Maoists outdo govt in HR violations

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KATHMANDU, April 9 – The underground Maoists have outdone the government when it comes to violating human rights during the year 2000, says a report released here today by Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC)- Nepal. The rebels killed 218 people last year, while the number of people killed by the government stands at 179.

And during the first four months of 2001, 90 people have already been killed, out of which 75 per cent were killed by the Maoists, INSEC General Secretary Subodh Pyakurel said at the release of the 172-page report Monday. "The Maoists rebels topped the government this year," he added.

According to INSEC’s statistics on human rights violation, a total of 624 incidents—479 males and 145 females—of killings by non-state parties were recorded last year, while a total of 202 people were killed by the state.

"Two hundred and twelve people were injured in firings by the non-state parties, while 36 were injured in firings by the state," the report says, putting the total number of people injured by bombing and ambushes by non-state parties at 83 and by the state at 1.

Likewise, non-state parties led to the disappearance of 203 people—192 males and 11 females—last year, while the state was responsible for the disappearance of 48 people—41 males and 7 females.

A total of 36 women were trafficked in 24 events of human trafficking last year, while 61 trafficking attempts were reported. The total number of rape victims stands at 145.

NC CWC asks govt to quell Maoist insurgency

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KATHMANDU, April 9 – The Central Working Committee (CWC) of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) today asked the government to use all security apparatus in counter-insurgency operation to check the deteriorating law and order situation in the country, according to Central Working Committee (CWC) member Narhari Acharya.

Today’s CWC meet also condemned the Maoists for their recent spate of attacks that have already claimed the lives of more than 70 policemen.

The emergency CWC meet called by party President and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, comes after the escalation in Maoists’ attack on police posts in remote areas.

The meet also discussed the reports submitted by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ram Chandra Poudel and Defence Minister Mahesh Acharya on the country’s law and order and security situation. The CWC meet will resume on Thursday at 8 a.m.

Today’s CWC recommendations follow the Cabinet approval of National Defence Council (NDC) recommendation of using the army in counter-insurgency operation and sending the proposal to the King for royal assent. The Cabinet has also sent the two ordinances – one on Armed Police Force and the other on regional administrators – for re-promulgation. The two ordinances lapsed on Sunday.

Prime Minister Koirala left for the Royal Palace for a "special meeting" with the King for this purpose, said Acharya, while briefing the media about today’s CWC meeting that lasted nearly three hours.

According to a CWC member, requesting anonymity, Defence Minister Acharya informed the meet about the NDC recommendation to use the army and its structure. He also said that NDC had decided on the procedure of mobilization but declined to divulge the details, citing security reasons.

Similarly, DPM Poudel also briefed the meeting about progress on combination of the army and integrated development plan in the Maoist-hit districts. In Jajarkot, a major Maoist affected district, the army is building a road leading to the interior of the district. He also focused on the need of commitment of the political parties towards ensuring government-Maoists dialogue.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Taranath Ranabhat also suggested that the party should seriously study the reported meeting between Royal nominee to the National Assembly Ramesh Nath Pandey with Prachanda and Dr Baburam Bhattarai, top leaders of the underground Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) recently.

Bimalendra Nidhi, Narhari Acharya and Bal Bahadur Rai also spoke at today’s meet which was attended by all the CWC members except Pradip Giri. There were 20 invitees to the meet.

Nidhi questioned why the meet was called abruptly and without any fixed agenda. Defending the emergency meet, PM Koirala said that it was the informal discussions that would set the agenda.

Rai said that the demand for the PM’s resignation has fueled to instability and urged the party members to concentrate on the deteriorating law and order situation instead.

According to the CWC member speaking on condition of anonymity, former party spokesman Acharya himself had said that there appeared to be no government in place and the party itself was directionless. He said that in the absence of any communication between the government and the opposition, the Prime Minister should move ahead with a solid agenda to solve the pressing problems.

On Tuesday, a meeting of the working committee of the Congress Parliamentary Party is likely to discuss the prolonged disruption of the Winter Session of parliament.

Maoists claim responsibility for attacks

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KATHMANDU, April 9 - Underground CPN-Maoist has claimed responsibility of killing 32 police personnel on Friday’s attack at the Naumoole-based area striking police post. The party has also said that six of its guerrillas were also shot dead during the fierce battle between the police and the rebels.

Issuing a press statement on Monday, party leader Sonam said the Maoist guerrillas from Bheri sub-regional joint Platoon No-4, 5, 8 and 12 "successfully" accomplished the action within 18 minutes. The press statement also claimed that it was the highest level of action since the party adopted the "Prachanda Path" in its second national convention.

