By Sudarshan Rizal & Kedar Ojha

ROLPA, July 12 – Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) continued its assault against the ruling establishment by kidnapping 70 policemen, including a police inspector and killed at least two policemen in two different incidents today.

According to the police, after attacking the Holeri police post in Rolpa district in the wee hours of the morning, the Maoists abducted Inspector Madan Gurung and 69 others from amongst 72 police personnel stationed there. In the two and a half-hour long exchange of firings that began 4 a.m., constable Raj Bahadur Giri was killed and another seriously injured. The policemen surrendered after their ammunitions dried up. The Holeri police post had 74 policemen but two of them had deserted their post a few days earlier. The injured has been taken to Mahendra Hospital in Dang district.

This latest Maoist offensive comes on the day of the Nepal bandh called by them demanding the Prime Minister’s resignation and withdrawal of the Public Security Regulations.

The police said that some 500 policemen from district headquarters of Rolpa, Dang and Pyuthan districts have been sent on foot to rescue the kidnapped policemen.

After reaching Khasre, 30 minutes walk away from Holeri, the Maoists asked Inspector Gurung to inform the Rolpa district police office about their abduction. They were seen going to Dahawan. The locals said that the rebels had gathered them and informed them of their "success". There were reportedly 1,000 abductors.

Meanwhile, comrade "Anant", the Maoist commander of the western zone admitted that the rebels were behind the abduction and the killing of the cops.

Strike shuts down nation

KATHMANDU, July 12 - Nationwide strike called by underground Maoists today passed off peacefully except for a few sporadic incidents of violence in some districts, according to our correspondents.

The rebels set a fire some abandoned police posts in Dadeldhura, Parbat, Lamjung, Gulmi, Sunsari and Myagdi district on the eve of Nepal bandh.

Our Kailali based correspondent said Maoist rebels destroyed the Jogbudha-based area police post in Dadeldhura and set two police vehicles and one motorbike with diplomatic number plate on fire this morning.

Police in Dadeldhura said the rebels kept all the 10 policemen in their captivity until Thursday evening.

In Lamjung, the rebels blew up an abandoned area police post at Tinpiple in the eastern Chakravarti VDC. Similarly, around 200 Maoist rebels blew up a police post located at Rahale of Devisthan VDC-8 in Parbat on Wednesday night. The rebels tied all four policemen to a pole before they destroyed the post.

In Nuwakot the rebels set the Gosyang VDC’s office building ablaze on the eve of the nationwide strike.

In Myagdi, the rebels on Wednesday night destroyed the Darbang-based area police outpost, about 30 km west of Beni, the district headquarters. But there were no policemen when the rebels attacked the post.

A report from Gulmi stated that the Shantipur based area police post bordering Baglung district was burnt to cinder last night. All 30 policemen, however, had already vacated the post for security reasons.

Chief District Officer (CDO) of Jumla, Kabiraj Khanal, said security guards at the district prison fired dozen rounds of bullets at the rebels, who exploded hand-made bombs near the prison on Wednesday evening.

In Dhanusha, police defused a crude bomb reportedly planted by the rebels in the premises of the district administration office last night.

Security has been beefed up at the office keeping in view the call for the strike. Ram Narayan Mandal, a local shop keeper, sustained bullet injuries after a policeman opened fire at him while he was closing his shop in the evening.

A dispatch from Bara district said the rebels set a police post ablaze at Jaitapur when all security personnel were out of station.

Police in Banepa said that Maoist rebels detonated five explosives around the Banepa municipality on the eve of the bandh. There was no damages to any property and nobody was injured, police said.

Police in Dharan said that rebels blasted a socket bomb on the Biratnagar-Dharan highway last night. But it caused no damages to the public property.

Likewise, rebels also destroyed an abandoned police post in Singhiya VDC. They set all furniture on fire there.

