Oppn ask PM to step down

By Binaj Gurubacharya

KATHMANDU, Feb 8 - Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today faced a tumultuous House of Representatives with almost all the opposition lawmakers demanding his resignation over the infamous Lauda Air deal.

The five main opposition parties joined hands to demand Koirala’s resignation over the controversial case that has already forced one of his men out of the cabinet and is currently being investigated.

Lawmakers and supporters of CPN-UML, Rastirya Prajatantra Party (RPP), National People’s Front, Nepal Workers and Peasant’s Party (NWPP) and United People’s Front (UPF) marched through the streets of capital before dozens of lawmakers from these parties entered Singh Durbar past the demonstration restricted zone at Bhadrakali.

Party supporters waving flags and banners calling for the resignation enmassed at the Bhadrakali point as leaders of these parties called for the same in the House on the first day of the Winter Session.

"The Prime Minister must step down ... as the leader of the cabinet he needs to take moral responsibility over the involvement of one of his ministers in a corruption case and should resign," said Madhav Kumar Nepal, General Secretary of the main opposition CPN-UML.

In an almost two hour-long address to the House, Nepal blasted Koirala and his government calling him incompetent and a failed leader who has not been able to meet any of the commitments made.

"Does the prime minister have enough courage to accept the moral responsibility and step down? If the prime minister is pretending not to know the matters that is happening right under him then this person has no right to run the country," Nepal said.

These opposition parties, who have already submitted a memorandum to the prime minister, are demanding his resignation over the naming of one of his cabinet members in the scandal involving an aircraft lease deal for the state-run Royal Nepal Airlines. Tarini Dutta Chataut, the then Civil Aviation Minister, resigned from his job last month.

"There is no other alternate left besides the Prime Minister’s resignation. We simply can’t allow Prime Minister Koirala to continue in the office or else the country could face major accident. We need the avert this accident," said RPP Chairman Surya Bahadur Thapa.

Similarly, Chitra Bahadur K.C. of NPF, Lilamani Pokhrel of UPF and Narayan Man Bijukchche of NWPP too demanded the resignation threatening to take their campaign to the streets unless the prime minister quits.

The Nepal Sadbhavana Party with its five members in the House has not joined the campaign.

"We need to hold discuss between both the ruling and the opposition parties to resolve all the problems and issues facing us which will be of beneficial to the nation," Prime Minister Koirala said addressing the House.

He however did not mention any thing on the demands made by the opposition and the trouble within his own party.

Koirala is facing a tumultuous Parliament with the opposition parties calling for his resignation at a time when the rebels within his Nepali Congress party are refusing to rally around him.

Koirala expanded his Cabinet Wednesday to include some party rebels in the hope it would bring peace and consolidate his hold over the ruling party.

However, two of the new additions — Khum Bahadur Khadka and Ram Sharan Mahat — failed to show up to take the oath of office.

Last month, over four dozen NC lawmakers, including Khadka, failed in an attempt to remove Koirala from office through a motion of no confidence.

With the Cabinet expansion, the number of ministers in the government has reached 35, up from 21.

Govt tables 3 ordinances

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 8 – The government tabled three ordinances on the opening day of the 19th Session of the parliament today unveiling its plan for what is perceived as the working session.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ram Chandra Poudel, tabled two of the ordinances, Armed Police Ordinance- 2001 and Local Administration (4th Amendment) Ordinance 2001, which were instituted on December 22, just two days before the announcement of the current session. The third ordinance, on health services, was instituted just after the budget to make amendments in the Nepal Health Services Act-1999. It was tabled by Minister of Health, Ram Krishna Tamrakar.

Justifying the armed police ordinance, the DPM said that it was necessitated due to escalation in violence in the country and was aimed at protecting life and property of the people, stopping the increasing instance of kidnapping and establishing peace in the country. DPM Poudel added that the new force will also work in close cooperation with the Royal Nepal Army to ward off external threat.

Similarly, Poudel said that the ordinance on local administration was necessary to ensure coordination among different government agencies for the smooth running of local administration.

Giving reasons for the ordinance on health, Tamrakar said that it primarily dealt with the salary and the allowance of staff in the health services, their voluntary retirement and changes relating to Nepal Medical Council.