The Maoist sources said that five of their comrades were killed instantly while the other succumbed to the injuries on the way to their destination.

The press statement revealed that Dhan Bahadur Chaulagain, Kalikot, Bidor, Jajrkot, Shangharsha, Kalikot, Ajabi Aidi, Humla, Netra Bahdur Bista, Kalikot and Naula Singh BK, Kalikot are their men killed in the Friday’s assault.

The press release also said that the rebels confiscated 58 3-0-3 rifles, eight Magnum pistols, four shot guns and three Mauzer pistols, along with 5154 cartridges.

Likewise, the rebels also looted one revolver and 32 rounds of bullet, another pistol, a pressure mine, gelatines and two communication sets.

At least six students and a local businessman were injured on Monday, four of them seriously, when a country-made bomb abandoned by Maoists went off in Khalanga VDC-9, the district headquarters of Pyuthan district, police said.

The bomb exploded at Khaira VDC this noon when the students were returning to their destinations after participating in a farewell programme organised by their school - Mahendra Secondary School. All injured students are undergoing treatment at the district hospital in Bijuwar.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Krishna Baidawar said that the seriously injured students would be taken to Nepalgunj hospital for treatment. Most of them have received shrapnel on their bodies, DSP Baidawar told The Kathmandu Post.

The Maoists, however, have not claimed responsibility of the socket bomb blast. This is the first time that the school going children have been injured ever since the rebels waged their six years old insurgency.

Meanwhile, Pyuthan District Development Committee Chairman, Bam Bahadur Khatri and lawmaker from the Constancy-1, Hari Acharya, issuing separate statements, have condemned the Maoists for targeting the innocent students. "Everybody has a right to live," the press statements said, adding that their so-called "People’s War" would not be successful targeting the students.

Meanwhile, our correspondent from Dialekh said that some of the policemen, who survived the Maoist massacre at the Naumoole-based area police striking post, have deserted their duty on their own will. A police Sub-Inspector who hails from Syangja said that he was giving up the job without receiving his salary for the last three months.

Maoists had warned all the 28-surviving policemen of dire consequences if they did not quit their jobs within seven days. A policeman claimed that other colleagues were thinking of quitting the job because of the rebels’ threats.

Asked to comment on the growing disobedience in the police rank and file, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Bikram Gurung, retorted, "What can I do if one wishes to quit the job?

Underground Maoist guerrillas took away four 303 rifles and some cartridges at Namtar VDC, Sunday night, from a group of local youths who were in wait to loot hemp being smuggled by another group.

The youths attempted to flee the scene when they noticed the arrival of the armed rebels from neighbouring VDC. The youths were presented before a gathering organised by the rebels at Namtar bazaar along with the seized arms.

The rebels imposed some minor punishment to them as suggested by the locals but the rebels took away the arms. In the same meeting, the Maoist guerrillas also warned the headmasters of the local schools of dire consequences if they charged any kind of fees to students from the coming academic year.

Twins’ surgery almost over

SINGAPORE, April 9 (AP) - Eleven-month old Siamese twins from Nepal were doing fine and expected to be out of the operating room soon after almost 70 hours in surgery to separate them, hospital officials said Monday.

The sisters, Ganga and Jamuna Shrestha, were born joined at the skull with parts of their brains merged. Doctors began operating to separate the girls at 4:00 p.m. (0800 GMT) Friday.

Doctors had hoped to finish in 24 to 40 hours. When The Associated Press spoke to hospital staff Monday, the girls had been in the operating room for 68 hours.

"The operation is still on," said Singapore General Hospital communications manager Ho Lai Fung. "It’s a very complex operation. You can hardly estimate the time because when you open things up you find more things to do, so you just go on."

Ho said the girls were "still doing fine" and that surgery could "continue into this afternoon."

The girls’ "vital signs have remained stable, and both the surgical and anesthetic teams are happy with the progress," the hospital said in a statement.

The surgical procedure has been "meticulous and paced" because of the twins’ "complex and extensive" blood vessel interconnections, the statement said.

Two teams of doctors, including a neurosurgeon and a plastic surgeon, have been working around the clock to separate the girls, taking turns with brief breaks. The twins underwent six months of preparation in Singapore before the surgery.

Doctors say Ganga, who has a cleft palate, and Jamuna have very distinct personalities. Ganga is more feisty and is always hungry, while Jamuna is more calm. Although they were born connected, the girls tend to fall asleep and get hungry at different times each day, hospital staff say.

Both girls are named after sacred rivers in India.

