Army begins ‘Search and Destroy’ operation
Three soldiers killed in Lamjung

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KATHMANDU, Dec 23– Three weeks after the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) personnel went on the offensive against the Maoist insurgents by launching the "Cordon and Search Operation", the government today said the security forces now have shifted gear and started a "Search and Destroy Operation". Meanwhile, three army men and one Maoist were killed in an encounter in Lamjung district today.

"The security forces have started the Search and Destroy Operation," stated a press release issued here by the Defence Ministry today.

Another Defence Ministry press release said that three army men and one Maoist were killed in an encounter in Lamjung district. According to the release, one army man was killed on the spot in Salang Khola after an army vehicle was ambushed by the Maoist terrorists. One unidentified Maoist "terrorist" who was heading the ambush was killed in the incident.

Other two injured army men breathed their last while undergoing treatment at the Birendra Military Hospital, Chhauni, Kathmandu.

The Ministry press release also said that the security forces yesterday searched and destroyed three caves used by the Maoists in Shailungeshwor of Dolakha district. The Maoists had been using the caves as training centre and shelter, the release said.

Meanwhile, the security forces have rounded up at least 32 persons suspected to be involved in "terrorist" activities from different parts of the country, according to the release. Among the detainees are 12 from Godar of Dhanusha district, nine from Baijapur of Banke district, six from Tinghare of Sindhupalchowk district, two from Budhibajar of Kaski, one each from Dahaban and Jhenam of Rolpa as well as Khalanga of Salyan.

Investigations are underway to confirm whether the detainees were involved in terrorist activities, the release says.

Similarly, separate batches of security forces in Khar VDC of Darchula district confiscated at least 16 guns including a large cache of explosives and looted police equipment, yesterday. Security forces also seized ammunition and police uniforms from the terrorists in Jhenam VDC of Rolpa.

Security men also defused three ‘banner’ bombs hung by the "terrorists" at Eeti Tole of Lalitpur district, the release says.

The release has also said that "thousands" of people in Agri Gaon of Surkhet district today took out a procession protesting against Maoist atrocities. A group of the terrorists had recently abducted the chairman of Agri Gaon VDC.

SAARC summit will go ahead : FM Mahat

KATHMANDU, Dec 23 (PR)- Despite the mounting tension between Indian and Pakistan, SAARC summit which is scheduled to begin from January 4 will go ahead, said Finance Minister, Ram Sharan Mahat today.

"SAARC summit will go ahead unless some unforeseen incident takes place," said Mahat. "Since both India and Pakistan already have made commitments to attend the Summit, it is unlikely that recent differences developed between them will have impact."

Mahat said that the Summit is a big opportunity for resolving the differences and crises in South Asia. "India and Pakistan should participate in this Summit to resolve their differences. If they sort out their differences then the regional co-operation can be maintained," contended Mahat.

The Finance Minister added that member countries of SAARC are grappling with many problems like illiteracy, poverty and terrorism and this is high time for the two big countries with nuclear arsenal to move ahead hand in hand to solve these problems.

"It is high time to give serious attention to action this time. Previous Summits never gave that much attention to the outcome," he said.

Jhala Nath Khanal, Central Committee member of the main opposition CPN-UML laid stress on the power and energy exchange between the member countries. "Nepal is rich in hydropower it should allow the member nations to share it. Similarly, Bangladesh is rich in natural gas, it should allow other countries to share it." said Khanal.

Likewise, addressing the programme, Pashupati Shumsher J.B. Rana, General Secretary of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) urged the government to maintain security during the Summit "The Summit is going to be held in such time when there is big security problem. It is the responsibility of government to provide security to the participants."

‘One-third of dev budget for security’

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KATHMANDU, Dec 23 – The government is set to divert development funds to meet the operational costs of the current security forces’ offensive against the Maoist "terrorists".

"About 25 to 30 per cent of the total development funds from the 2001/2002 budget will be reallocated to meet the operational costs," said Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, Minister for Water Resources. He was speaking to a few reporters after coming out of the all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today in the Prime Minister’s Office to review emergency.

The diversion of funds means about a whopping Rs 15 billion could be sliced from the total development allocation of Rs 50.47 billion.

Speaking to The Kathmandu Post, Mohan Man Sainju, former Vice-Chairman of National Planning Commission, said the development works and projects are going to be worst-hit. "As it is, our development budget is diminishing each year. If the funds are diverted, there will be an unprecedented pressure on development. And this is coming at a time when the Asian Development Bank has projected a meagre growth of 2.5 per cent," said Sainju.

When asked about the effect, the former NPC Vice-Chairman said that people have to be more sacrificing. He admitted that government might impose more taxes. "But that is not an option to be exercised. It all depends how innovative the Finance Ministry can be. I would suggest that to take away all the extra cars of the ministers,"

Another former Vice-Chairman of National Planning Commission, Raghav Dhoj Pant expressed his surprise at the revelation of the figure by Minister Gachchhadar. Speaking about the effect of the cuts on development projects, Pant replied that it all depended on sectors in which the cuts would be made. However, he added that even before the emergency, there was a necessity to make cuts in the budgetary allocation.

