Pre-Summit meet begins

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KATHMANDU, Dec 28 – The SAARC process leading to the 11th Summit beginning January 4 kicked off on Friday with the officials from the seven member states holding a Programming Committee meeting.

The Programming Committee decides the agenda which has to be endorsed by the Standing Committee (Foreign Secretary-level) and then by the SAARC Council of (Foreign) Ministers.

Briefing the media about the deliberations of the 27th meeting of the Programming Committee, Pushkar Rajbhandari, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the meeting discussed 10 agenda. Before the proceedings started in earnest, the outgoing Chairperson Ms Sarala Fernando handed over the Chair to Nepal’s Gyan Chandra Acharya, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The meeting reviewed the progress made by the seven technical committees and five regional centres. Rajbhandari also said the meeting reviewed the progress of the projects made under SAARC-Japan Special Fund. Japan has provided Rs 5 million as fund for various projects.

The committee also discussed a proposal of increasing the emoluments of the staff working in the regional centres. The committee that would meet for its concluding day tomorrow was working on its report that would be presented to the Standing Committee which would sit for its own three-day meeting, beginning Sunday. The next two days are for the meeting of Council of Ministers.

When asked about the atmosphere at the meeting in the backdrop of recent escalation of tension between India and Pakistan, Rajbhandari replied that it was cordial. "There was no animosity at all between them (Indian and Pakistani delegates) during the meeting," he said.

Replying to yet another question, the Joint Secretary said "the situation has not arisen as yet" for Nepal to urge India to make exception for the passage of Gen Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan, through its air space. On Thursday, India announced that it would not allow any Pakistani aircraft to enter its air space from January 1.

More rebels fall to army bullets, seizure of arms cache continues

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KATHMANDU, Dec 28 - Almost one-and-half dozen Maoist rebels were killed in an encounter in Khalanga, headquarters of Jumla district, yesterday night.

Our Surkhet-based correspondent, Moti Lal Poudel, quoting army sources, has said that "almost" four bodies of the rebels were found scattered at the site of the incident. It is believed that the rebels took away the bodies of other comrades who succumbed to army bullets in the incident.

Armed Maoist rebels numbering almost 1,200 had attacked the security forces based in the district headquarters yesterday evening. But the security forces had thwarted the "well-planned" Maoist attack. Fearing the Maoist assault, various private airlines stopped the supply of foods to the drought-struck district today.

Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry in the capital has issued a press release saying that eight "terrorists" were shot dead by the security forces in separate incidents in different parts of the country. The security men have also rounded up at least 62 persons for their alleged involvement in "terrorist" acts in the last two days. However, the Ministry has not reported any casualty on the side of the security forces.

According to the release, the highest number of casualties on the rebel side occurred today at Kataldanda village of Jogbudha area in Dadeldhura district. In the incident, six Maoists including a woman rebel who along with dozen others attacked the security forces, died on the spot after the security men opened fire against them.

Another unidentified rebel was killed at Atrouli village of Sarlahi district today. The incident occurred after the security men carried out an offensive at a factory of the rebels, where they used to manufacture arms and ammunitions. Other two "terrorists" were injured and 14 persons were arrested in the same incident, the release said.

The release further said another Maoist identified as Bhishma Kumal was shot dead in Majhuwa Deurali of Gorkha district yesterday. The deceased was the district president of Maoist-affiliated students’ organisation, All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union – Revolutionary (ANNISU-R).

According to our Tanahun-based correspondent, one woman rebel died on the spot after a bomb hidden by the rebels suddenly went off in Bhirkot VDC. Three rebels including the deceased had taken refuge at the house of Jog Bahadur Sunar and the bomb possessed by them suddenly went off.

Meanwhile, the security forces seized 29 guns of the Maoists from different parts of the country. Altogether fourteen guns were seized from Surya Patuwa (8) and Nyoulipur (6) areas of Bardiya district yesterday. Two rebels were also taken into custody in the army operation.

Another group of security forces confiscated nine guns, homemade weapons, explosives and pipe bombs from the rebels at different parts of Panchthar district. The release added that four "terrorists" were also detained in the operation.

The army men also seized four guns, bullets and political documents from the Maoists in Dargouli area of Tikapur, while they seized two guns in Jhala area of Kailali district yesterday. At least 19 Maoists were held in the incident, the release said.

The Ministry has also said the locals of Bhimgiththe of Baglung district handed over eight of their guns to the security forces yesterday.

Meanwhile, the security forces also arrested three from Korchabang of Rolpa district, one each from Talabang of Rolpa, Bayalkhada of Surkhet, Nagdhunga of Kathmandu and Madi of Chitwan, the release added.

Similarly, nine persons were arrested in Jhapa, four in Lete of Mustang and three in Turture of Gorkha. Our Dolakha-based reporter has said the local administration today has imposed night curfew in the district headquarters, Charikot, and Dolakha Bazar area.

Similarly, reports of Maoist arrests in different parts of the country have been pouring in. According to our Ilam-based correspondent, the joint security forces of Jhapa and Ilam districts nabbed 31 rebels including the chief of the "People’s Court". The security men also seized 31 guns from them.