Ganga and Jamuna Shrestha were born to a poor family in Nepal who, according to doctors and Nepalese officials in Singapore, worried that the girls would not survive in such a rugged country.

Their home is the small town of Sallyan, a 24-hour bus ride on bad roads from the capital Katmandu, said M.N. Swami, Nepal’s honorary consul general in Singapore.

The girls’ mother, Sandhya, is a kindergarten teacher. Their father, Bushan, helps his father in a small business, Swami said.

Both parents, who are in their early 20s, have been keeping an almost constant vigil at the hospital during the surgery with brief breaks to pray at a Hindu temple.

A doctor who met the twins in Nepal referred them to a neurosurgeon in the capital Katmandu, who then referred them to Dr. Keith Goh, the chief of the teams performing the operation in Singapore.

Goh said earlier that it is very rare to find twins joined at the head.

Surgeons in Singapore volunteered to perform the operation for free and many of the hospital bills have been waived. Singapore Airlines paid for the girls, their parents and their grandfather to fly to Singapore from Katmandu.

Singaporeans have donated 650,000 Singapore dollars (dlrs 358,000) to help the twins.

The family has been living with the Nepalese Gurkha community in Singapore. The Gurkhas are famous for their service as a special group within the British military. In Singapore, they work as a special force with the police.

Mayadevi temple excavation report delayed

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KATHMANDU, April 9 - The International Scientific Meeting on Conservation, Restoration and Shelter for Excavated Archaeological Site of Mayadevi Temple once again ended today without doing what it was supposed to do.

The much hyped report on the nearly decade-long excavation work on the birthplace of Lord Buddha was to be submitted by the meeting comprising of members of the Japanese Buddhist Federation, the Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) and UNESCO.

The report was supposed to be presented by Japanese architecture Satou Oesaka to LDT prior to the four-day meeting, which was supposed to be a guideline that would be discussed during the meeting for sketching out future strategy for conservation works in the birthplace of Lord Buddha, inscribed as a World Heritage Site.

Historian Dr Tulsi Ram Vaidya said that the conservation work could begin only on the basis of the report because the site comprises of constructions of various periods — right from the 2nd century BC to 20th century — and each part needs separate guidelines for the conservation works.

He added that the participants, including the UNESCO officials condemned the irresponsible technician for not providing the LDT with the report. The Japanese team started excavation in the estimated 2,500 years old site in 1992 along with LDT and Department of Archaeology.

Experts say that the Nepali officials failed to take responsibility and produced shallow reports. On the other hand, the Japanese team never disclosed the findings on the over thousand years old artifacts. The excavated ancient artifacts have been stored in an ordinary godown in Lumbini for the last eight years.

LDT Vice-Chairman said that Oesaka had promised to present the report by the end of March but he has not. "Still, he agreed to make it ready by June."

He said that conservation of the site would start, however, by May 7, on the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha.

Junko Taniguchi, the representative of World Heritage Centre, said that the meeting suggested to build the Mayadevi Temple with simple construction works over the site, without covering the ancient objects and following the international standard of conservation.

There were two models presented from Nepali and Japanese sides to conserve the excavated site.

Yoshiaki Kitamura, the country representative of the UNESCO Country Office, said that he was "cautiously happy" with the meeting and its results.

He said that The World Heritage Site of Lumbini has been left undecided and unprotected for so many years. Meantime, the government had made various decisions several times but nothing has been done on the religious and archaeological site so far.

"If this procrastination remains, Lumbini will be another site of Nepal waiting to be enlisted in the Monuments-in-Danger list," he apprised.

Architect Sudha Shrestha, the Deputy Head of Department of Architecture, TU, said that a new design for the temple is being made for Lumbini with the Japanese consultancy.

Seminar on anti-corruption opens

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KATHMANDU, April 9 - A two day seminar on Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) inspection and anti-corruption policies kicked off in Capital today with various government officials participating in it.

Shedding light on the Bank’s inspection policy, Jill Drilon, Secretary of ADB’s Inspection Committee, said that Bank’s policy provides opportunity for people to raise concern about development projects in which ADB is involved.

ADB’s inspection policy is a mechanism to review its role in development projects financed or administered by it based on request from local communities, organisations or groups directly affected by the project. However there is no inspection in such projects where private sector is a partner.

The policy approved by the Bank’s Board of Directors in December 1995, came into effect in October 1996. So far only seven inspections have been carried out from about 22 such inspection requests. "Inspection were not carried out in other projects as the requests were not legitimate," said Drilon.

So far there has been no requests for inspection from Nepal’s side to any of the development projects funded by the Bank.