Earlier the opposition leaders, with the exception of Nepal Sadbhavana Party leader, criticised the government for its "haste" in issuing the ordinance on the new police force just two days before the 19th session was announced.

"Why was it not discussed with the opposition parties? Why was not presented in the last session itself?" asked Madhav Kumar Nepal, leader of the opposition and General Secretary of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist). He said that since the ordinance was issued in haste, "the government has some mala-fide intentions.

Earlier Speaker of the House of Representatives, Taranath Ranabhat, appealed to all the members to act responsibly and follow the rules and regulations of the House. He also warned the members to be conscious of people’s disenchantment and asked them to rise above selfish interests. Referring to the recent attack on Chief Justice, Keshav Prasad Upadhyay, the Speaker said that it was signaling a dangerous trend.

Misinformation on Purnagiri regrettable, says Indian Embassy

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 8 - The Embassy of India today said it has noted with surprise the persistent campaign against the investigations regarding the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project and the treaty between the governments of Nepal and India concerning the integrated development of Mahakali including Sarada and Tanakpur barrages.

"Some reports have alleged that actually the construction of the dam is being carried out under the guise of investigations," said an Indian Embassy press release issued here today. "This campaign of misinformation is deeply regrettable. The fact that these reports have been continued to be circulated by some circles appears to be a deliberate effort to place obstacles in the preparation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Pancheshwar project and in the implementation of the treaty."

It added, "The Embassy of India would like to state that there could be no question whatsoever of one party to a bilateral agreement taking unilateral steps for any investigation or construction. It is hoped that the joint investigations will provide the data necessary for the finalisation of the DPR, and hence the implementation of the Mahakali treaty would be carried out without hindrance."

The Indian Embassy’s comments came days after the young activists of the Democratic National Youth Federation (DNYF); the youth wing of the main opposition CPN-UML paid a visit to Purnagiri area. In Purnagiri - where survey works are being carried out, according to official version - the activists threw a drilling machine and survey equipment into the river and presented a report on their return here, claiming that India could be conspiring to unilaterally construct a multi-purpose dam in Purnagiri.

After the treaty was signed on 12 February 1996, parliamentarians of the two countries ratified the treaty and the instruments of ratification were exchanged during the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Nepal on June 1997. According to the treaty, the investigations and the preparations of the DPR were to be undertaken jointly by Nepal and India.

The release said, "For this purpose, a joint project office - Pancheshwar Investigation - was set up in Kathmandu in December 1999. The two senior water resource engineers jointly head the joint project office responsible for carrying out the investigations from Nepal and India. The investigations at the Purnagiri Dam site are being carried out under a contract awarded by the Joint project office."

According to the statement, during Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s India visit in August 2000, it was jointly agreed that studies would be expedited so as to finalise the DPR by December 2001.

After the opposition party-sponsored reports came to the fore last week, the Ministry of Water Resources, also issued a press release explaining in detail the provisions of the treaty and investigations being carried out for re-regulating dam at possible sites - Rupaligad and Purnagiri. "The embassy is therefore, surprised to see reports appearing in the press questioning the authority under which such investigations are being carried out, raising issues of violation of sovereignty," the release added.

Syaprubesi-Rasuwagadi road could be completed within three years

By Surendra Phuyal

KATHMANDU, Feb 8 – If everything goes according to plan, the Syaprubesi-Rasuwagadi road will be completed within three years. Once completed, the road will become the second road link between Nepal and the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China.

To date, the 113km Araniko (Kodari) Highway, which links the capital city with China’s Khasa or Zangmo township, is the only road-link facilitating the age-old trans-Himalayan trade and relations between the two countries.

Government officials involved in a bilateral consultation meeting held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here on Monday and Tuesday, say it will take one year to carry out the detailed design and engineering works of the road, and another two years to actually construct it. A Chinese technical team completed the preliminary survey works for the road last year.

"If the Chinese government so wishes, it will not even take three years; they could construct the road within two years," Madan Gopal Maleku, Deputy Director General at the Foreign Co-operation Branch, Department of Roads, told The Kathmandu Post Thursday. "It’s up to them."