Our Darchula-based correspondent has said the district administration today imprisoned five Maoists including district President of the ANNISU-R, Rajendra Bista for 90 days.

Similarly in Mahendranagar, the Maoists on Thursday night stabbed a man to death. The deceased, 40-year-old Padam Raj Pant of Sripur-5, was murdered by the Maoist rebels numbering about 40 at his own house.

Govt simplifies visa fees

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KATHMANDU, Dec 28 – The government has opened up restricted areas in at least six districts for group tourists, Minister for Information and Communications Jaya Prakash Gupta said today.

As part of the government’s initiatives to attract tourists to the country, places in Taplejung and Manang districts that have long been off-limits for tourists will be opened up for groups.

Minister Gupta said that the government has also decided to issue only two types of visas – single entry and multiple entry – to replace the three types of visas currently being issued by the Immigration Department.

Single entry visas would cost US$ 30 while multiple entry visas would cost US$ 50. "Between January 1 and July 15, 2002, the government has waived fees charged for one-day visas," Minister Gupta said.

Also the government will stop charging the huge fees for filming documents in the country and a one-window policy will be imposed where only the Ministry of Information and Communications will have the sole authority to issue permits for such projects.

The filming fees on Upper Dolpa and Upper Mustang has also been slashed from a whopping US$ 40,000 to US$ 5,000. The fees on Indian registered buses and cars entering Nepal through the land routes, is also being reviewed by the Finance Ministry.

For the hotel industry, as part of a relief package they would be able to reschedule their payment on electricity bill by one year and bills would have to be paid only in three months.

In view of the security for industries, an Industry Security Agency will also be formed which will have committees in the central, regional and district levels, Minister Gupta said.

The government has also decided that all the sub-health centres will be under the authority of Village Development Committees (VDC). However, the doctors and support staff will be recruited and paid by the government.

A committee under the VDC Chairman with eight members will manage these health posts of which four members will have to be women.

Minister Gupta also said that in the one month of clash between the security forces and the Maoists, 31 Royal Nepal Army personnel, 64 policemen, four Armed Police Force personnel and two civil servants have been killed while 350 Maoists have been dead.

"The number of Maoists killed could be as much as 500 but we have confirmation that 350 were killed," Minister Gupta said.

During the time, 7,773 Maoists have also surrendered to the authorities while security forces have arrested 3,321 Maoist suspects.

As much as 367 guns and huge amount of ammunition and explosives have been recovered during the operation. The Maoists have however managed to destroy telecommunication repeater towers at three places in Rolpa, Dhading and Nuwakot.

To detour or not to detour, that is the question for Pakistan

By Suman Pradhan

KATHMANDU, Dec 28 – With regional arch rivals India and Pakistan ratcheting up the war rhetoric in recent days, the fate of the 11th SAARC summit in Kathmandu next week still hangs in the balance.

Of course the Nepal government does not like to admit that. Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, who is leading the Nepali ministerial delegation to the summit, reaffirmed Thursday that the summit is still on.

But just hours after Dr Mahat’s optimistic pronouncements, the Indian and Pakistani governments announced tit-for-tat sanctions against each other which could very well put the Pakistani SAARC delegation out of bounds.

In its bid to punish Pakistan for harbouring two Islamic terrorist organizations linked to the attack on Indian parliament on December 13, Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh announced late Thursday that India had decided to revoke over-flying rights to Pakistan International Airlines.

Pakistan followed suit two hours later by revoking the over-flying rights of Indian Airlines. Both these national carriers are barred from flying over each other’s territory from January 1, cutting the last remaining transport link between the two countries.

What this effectively means is that Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will have to resort to ingenuous methods to reach Kathmandu if he is to attend the January 4-6 summit. Pakistan does not share a contiguous border with Nepal. India lies in between. If President Musharraf fails to make it here, then the 11th SAARC summit is certain to be postponed again.

A senior Pakistani official was quoted this morning by Star News, the satellite news channel, as saying that it would be "very difficult" for Pakistan to attend the SAARC summit. A senior Pakistani diplomat in Kathmandu however told The Kathmandu Post today that "as of now, the President is still coming. There has been no official change of plans."

But short of taking a detour via China, President Musharraf has very little chance of making it to Kathmandu. There are signs that Pakistan is considering that option. Reports from Islamabad said today that Pakistani authorities were looking into the possibility of making the detour via Tibet to Kathmandu.

That it should come to this just before the summit has Nepali officials on tenterhooks. The 11th SAARC summit, originally scheduled in the winter of 1999, already has the notoriety of being postponed once – admittedly for a long time - due to the rivalry between India and Pakistan. Now circumstances are conspiring again to cast doubts on the re-scheduled summit just when preparations in Kathmandu are almost over, complain officials privately.

In any case, even if the summit goes ahead smoothly, the agenda is already being overshadowed by the regional Cold War. In a climate when leaders of South Asia’s two most powerful nuclear-armed nations refuse to speak to each other, how SAARC can make any progress is quite incomprehensible for most analysts.

