Though Thimpu warmly welcomed UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Agata, during her recent visit to Bhutan, it remained indifferent to the international proposal for refugee identification, Bastola said.

In response to a query, Minister Bastola said  Nepal has also been holding informal talks with the Indian authorities about the issue and India has also shown its concern about it.

Asked to comment on the Special Additional Duty (SAD) levied by the Indian customs on Nepal's agricultural export to India, Foreign Minister Bastola said the Trade-Treaty reached between the two countries does not allow this.

"It is an illegal act if such practice does exist. Concerned ministry should talk to the Indian counterpart to get the unlawful practice cancelled," he said.

Maoists release VDC chief on bail

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JAJARKOT, Oct 31 - Underground Maoist guerrillas on Tuesday released Bhim Bahadur Pun, Chairman of Danda Gaon Village Development Committee on bail after Pun handed over Rs 50,000 to them as deposit, Maoist victim Pun said.

Chairman Pun who is elected on behalf of the Nepali Congress party has been defying the Maoist order of handing over to them all documents of the VDC and financial transactions.

The rebels had repeatedly warned him not to continue his political activities and told him to vacate the VDC office and hand over all the official papers to them, chairman Pun said.

Pun who went to the Maoist People's Court on Tuesday, an appointed day, said the rebels filed a case against him before their court. Chairman Pun was abducted before Dasain festival and released after the rebels brutally beat him for two days.  Pun was airlifted to Nepalgunj hospital, where he stayed for weeks to recover from his injuries and returned home for the Tihar festival.

Meanwhile, a report from Rukum district said the Maoist-wing,All Nepal National Free Students' Union (Revolutionary), has ordered a private school at Chaurjhari, Rukum to close for its "expensive fees," school operator Tilak Bhandari said.

The report said that 11 out of the total 20 private schools run in Salyan district have been closed due to the repeated warning from the rebels.

School operator Bhandari said the rebels forced him to close his school in order to "maintain uniformity in the education sector across the country."