Participants were enthusiastic about the Bank’s policy, but were concerned regarding the technicalities involved in filing a request for inspection.

"Concerned group can request an inspection of a public sector project financed by the Bank if the group believes it is being directly and materially harmed because of the Bank’s operational policies and procedures," said Drilon.

However as Drilon pointed out that procurement decisions, that included selection of consultants, was beyond the scope of the inspection policy, many participants expressed their concern about the Bank’s such criteria.

Some participants even opined, whether an inspection request could be made regarding the Bank’s policy for the review on its stand to persuade Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to increase the electricity tariff.

Speaking on the occasion, Claire Lewis, ADB’s anti-corruption specialist, stressed that the Bank takes corruption very seriously and it is committed to fight corruption in Asia.

The Bank adopted anti-corruption policy in 1998, and the office of General Auditor is the initial point of contact for filing any allegations.

ADB has blacklisted 13 firms, 2 co-operatives and 31 individuals in 107 cases it has so far investigated. Those blacklisted will be ineligible from participating in any ADB-financed projects and activities.

The bank has blacklisted only one individual from Nepal while two firms have been given 90 days time for appeal after which the Bank will decide on whether to blacklist the parties too. "The bank has no policy to make public those blacklisted," said Lewis. "May be we will change this policy in the future," she added.

‘Corruption main cause of current problems’

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KATHMANDU, April 9 - Various intellectuals pointed out corruption to be the main cause of existing problems and the prime factor tarnishing the image of democracy, during a program in the capital today.

The interaction program titled ‘Democracy and the Problems of its consolidation’, organised by Foundation for Parliamentary Studies and Development was attended by prominent intellectuals, politicians and specialists from various sectors.

Former speaker of the lower house of the Parliament and the chairman of the Foundation Daman Nath Dhungeon said that in no way could the country shy away from the problems of democracy and that every individual had to contribute for its betterment.

Paralyzed constitutional bodies and Maoist problem were the two main challenges for democracy in Nepal, according to Dhungana.

Politicians like Prabhu Narayan Chaudhari of the Nepali Congress and Sita Ram Tamang of the CPN-ML the break away faction of the main opposition CPN-UML stressed that the ‘institutionalisation of corruption’ and inability to punish the corrupt were the root cause of present dismal state of the country.

Dr Mohan Man Sainju, former vice chairman of the National Planning Commission suggested five short-term majors to get the country out of the existing crisis. Bringing order in the ruling Nepali Congress and bringing the Maoist movement in the mainstream politics were among the points suggested by him.

Litterateur Khagendra Sangraula was of the opinion that the failure to wash the wrong tradition carried out by the former system and unhealthy electorate procedure supported by the corrupt attitude of the people in power were the factors making democracy ineffective in Nepal.

Economist Gun Nidhi Sharma said that the economic policies brought forward by the government under foreign advice was the main reason why the Nepalis had lost faith in the system.

Yubraj Ghimire, the editor of Kantipur Daily said that as long as the government was indifferent to the needs of the people there would always be struggle and revolt in one form or the other.

South Asia meet on ‘education for all’ today

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KATHMANDU, April 9 – Ministers and high-level decision making officials in the education sector of the seven South Asian countries are slated to meet here for three days, starting tomorrow, to fine-tune and synthesise their national action plan on education to fulfill the Jomtien Declaration — Education for All (EFA).

Speaking at the press conference of South Asia Sub-Regional Ministerial Meeting on Education for All, Professor Moegiadi, director and UNESCO representative for Bhutan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka, said that the meet will also agree on forming a South Asia Forum for EFA.

"To us, this (the formation of the South Asia Forum) is very important as it will facilitate exchange of information between various countries and will enhance capacity building," he said. A framework prepared in Dakar, Senegal, last year had urged the countries to strengthen their national action plans by 2002.

"Delegates of seven countries including Nepal participating in the workshop will fine-tune and synthesise their national action plans for education and integrate them into poverty alleviation and development structure," organisers said.

The target to provide education opportunity for all was set by leaders, academicians, donors, NGOs and the United Nations at the world conference on EFA Jomtien Declaration 1990 in Thailand. However, NGOs claim that, among others, still around 113 million children have no access to primary education and that the priority given to education by governments is low.

According to the organizers, around 140 participants from the seven South Asian countries, including participating country delegates, NGOs, journalists and members of the United Nations agencies will be attending the seminar.

The workshop is part of a world-wide exercise of UNESCO to measure the progress made in the last ten years in providing education to all and is jointly organised by Ministry of Education and Sports, and Nepal National Commission for UNESCO.