In the current scenario when over-flight sanctions have been slapped by both India and Pakistan, President Musharraf has two choices before him. He could simply decide that trying to attend the summit via a long detour is just not worth it. In that case, the summit would have to be called off, but he is unlikely to be blamed for it since India will be seen as making his trip to Kathmandu difficult. On the other hand, the Pakistani leader could make it a point to attend the summit no matter what the difficulty in an attempt to win the goodwill of host Nepal and other SAARC members.

Either way, India seems to have unwittingly handed the Pakistani leader a "win win" situation, at least as far as the SAARC summit is concerned.

Bista optimistic about SAARC

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KATHMANDU, Dec 28- Issuing a press statement today, former Prime Minister Kirti Nidhi Bista said that despite problems of various sorts, all the seven member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)have shown great understanding in consolidating and strengthening the regional grouping.

The release also said that SAARC is inching slowly towards its objectives after its establishment in 1985.

"While Nepalis are preparing themselves to receive the statesmen and leaders of her six closest friends and neighbours from the region, the officials of SAARC are busy preparing agendas and programmes," read the release.

SAARC’s importance and utility can not be overemphasized, especially in the light of regional bodies such as the European Union, ASEAN and APEC, said the release.

SAARC, in its present form, however, seems to be lacking the necessary vigour and momentum, the release said.

One obvious factor that seems to have obstructed its progress appears to be its inward looking nature, the release added.

"Time may have come to seek newer ways to reinvigorate SAARC’s working mechanism by drawing support from other neighbouring countries and economies of the Asian region," the release said.

Refugees urge govt to raise their problem at SAARC

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BHADRAPUR, Dec 28 - Tens of thousands of Bhutanese refugees who were forced out of their homes in an ethnic cleansing campaign of the Royal Government of Bhutan more than a decade ago urged the Nepali government Friday to use the SAARC platform to press for their early repatriation, according to refugee leaders.

"Refugee problem is not only of Nepal and Bhutan. Other SAARC nations must think of Tibetan, Tamil, Bangladeshi and Afghan refugees which have created considerable strain in the region," said S.B. Subba, President of Bhutanese Refugee Repatriation Committee.

"Refugee problem is a collective problem of all SAARC member states and it requires a multi-lateral initiative to solve it," he said.

For the last 12 years, 100,000 people have been sheltering at seven different camps in Jhapa and Morang leading a traumatic life as refugees but no solution has been thrashed out for their repatriation.

The joint verification of Bhutanese refugees in one of the seven camps- Khudunabari, Jhapa-was completed recently. Over 12,000 families have been screened and tested for their claim in Khudunabari camps so far. But the hope for repatriation has been shattered again after the deadlock between Nepal and Bhutan over the "categorization" of refugees.

Prem Prasad Bhattarai, a professor of political science at Mechi Campus, Bhadrapur, said the Nepali government can put forward the proposal for repatriation of Bhutanese refugees at the SAARC meet.

General Secretary of the Peoples’ Forum for Human Rights, D.P. Kafley said that the Bhutanese refugee problem is of a humanitarian nature and the refugees have an unfettered right to return home. "It is imperative that a country sheltering 100,000 refugees in its soil for more than a decade should take every opportunity at the SAARC meet to place the proposal high on the agenda," Kafley said.

Nepal calls for political consensus

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KATHMANDU, Dec 28 – Leader of the main opposition, CPN-UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal said here today that his party was carrying out discussions with other political parties, including the ruling Nepali Congress, on the matter of constitutional amendment and reform programmes in the country.

"As the country is in a serious crisis, the political parties should forge a consensus on all major issues," said Nepal, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist).

He also reiterated his party’s stance on the broader political alliance proposed by the Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala. "If it is for reforms and positive things for the country, our party agrees with such an alliance," he said.

Nepal was speaking at a programme on "Flow of Information during the State of Emergency", organised by Press Chautari, a forum of left journalists.

Nepal also came down heavily on the government’s move to introduce an anti-corruption ordinance. He said such an ordinance would bar the investigating authorities from probing into the activities of constitutional bodies.

"There should be a provision in the anti-corruption ordinance that cases can be filed even against the constitutional bodies. There should also be a provision for impeachment if the office-holders of the constitutional bodies are charged of corruption," Nepal said. The UML leader urged the government to set up a separate tribunal to deal with corruption cases.

Nepal also pulled up the government for slashing the development budget in the name of military operation. "Instead of minimising general expenditure, the government has taken recourse to a cut in the development budget for maintaining security," Nepal said.

On the ongoing controversy over foreign investment in media, the opposition leader was vehement in criticism of the government. He said the government is not being "serious" even though a foreign-funded newspaper is being published from the country. "Foreign-financed media can hurt culturally, it can also do harm to the country’s strategies. Patriotism and national dignity are at stake here," Nepal said.

P. Kharel, media advisor of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Somanath Ghimire, member of Press Council, Kulchandra Wagle, Chairman of Press Union, and Sambhu Shrestha, Chairman of Press Chautari, also spoke at the programme.