Acharya lands Defense portfolio
Appointment a strong signal of Govt intention

By Suman Pradhan

KATHMANDU, Oct 2 - Nepal has a new Defense Minister, and he is Mahesh Acharya. That was announced in a communiquè issued late Monday by the Royal Palace Press Secretariat.

The communiquè said that Acharya, who also holds the Finance portfolio, has been appointed the new Defense Minister by His Majesty King Birendra upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.

Acharya's appointment would hardly have been news had it been done at any other time and by anyone else other than Koirala. But since it comes within a week of the police disasters in Dolpa and Lamjung - and the ensuing confusion over the command and control structure of the Royal Nepal Army - it signals a profound change in government policy.

Sources close to the Prime Minister told The Kathmandu Post, with the latest appointment, the government is sending a strong and clear message to both the Royal Nepal Army as well as the Maoist guerrillas who have turned some of Nepal's western hill districts into a war zone.

"From now onwards, the army will be used in an intelligent manner in the fight against the rebels," says a senior government official familiar with the developments.

"The message of Acharya's appointment to the army is, you are not an independent entity but an institution that is raised and survives on taxpayers' money. You will have to obey the commands of the government elected by the sovereign people of this nation," he said.

The official continued: "the rebels should also get the message that the government is open to talks. Grab the offer, or else..."

Maoist rebels are certain to get the message, but they are unlikely to take the offer of talks since the rebel leadership has already announced it will not talk with the present Koirala government.

The appointment of a new Defense Minister is a significant step for Koirala who has held the portfolio every time he has been the Prime Minister. Some previous governments, notably the ones of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) and the Surya Bahadur Thapa-led Rashtriya Prajatantra Party have appointed Defense Ministers who were other than the Prime Minister.

But Koirala never followed the practice in the seven years he has been the premier since multi-party democracy was established in 1990. He has always held the Defense portfolio himself, until today.

Government sources say, the need for an independent Defense Minister arose after the army's ambiguous role in the aftermath of last week's rebel attacks at Dunai, the district headquarters of Dolpa, in which 14 policemen were killed and 11 others abducted.  Two days later, another rebel attack in Lamjung killed eight policemen.

Govinda Raj Joshi, who resigned as Home Minister last week, accused the army of failing to assist the police during the attack in Dunai. He also charged the army command of not providing modern weapons to the police even after being paid in full. The government was also jolted one day later when the army failed to cordon off escape routes used by rebels in Dolpa district despite an agreement to do exactly that.

Many here say, the ambiguity over the army's command and control structure is a result of the Constitution of 1991, a product of the tripartite agreement between Royal Palace and the divergent views of the pro-democracy Nepali Congress and the communist alliance. The latter two groups together spearheaded the movement for a Constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy in 1990.

The Constitution provides for a three member National Defense Council which is headed by the Prime Minister and includes the Defense Minister and the commander in chief of the army.

According to the constitution, the NDC can use the army through a recommendation to His Majesty, on whom rests the supreme command of the Royal Nepal Army. The monarch also appoints the army commander in chief. The confusion arising out of this arrangement was underscored last week after the Dunai incident.

Government sources say, during audiences with the King in the days after the Dunai incident, the monarch has been supportive of the prime minister's position and has urged him to do everything to maintain law and order as provided by the constitution. But since no government since 1990 has ever developed a modus operandi on mobilizing the army, the generals easily stymied moves to activate the army against the rebels, they add.

New Defense Minister Acharya's challenge, therefore, is to develop a modus operandi for mobilization of the soldiers, says a senior government official. "He is well equipped to handle the job. He is diplomatic, not easily cowed down by contrary arguments, can work towards a compromise in difficult situations, and also controls the purse strings of government as well in his position of Finance Minister."

Army under govt control: UML

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Oct 2 - The main opposition, CPN-UML today reiterated that the army should be under the control of an elected government, amid ensuing debate over the role of Royal Nepal Army (RNA) in the aftermath of Dolpa and Lamjung carnage.

"Army is always under the jurisdiction of elected government in every democratic countries," said a CPN-UML press release issued here today. "Our constitution has clearly defined the role of army. That is why, we strongly believe that all the political institutions, the government and its bodies should function in accordance with the Constitution."

Fourteen policemen were killed in a daring raid by the underground Maoists in Dunai, the district headquarters of Dolpa, last weekend, and eight others were killed two days later in Bhorletar of Lamjung.

Debate over the role of RNA hightened after immediate-past Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi, who resigned late last week, and higher-ups in Nepal Police blamed RNA personnel based in Dunai for non-cooperation during the Maoist raid.

Stating that the series of violence and terrors should stop is the call of all the people, the press release signed by UML Spokesman Pradip Nepal called on the government to carry out its responsibility to maintain law and order situation in the country.

"The government is responsible for maintaining law and order in the country," the release said. "The government should control violence and killings...It should not issue conflicting statements (on the role of RNA) and turn things messy."

Meanwhile, CPN-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal  while addressing a function in his home constituency of Rautahat said that the government could mobilise the army if it feels necessary.