Police in Rautahat said about 150 rebels set a motorbike, a bull-cart and a large quantity of rice on fire, breaking into Maryad Pur VDC Chairman, Nagendra Ray Yadav’s house the other night.

Likewise, the rebels exploded a home-made bomb in the premises of the district education office in Syangja this afternoon. The explosion caused a little damage to the building.

Vote on Accounts Bill today

KATHMANDU, July 12 - The government will present the Accounts Bill on Friday’s sitting of the House of Representatives that will allow the government to borrow and spend until the fiscal budget is endorsed by the House.

Unless the Bill is endorsed, the government and the administration will not be able to function once the new fiscal year begins on Monday. If the Bill fails in the House, then all the government and administration with the exception of emergency services face a shut down.

This however is unlikely with the opposition parties so far have not disrupted the Parliament like in the previous session demanding Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala resignation.

The main opposition CPN-UML has said they have no plans to stall Friday’s sitting but would make a move after that unless the Prime Minister quits.

"Our demand for the resignation still stands but if the Prime Minister does not resign soon we will intensify our pressure to force him out of office," said CPN-UML’s Subash Nemwang.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), the second largest party in Parliament, too has said that they would let the government pass the Accounts Bill.

"We will wait and allow the Accounts Bill to get through the House and then only we will decide how we will move during the current session," said RPP’s Buddhiman Tamang.

With RPP’s presence in the opposition bench, the Bill can be put to vote even if all other opposition parties boycott the proceedings.

The ruling Nepali Congress (NC) with 113 lawmakers in the 205-seat House should have no difficulty getting the Bill through.

NC’s Chief Whip Binay Dhoj Chand has issued a whip to all party lawmakers to be present during the voting on the Bill and vote in favour of the Bill without staying absent.

After the Accounts Bill is endorsed, the House will begin to discuss and debate the budget estimates for the fiscal year 2001-2002 by the category of each Ministry under the Appropriation Bill.

This could take as long as two months and once the debate is over it is put to vote. Endorsement of this Bill is considered to be approval of the budget for the fiscal year.

The simple discussion on the fiscal budget estimates presented by Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat on Monday ended today with most of the opposition lawmakers being critical of the figures projected.

"The government has failed to bring clear programs stating an unachievable revenue figure," said CPN-UML’s Subash Nemwang taking part in the debate. "This type of programs are only fit and beneficial for the smugglers and black marketeers."

Nemwang said that the government has allocated only about Rs. 70 million while the demand had been made for Rs. 700 million for the judicial sector. "How can we expect to modernize and improve the judiciary sector with this?" Nemwang, an advocate himself said.

"This budget is just a duplicate budget. It is the same old document presented in a new cover," alleged Pari Thapa of National People’s Party. "There are no new or special programs introduced in the budget."

Thapa said that the whole nation was engulfed in corruption and giving away of the Nepal Bank Limited and Rastriya Banijya Bank to private management groups was not a solution rather a way for further deterioration of the financial sector. Finance Minister Mahat will be answering to questions and concerns raised during the debate on the budget estimates Friday morning.

TU postpones PCL exams indefinitely

KATHMANDU, July 12 - Tribhuwan University (TU) today announced indefinite postponement of all the major examinations of Proficiency Certificate Level (PCL).

A TU press release issued here Thursday states that the earlier declared schedule for the PCL examinations on Economics (July 13), Political Sciences (July 16), Major English and Nepali (July 18), History (July 20) and Mathematics (July 25) have been postponed.

In addition to above, the PCL examinations for Management of Business Principle to be held on July 15, Economics on July 17 and Book Keeping on July 19 have also been postponed. The exams have been postponed "until further notice" by the TU Controller of Examinations.

The release, however, doesn’t mention the cause for the sudden decision to postpone the nation-wide examinations.

The PCL examinations began on July 8 across the country.

The deputy-registrar of TU Krishna Pyakurel said the next date of the re-scheduled examinations would be decided at the board meeting.