Earlier, at the meeting called by the Prime Minister, leaders of the political parties asked the government to be impartial while diverting funds from the development programmes, revealed Ram Chandra Poudel, former Deputy Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Deuba, allaying the fears expressed by a Nepal Sadbhawana Party leader, said that the government would be impartial and make only proportional reallocation. The NSP leader had urged the government not to divert funds only from those constituencies represented by the opposition lawmakers. In reply, Deuba said that the government first start the cuts in the constituencies represented by Nepali Congress lawmakers, said Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, Minister for Finance.

The opposition leaders also expressed the apprehension about the possible misuse of emergency by the state machinery and urged the government to check the possible excesses of the security forces that are usual in time of emergency in other countries.

Bamdev Gautam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist Leninist) said that he asked the PM to implement a code of conduct for the security forces within a week. "The Prime Minister has assured to do it immediately," said Gautam.

At the meeting, the PM briefed the leaders about the objectives of the emergency. Home and Defence Secretaries gave a briefing of the activities of the security forces against the Maoists and the casualties on both the sides, revealed Gachchhadar.

Deuba also expressed his commitment to bring an ordinance to control corruption soon and sought the co-operation of the parties in this regard, Gachchhadar said. He also added that NC General Secretary Sushil Koirala clarified party President’s call for a broad national alliance.

" General Secretary Koirala said that the move was aimed at consolidating democracy in the country and was not at all intended to replace the Deuba government. He reiterated the party was fully behind the government in its efforts to quell Maoist insurgency."

Acharya questions Royal visit to army HQs

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LALITPUR, Dec 23 – Central member of the Nepali Congress (NC) and former Minister, Narahari Acharya, Sunday expressed his concern over the recent visit of King Gyanendra and Crown Prince Paras to the Army Headquarters at Bhadrakali.

Acharya was speaking at a national workshop here. At the same function, former Speaker Daman Nath Dhungana, flayed Chief of the Army Staff for appearing on Nepal Television recently.

"The Prime Minister and the Defence Minister should have accompanied the King during the visit," Acharya said.

King Gyanendra and Prince Paras last Friday had visited the Army Headquarters to keep themselves updated on the ongoing army operation in the country. No government representative accompanied the royal duo.

On the matter of Chief of the Army Staff, Prajwalla Shumshere JB Rana, appearing on state television last Monday, Dhungana said that it was the people’s representatives who should have appeared on the screen rather than the army chief. Dhungana was also critical of the army being deployed in the country.

The army chief had appeared in the weekly programme, Dishanirdesh.

Dhungana also expressed concern over the possibility of democracy losing out to emergency. "There is a great probability that the state of emergency will swallow up democracy," Dhungana said.

The one-day workshop, attended by several political leaders and experts, was held to discuss the present crisis situation and to look at the possibility of reaching a consensus to resolve the political turmoil.

Professor of political science, Krishna Khanal, said that there should not be any national political consensus on extending the ongoing state of emergency. He, however, did not explain his stance.

Khanal also urged the government not to link development initiatives with the emergency since the emergency should only concentrate on taming the Maoists.

"Development should take place in the normal way," Khanal said. The political scientist also demanded the government to make preparations for the rehabilitation of those Maoists who have surrendered to the administration since the declaration of emergency on November 26.

In his remarks, Minister for Physical Planning and Construction, Chiranjivi Wagle, asked the political parties and the civil society to stop being suspicious about the role of the Royal Nepal Army. He said the army, in accordance with the Constitution, is fighting to restore peace and save democracy in the country.

"The government is trying hard to terminate the ongoing emergency as soon as possible and is striving to keep the losses at a minimum," Wagle said.

On the debate over the formation of an all-party government, Wagle said the Constitution does not allow such a government to be installed.

"If an all-party government is to be formed, the Constitution should be amended first," Wagle said. "It is high time we define what national consensus means."

Central member and lawmaker of NC, Bal Dev Sharma Majgainya, demanded that the government should keep the political parties abreast of all the negative and positive developments during the emergency.

Rebels bomb Minister's house

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CHITWAN, Dec 23 - Armed Maoist rebels on Sunday evening hurled a powerful home-made bombs at the houses of Minister for Housing and Physical Works, Chiranjibi Wagle, at Jamunapur village of Jutpani VDC-5 and of Nepali Congress lawmaker, Ekraj Ranabhat, at Pithuwa VDC-6, police said here Sunday.

Though reports were sketchy, the police said that about 100,000 rupees worth of property of the minister was destroyed in the blast. Likewise, a petrol bomb hurled by the rebels reduced lawmaker Ranabhat’s home to a cinder. A team of fire-fighter from Bharatpur Municipality put out the fire within hours.

Meanwhile, our Bardiya based reporter quoted the police as saying that the policemen and rebels exchanged fire for sometime at Belasa of Bhimapur VDC. The police arrested three women rebels along with 10 guns and some grenades from the clash site.

With ‘useless’ committees dissolved, Lumbini lies abandoned

By Razen Manandhar

KATHMANDU, Dec 23 - The renovation work at Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha and a 2500-year-old archaeological site, has run into troubled waters after the committees formed to oversee the work were dissolved a month ago.