"Even the Nepali Congress (NC) government has not felt the  necessity to mobilize army to quell Maoist insurgency," he said. "Then why should other parties interfere by saying this and that. The Royal Nepal Army is a body of the government according to the constitution."

NC General Secy hints at army mobilisation

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KATHMANDU, Oct 2 -General Secretary of ruling Nepali Congress Sushil Koirala said the government might use army to contain the Maoist insurgency after following due constitutional procedures.

  Talking with The Kathmandu Post at his residence today, Koirala said,  "Army could also be used against the Maoists because the government cannot remain as a mute spectator to the recent spate of killings."

The Constitution provides that His Majesty shall operate and use the Royal Nepal Army on the recommendation of the National Defence Council consisting of the prime minister as the chairman and the defence minister and the commander-in-chief as members.   

Asked if possible use of army against the rebels and the desire for talks were not at cross purposes, Koirala replied: "If the Maoists can indulge in killings, while talking about dialogue, the government too can take tough measures to prevent the killings."

"Government's goodwill measure of releasing the rebels had proved detrimental as most of them have gone underground and resumed their activities," added Koirala.

Commenting on Deuba's assertion that his hands were tied in dealing with the Maoists, Koirala said, "His complaints are baseless. The Commission is fully supported by both the party and the government. I too am a member of the body and have never felt any obstacle. It does not behove a man holding such a responsible position to make such comments."

The party leader said there was no move to disband the Deuba-led high level consensus-seeking Commission. After the recent Dunai and Lamjung massacres, Deuba had blamed the government for failing to maintain law and order and asked for the PM's resignation.  

Speaking about the dispute on the issue of active membership of the party, Koirala said it was only a section of the party that was raising "unnecessary controversy". "The membership of all the active members of 1995 have been renewed," Koirala claimed, adding that a four-member probe committee has been formed to look into the grievances, said Koirala.

However, Deuba camp has been alleging that Koirala had secretly provided active membership to his men at the cost of deserving party workers.

About his recent visit, alongwith the leader of the Opposition Madhav Kumar Nepal to Manila, Philippines at a four-day first-ever international conference of Asian political parties, the Secretary General said that the meet discussed a host of issues covering democracy, globalisation, transparency in governance, corruption, among others.

The meet also dwelt upon a common Asian market like in Europe. Some of the other proposals were setting up an Asian Monetary Fund and Asian Parliament. "A 25-year strategy has been adopted a Secretariat with a Standing Committee has been formed." The conference was attended by representatives of 22 countries, besides observers from Latin America, US and Europe.

Finance Ministry asked to act against corrupt RBB employees  

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Oct 2 - The cabinet secretariat has asked the Finance Ministry to take action against Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) officials who were involved in irregularities that has cost the nation's largest and one of the oldest commercial banks millions of rupees in loses.

These officials have been charged with false evaluation of collateral value and issuing loans much more than the actual value of these collateral. And, auctioning off the property seized from defaulters at minimal price.

The action comes after the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigated allegations of irregularities at RBB's Maitidevi Branch and asked the cabinet to take actions.

During investigation, PAC uncovered many such cases of irregularities that involved high level bank officials.

PAC first began to investigate on the allegations that RBB bank officials make inflated evaluations and grant huge loans against collateral that are a fraction in value and then had auctioned the seized property at nominal prices.

In one such case, documents have shown that a four ropani land at Koteswor area belonging to a Taraman Bajracharya had been issued a loan of Rs. 9,00,613 and an interest of Rs. 21,04,452 had been levied on it.

However when the land was seized by the bank, it was auctioned off for only Rs. 51,555. This piece of land at the present real estate value could fetch as much as Rs. 20 million.

This case was also taken up by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). However, the CIAA's recommendation for action against the officials involved was ignored and the people who were actually involved in this have already retired from service.

Among the charged are RBB's former Executive Chairman Rajeshwor Acharya, the then Deputy Governor of Nepal Rastriya Bank Hari Dutta Pant, Board members Mukunda Acharya, who was the undersecretary at the Finance Ministry, Upendra Pradhananga, Subodh Narayan Jha and industrialist Banwari Lal Mittal.

RBB's other officials named in the case include Krishna Mani Acharya, Mohan Neupane, Ganesh Raj Mishra, Sushil Raj Neupane, Bishnu Bahadur Thapa and Punya Prasad Dawadi.

Others include engineers Jaya Narayan and Rameshi Kaji Tuladhar who are charged with drawing up false and inflated evaluation and RBB's then General Manager Laxman Bahadur Hamal who had given direct orders to sanction the loan.

PAC has said such cases of irregularities was pushing the bank towards bankruptcy and it has billions of rupees in bad loans and it is in no condition to recover it.

Records showed that the bank has over Rs. 8 billion stacked just in principle amount of loans that have not been recovered and have passed the time fixed for payment. The interests on the loans sanctioned by the bank add upto Rs 9.67 billion. Loans that have not been able to recover date back to 1965.

