ANNFSU to ask ICJ to resolve Laxmanpur issue

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KATHMANDU, Sept 28 - In yet another protest campaign against the controversial Laxmanpur
Barrage, a leading student wing of a communist party is gearing up to knock the doors of
International Court of Justice (ICJ) after the Dashain festival.

All Nepal Naional Free Students’ Union (ANNFSU), a student wing of Communist Party of Nepal
(Marxist Leninist), announced the move at a press conference yesterday.

"In no way will our aproach be frivolous. We will move the ICJ only after consulting with legal
experts at home and abroad," said Rabindra Adhikari, President of ANNFSU.

The maltreatment the leftists received recently during their protest march has provoked the recent
announcement, among other factors.

They claimed that Nepali police and army force threatened hundreds of leftists who made it to the
Barrage site.

Earlier, ANNFSU and its sympathisers had launched a protest march from the capital to Holia
Village Development Committee in Banke District.

Maoists abduct asst headmaster

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JAJARKOT, Sept 28 - Maoist insurgents abducted here Monday Lag Bahadur Singh, Assistant
Headmaster of Bishwa Primary School located at Shakla Village Development Committee -3,
alleging him of leaking Maoist secrecy to police, according to a health worker of the VDC.

Assistant headmaster Singh had fled to Khalanga, district headquarters, after the rebels warned
him of assassination three years ago. He was taking refuge here for the past two years because
of their threat.

Later on Maoists placed a condition that they would do no harm if he returned home. As soon as
he came back home the district level people’s court of the rebels demanded Rs 75,340 as
collateral, the local health worker said. The health worker said that the rebels abducted him as he
could not give the sum as demanded.

Jajarkot is one of the most Maoist insurgency-hit districts of the mid-Western hill region of the
country. More than 14 hundred people, including the police personnel, rebels and ordinary
people, have so far lost their lives since the last four and half year old insurgency.

UNESCO team ‘cautiously impressed’

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KATHMANDU, Sept 28 - The High Level Mission of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) which
is presently visiting Kathmandu had something positive to say about Nepal’s determination to
conserve monuments that are listed as World Heritage Sites.

"We are very impressed by the degree of awareness of the citizens of Nepal toward their heritage
which is also the heritage of humanity," said the president of UNESCO World Heritage
Committee Abdelaziz Touri, during a press meet on Thursday.

Touri leads a team of experts, including the representative of UNESCO director general, who are
here on a visit to gauge the political commitment of leaders on conserving the precious world
heritage monuments located in the Valley.

But though he began with some positive remarks, the WHC team also had some words of
caution. A press statement issued today

by the WHC said that the mission, while appreciating the efforts to raise public awareness,
clearly recognizes the urgent need to mobilize international technical assistance.

It also urged the need to rally public support to safeguard the world heritage values of such sites
within Kathmandu Valley and to mitigate the threats leading to gradual deterioration of the
authentic character of the capital city.

"The mission reiterates the World Heritage Committee’s recognition of the serious loss of the
authentic urban fabric detected over the past years due to rapid urbanization and uncontrolled
development."

The team was here in Nepal on the directions of the WHC’s 1999 meeting in Marrakesh,
Morocco. The meeting had decided to send the team to Nepal whose main responsibility was to
gauge the political commitment here to preserve the heritage sites, and to provide a
recommendation whether the heritage sites here should be placed under the "endangered list."

The six-member delegation, which arrived here on September 24, held dialogues with the Prime
Minister, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation as well as other local representatives.
They also visited the monument zones -- Pashupati, Changu Narayan, Swoyambhu, Boudha and
historic palaces of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur.

The task of the mission is to report its findings to WHC, which will take a decision at its 24th
session in Crains, Australia, in November-December 2000.