During the third meeting of the consultation mechanism between foreign ministries of Nepal and China held here this week, the Chinese government agreed to expedite the process of building the much-awaited road. Once and if constructed, the highway will link Syaprubesi of the Rasuwa district with Tibet’s Kerung township, which lies next to Rasuwagadi.

According to the Department of Roads, a 22km road running parallel with the Bhote Koshi river needs to be constructed on the Nepali side while another road of similar length needs to be constructed on the Chinese side. The road will replace the footpath that snakes through the age-old Kerung pass. The pass lies in the eastern foothills of Ganesh Himal.

Syaprubesi lies 135km north-west of here, and 15km north of Dhunche, the headquarters of Rasuwa district. And from Trishuli (Bidur), the district headquarters of Nuwakot, Syaprubesi lies 63km away; and another 17km road project is underway to link Trishuli with the Prithvi Highway near Galchhi in Dhading district. Officials, however, say the Galchhi-Trishuli road needs upgrading.

According to officials, the Chinese government last year allocated Rs 670 million for the trans-Himalayan road project, while the government of Nepal, in the annual budget for the current fiscal year, has earmarked Rs 51 million for the project. Chinese Embassy officials in Kathmandu are said to be in the process of awarding mapping works of the project site to a private Finnish firm, FINMAP.

Once it starts works, the Finnish firm will submit the aerial and digital maps showing the terrain of the project site within two to three months. "On the basis of the maps, technicians will work out the design and costing of the project, and thereafter the construction works will start," Maleku said Thursday. As was the case in most other previous Chinese-funded projects "the Chinese government is overseeing the project on her own."

Experts say the proposed highway will not only ease pressure on the Araniko Highway - which was constructed with Chinese assistance in the 1960s - but also contribute to boosting the age-old trans-Himalayan trade, and the economic growth of the region. Equally important, the food-deficient Tibetan plateau - and many a remote northern districts of Nepal - will also benefit enormously from the road.

Former finance and foreign minister, Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, said some time ago, "It will help boost our economies...While Chinese goods will have easier access to our markets, we too will have a shorter via-Tibet-route to supply foodgrains to our inaccessible hill districts, say, Humla of the Karnali region."

The governments of Nepal and China agreed to open the new road-link during the tenure of Dr Mahat three years ago. He was holding the finance ministry portfolio at the time.

This year, the government has started to send food supplies to inaccessible hill districts such as Dolpa, Humla, Mugu and Mustang via Tibet - via the Araniko highway.

Bhim Lal Hirachan, District Development Committee (DDC) President of Rasuwa district, told The Kathmandu Post in October that three successive annual council meetings of his DDC have welcomed - and subsequently endorsed - the road proposal. "This road will definitely bring about drastic changes in our lives," he said.

Apart from this road project, the two governments have also agreed in principle to speed up two more road-links - the Mustang-Lizhi road in western Nepal and the Kimathangka-Dingri road in eastern Nepal. In addition to this, the people of the far-flung Humla district have undertaken works on the Simikota-Hilsa road project of their own accord recently.

Ethnic Nepalis forced to flee homeland in NE India

By Nitya Nanda Timsina

JHAPA, Feb 8 - Hordes of Nepalis from north-east India are fleeing their homes as insurgency-hit states of Manipur, Nagaland, Assam and Meghalaya become increasingly hostile towards ethnic Nepalis, who have been living there for generations.

Thousands of Nepalis, who migrated to north-east India during the 1950s are fast returning to Nepal after experiencing trouble from local insurgent groups.

Nepalis migrated to north-east India in three phases - as a floating population of herders during the 19th century, as British Gurkhas soldiers during British rule in India in the 1880s and as political migrants following the 1950’s Nepali democracy agitation.

Padamba Jimba headed for Nagaland twenty years ago seeking a better life, but the only thing he returned with was a crippled leg. Today he is reduced to a heap curled up in the corner of his room, paralyzed and broken.

A log fell on him and crushed his foot, disabling him for life. "Bystanders looked on as I cried for help," recalls Jimba, who was refused treatment in local hospitals on grounds that he was an ethnic Nepali. He returned to Nepal with neither miraculous solutions nor wealth for his family. He had undergone twenty years of hard labour in an hostile jungle of Nagaland for nothing.