RBB's Executive Chairman Punya Prasad Dahal had openly admitted widespread irregularities among bank officials while issuing loans and evaluating collateral.

Dahal was quoted as saying that if action was to be taken against all the staff of the bank who are involved in these kinds of irregularities, then there probably would not be any employee left in the bank.

PAC has formed a sub-committee comprising of lawmakers Hridesh Tripati, Gokarna Bista, Dilliraj Sharma, Buddhiman Tamang and Lilamani Pokhrel as the members to look into various reports presented by both foreign and domestic agencies on the state of RBB and report back within two months with recommendations on correcting the anomalies existing in RBB that is pushing it towards bankruptcy.

TIA employs bird hunters

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Oct 2 - The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has started keeping bird hunters on alert at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in a bid to fight increasing bird menace.

"We have started to keep bird hunters on alert near the runway from Monday evening," Basanta Upadhyay, Ground Manager of CAAN, at TIA told The Kathmandu Post. "They will scare away the birds with the help of firecrackers or shoot them."

According to him, the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation is contemplating carrying out "habitat and other studies on the aerials" visiting the country's only international airport's runway soon, so that preventive measures could be taken.

CAAN's such move came three days after a Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC)'s London-via-Dubai-bound Boeing 757 suffered a major bird-hit - second such in a week's time - at the airport while preparing to take off.

Prior to that two other incidents of bird-hit had been reported from the airport. On 23 September, another RNAC Boeing bound for Hongkong faced a similar bird-hit while preparing to take off while Buddha Air's Raythoon Beech too had collided with a flying falcon while preparing to land on August 20.

CAAN officials say such birds as crows, egrets, falcons and hawks throng the airport's runway to feed on earthworms and other insects with the onset of autumn. The problem lasts through the winter, especially during the noon time.

Experts say the close proximity of the capital's garbage dump, which is currently located along the banks of "sacred" Bagmati river, right under the nose of the airport, has turned the matters worse.

According to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regulations, no dump sites are allowed to be established within the 13 kilometre radius of an international airport.

Growing Indo-US ties offers opportunities, and risks, for South Asian nations

By Damakant Jayshi

KATHMANDU, Oct 2 - Earlier this year, when he came calling to South Asia, US President Bill Clinton bypassed Nepal, though he visited India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Question is: Could he not have visited the Himalayan Kingdom a la Japanese PM Mori for a few hours? A question Shital Niwas might well ponder.

Was there an imperceptible message for Nepal to put its house in order? Some foreign policy experts do feel it was an intended snub. "Two prominent nations - Sri Lanka and Nepal - were left out of the President's itinerary. In one a civil war is raging and in the other it is about to enter," said an expert with Institute of Foreign Affairs, affiliated with Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Upon his return from abroad recently, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said he had asked US President Bill Clinton if he had started looking at Nepal through India's eyes. Clinton, according to Koirala, had denied the implication.

Indeed, Nepal's Foreign Secretary Narayan Shumsher Thapa says relations between Nepal and the US are "strong and cordial". "Nepal's track record in democracy, good governance, human rights during the last decade is much more impressive than many developing countries," says Thapa, adding, "and these three are highly valued by USA."

But the impression is gaining ground that with US's new-found love for India, the world's only superpower may become more sensitive to India's interest in the region. And that could provide the southern neighbour even more leeway in dealing with neighbours like Nepal.

"US will definitely value India's opinion in the region," says Mohan Lohani, Chairman of Institute of Foreign Affairs. "That however does not mean that it has abandoned its own policy." Lohani cites Clinton's Pakistan visit, despite Indian objection, as an example.

Not a good omen for Nepal, which has been sheltering close to hundred thousand Bhutanese refugees for a decade now and this vexed issue cannot be resolved unless India, via which these refugees entered Nepal, steps in. Other irritants in the ties between Nepal and India - like the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Kalapani occupation by India, the Laxmanpur Barrage, to name but a few - are begging to be solved. Another fallout is that SAARC Summit remains in cold storage.

But deepening Indo-US relations should not be a worry to India's neighbours, particularly if they offer economic opportunities.

Take the case of China. Despite the bonhomie between US President Clinton and Indian PM Atal Behari Vajpayee, Clinton still worked the US Senate to grant China Permanent Normal Trading Relations (PNTR) recently. That, despite the annual furore over China's alleged horrendous human rights record. China's entry to WTO will now be a lot more hassle-free.

With billions of US dollars invested in China, which generate employment and boost the economy back home, US government had done what had to be done.

So is the case with India. The vast nation offers wondrous opportunities to US businesses, and as such, Clinton's enthusiastic reception of Vajpayee in Washington in mid-September, is a result of that economic diplomacy. India is also a bulwark, in the US' eyes, against terrorism.

Nepal neither has a market as big as India's nor has it the strategic value it once held during the Cold War. And though deepening US-India relations could offer opportunities for the nation, there are fears that it could also make India more intractable on bilateral issues.

Analysts say, this is the time for Shital Niwas mandarins to wake up and take note. The world around is changing, and so should they.