With no monitoring body around, all restoration work at the Temple of Mayadevi and surrounding areas have come to a standstill in Lumbini, one of UNESCO’s four World Heritage Sites in the country.

On November 23, the Minster for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Bal Bahadur KC, dissolved the eight voluntary organizations set up to renovate the temple of Mayadevi, calling them "useless", say officials at the Lumbini Development Trust (LDT), the authority in charge of development plans for Lumbini which has the Culture Minister himself as Chairman.

"It’s only in the newspaper that we read about the dissolution of the committees, we have not yet received any such formal notification," says Professor Sudarshan Raj Tiwari, the coordinator of the LDT’s Technical Committee.

Professor Tiwari says the voluntary committees formed seven months ago were a remarkable achievement of the LDT, one that could rope in professionals to work selflessly towards the upkeep of Lumbini.

Special plans for Lumbini were mooted back in the 1967, when the then UN General Secretary U Thant put forth the idea of Lumbini as an international centre for peace. By 1978, a Japanese Professor, Kenzo Tange, had come up with a master plan that covered 1150 bighas of land divided into three zones: for a garden, monasteries and a research centre. But nothing exceptional has taken place in more than two decades.

Nabin Chitrakar, Chairman of one dissolved committee which was looking after promotional aspects, says that Lumbini has now been deserted after many worked for their "personal benefits". He says millions of dollars might have been spent on studying various aspects related to the development of Lumbini. The kind of money that came by way of international donations is incalculable, says Chitrakar.

"Till now, there have been 20 major studies on Lumbini and 22 bank accounts in its name but we don’t even know where they are," he added.

Chitrakar says after Nepal entered an agreement with the Japanese government that a Japanese Buddhist Federation would fund the renovation of Lumbini, a series of problems cropped up as governments kept changing every other year, and there was no communication between the Federation and the Nepali government.

"One after another glamorous plans poured in—from Nepali as well as foreign designers—to beautify the shrine. Each tried to outdo the other, while the politicians and the so-called Buddhists scholars made lots of profit out of the ruins," says Chitrakar.

The sacred garden where Lord Buddha was born 2545 years ago has indeed been subjected to all kinds of renovation ideas. Such as covering the birth marker stone with bullet-proof glass, covering the whole archaeological area with a special rectangular or square tent, and constructing a gold-roofed temple.

Chitrakar also accuses the international experts who "dropped in at the site" as hampering the renovation process. He says an authorized technician from Japan was responsible for delaying the development plans by many years because he never got to submitting the technical report.

Former treasurer of LDT and a member of the Upper House, Laxmi Das Manandhar, says none of the politicians have been sincere in seeing through the restoration work on the temple of Mayadevi, and all that they have done is to hold seminars.

"The LDT does nothing more than making and breaking committees. It should at least do something for the idol of Mayadevi, which has been lying in a cow-shed-like hut for the last five years. Even the pilgrims don’t want to go there," says Manandhar. "The permanent temple might take another decade to complete. But by this time, a temporary temple could have been erected."

The voluntary committees that have been dissolved are: the National and International Coordination Committee; Economic Management Committee; Recruitment Committee; Archaeological Conservation, Research and University Establishment Committee; Promotion Committee; Technical Committee; Employee Security Committee, and the Mayadevi Temple Renovation.

LDT Vice-Chairman Omkar Prasad Gauchan says these bodies have been dissolved for "Lumbini to have a new beginning".

Millions of Buddhists and all those who respect heritage sites, can only hope that it indeed is true.

Koirala called for unity, not PM's ouster: NC

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KATHMANDU, Dec 23 – The ruling Nepali Congress (NC) today denied that the party president Girija Prasad Koirala had suggested ousting Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his government to be replaced by an all-party government.

"The party president was reiterating his call for a broader democratic unity and he had never suggested there should be change in the government," NC spokesman Arjun Narsingh K.C. told reporters today. "He was only saying that all the democratic forces should find a common ground and mechanism and move ahead in unity in a situation of uncertainty like the present."

A meeting of the Central Working Committee members and heads of all the departments in the party was called by the party president today to assess the situation and instruct them to work for the broader democratic unity.

"It is not that there will never be change in the government but it is not going to happen immediately," K.C. said adding that the reports could have come due to miscommunication within the party.

It is not a question of who goes to power and who does not but rather attempting to bring a unity among the political parties and it was not a personal but organizational decision to let the party president push for the broader democratic unity, said K.C.

Quoting Koirala, K.C. said the party president reiterated his call for continued consensus among the political parties. "Such a unity is necessary to face the present situation," Koirala told the meeting.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said he would continue to move with the support of the party and face the situation as a united force. According to K.C., the Prime Minister did not react at the meeting towards the remarks "allegedly made" by Koirala.

News reports said that Koirala had recently expressed his interest to build a "national government" to handle the present development of the country’s political situation.

Last week, Koirala even indicated that he was open to the formation of national government under the alliance. A day later, Prime Minister Deuba reacted to Koirala’s call for a national alliance saying that it was simply a ploy to grab power. He had accused Koirala of conspiring to wrest power during a time of crisis for the country.