Twenty years ago he dreamt that travelling beyond the border would spark a socio-economic transformation for his family. Today, he says, "I would never advise any Nepali to migrate to India, let alone my neighbours."

The ethnic insurgency, which started back in the mid-eighties, is at its worst in north-east India. More than one hundred people travel across the porous, often hostile borders of Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh to Nepal every week in start a new beginning. "We are often harassed by border officials, who demand a large sum of money for leaving India," said Dawa Lama who runs a bus service from Manipur to Damak.

People in the remote foothills of north-east India, desperate for money and livelihood, have found a safe haven in Jhapa and Morang. Their situation is in sharp contrast to lives lead by some Agrawals and Marwaris who do pretty business here.

"Our business is more influenced by the Indian currency than by local markets," said Kiran Tiwari, Manager of Nepal SBI Bank, Birtamod. The bank was looted last year as the terrorists are armed to the teeth in the region. However, the manager sounds hopeful, "We deal with around twelve lakhs-worth of transaction in Indian currency daily and for the first time in Jhapa we have a computerised banking facility."

Birtamod is a mere 17km from the Indian border and the people living in the neighbouring rural areas have mostly migrated from north-east India. However, Kiran Tiwari said that most deposits here are made by Indian pensioners and Nepalis in India.

A crowd of travellers flock around Aa Sewaroo hotel, Damak to book bus tickets to Manipur. "I’m from Manipur and study in Kathmandu," said Prem Kumar Mahat, who left Manipur seven years ago. "We are referred to as foreigners in Manipur and are provided with temporary foreigners cards." Devi Prasad Nepal who came to Nepal three months ago adds, "Nepalis are treated like cattle and are often abused in India."

Although there are no official figures available, according to Buddhiman Lama who runs the Lama Hotel and a ticket counter in Damak, around 100-150 Nepalis from the north-east arrive in Damak every week.

Another Manipuri adds one more piece to the historical jigsaw saying, "My father migrated to Manipur, but fearing Kuki terrorists I returned to Nepal seven years ago."

The pace of development is slow in eastern Nepal, and for the locals the future looks bleak. There is business in the area, but it is controlled largely by Marwaris.

Taking bribes and providing easy access to Jhapa is in full swing, but no one is paying heed to their plight, especially Padamba Jimba’s, for whom there seems to be no end in this struggle called "life".

Govt criticised over Kamaiya rehabilitation

KATHMANDU, Feb 8 (PR)- The Free Kamaiya Movement Mobilization Committee flayed the government for not doing enough for the ex-Kamaiyas at an interaction program organized by Martin Chautari here today.

With the 19th Session of the Parliament beginning today, it was made known that the main reason behind the interaction program cum press conference was to press the government into approving the Kamaiya Rehabilitation Bill 2000.

A press release issued on the occasion states that since July 17,2000, the government - through District Development Committees- has done very little to provide relief to the ex-Kamaiyas living in camps.

The release also adds that since the government has done nothing or very little, the NGOs themselves, with help from a few INGOs, have supplied rice, lentils, some medical care and shelter materials. As such, NGO activists have turned relief workers- a role they are not trained to fulfill. No wonder then a number of ex-Kamaiyas have died due to stress, malnutrition and disease such as encephalitis, with the situations turning more miserable. And so, the ex-Kamaiyas ask— is there a government for us?

Dilli Chaudhary, the chairman of Backward Education Society (BASE), an NGO fighting for the Kamaiyas, and coordinator of the Free Kamaiya Movement Mobilization Committee accused the government for not keeping up with the earlier promises to rehabilitate the Kamaiyas at the earliest.

"We even don’t know which Government department to approach with this issue," said Chaudhary, adding that the various government departments have been passing their bucks one to another whenever approached.

Recently it was seen that the police and officials from various government offices are busy evicting the ex-Kamaiyas from the government land they had occupied in order to press the government into speeding the land distribution process.

There are around 3000 families of ex-Kamaiyas in Kailali and Kanchanpur alone occupying some 1500 bighas of undesignated and government owned land.

According to the data provided by the various NGOs there are 31,444 ex-Kamaiyas in Bardiya, 33,843 in Kailali, 8528 in Banke and 18,851 in Dang.