He said the postponement would affect approximately 40,000 students. Around 150,000 students are taking the PCL examinations nation-wide this year.

Talking about the effect of the general strike called by Nepal Communist Party (Maoists) on the examinations day, Thursday, Pyakurel said that all centres held the examinations without being disturbed by the strike.

"As far as the information I have received, no examination centre has informed us about disturbances of any kind so far," he said.

Meanwhile, the dispatch from Parbat district says that the Maoist insurgents burned down the entire PCL examinations question papers at Parbat Multiple Campus, Rahale, Devisthan VDC Wednesday night.

Sources at TU said that the examinations were postponed due to the insurgency. "The question papers there have been either destroyed or misplaced. In such a situation, conducting examination will be against the norms of the university," the source said.

Daughter’s dream proves ominously prophetic

KATHMANDU, July 12 - Fourteen year old Bonu Sijapati asleep in her Baluwatar house suddenly woke-up around mid-night after she experienced a nightmare.

She was so agitated that she immediately called her father in Dang. The police officer, who took the call answered casually, "Your father is out on patrolling duty. I will tell him that you called as soon as he returns."

After talking to the officer in Dang, Bonu went to sleep again trying hard to forget the ill-omened dream. Unfortunately her dream proved to be true as her father Parmeshwor Sijapati had already died in a Maoist encounter the very moment she saw the ominous dream.

Bonu’s mother was away in Bangalore seeking college admission for her eldest daughter Amu, when the ill-fated incident occurred. "We were told that father had sustained bullet injury and was admitted in hospital, and to return to Kathmandu immediately," said Amu who returned along with her mother from Bangalore, Wednesday.

They had been in Bangalore for last 15 days and her mother was scheduled to return home Wednesday by train. "The message from Kathmandu put an end to all process of admitting myself to college," said Amu.

The daughters say that their father had been prophetically predicting that any thing could happen any time due to lack of sufficient bullets and latest modern arms. A wife, three daughters and one son survive Parmeshwor Sijapati.

Pashupatinath to Dolakha Bhimsen in 15 hrs on reverse gear

By Jitendra Shah

KATHMANDU, July 12 –Two men, a professional driver and an ex-army  man have set a record of its own kind by successfully driving a bus and a jeep on reverse gear all the way to Dolakha Bhimshen, in Dolakha from Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu.

Sampurna Shrestha, from Palung VDC-6 in Makwanpur district and Jhalak Bahadur Thapa, ex-army man from Dolakha Bhimeswore Municipality drove their respective vehicles in the tough hilly stretch of Arniko Highway and covered the distance of 138 kilometers in 15 hrs and 34 minutes.

The duo had started their journey from Pashupatinath Temple area at 9:45 Monday morning carrying holy water from the holy Bagmati River, in the hope of removing the bad spell believed to have pushed the country into present crisis. They reached Dolakha Bhimsensthan on Tuesday afternoon at 1:50 driving at the speed of 2 to 40 km an hour. They stopped over Monday night in Khadichaur, 76 kilometers away from the Capital and drove the remaining 62 kilometers on Tuesday.

"We offered the holy water to the Bhimsen and prayed, asking him not to sweat anymore and promised to offer water every year from now on," said the two men after reaching their residence in Koteshwore.

According to religious and popular belief it is considered a bad omen to the country and its people if the stone idol of Dolakha Bhimsen "sweats" from its left side and bad omen for the Royal Family if it "sweats" from the right side.

Last January the idol had sweated from the right side and the event was widely talked about by the people that something bad would happen to the Royal Family. The popular belief gained strength after the Royal carnage of June 1.

After completing the feat, the duo said that people had laughed at them and called them crazy. "We only tried to do things differently, as if it was our fault," they complained. They also said that they were happy that they completed the journey earlier than anticipated and they only had some minor body aches.

The bus that Shrestha drove was taken on hire by the organizers - MUNAS an NGO and Arniko Highway Transport Services Committee (AHTSC) and the jeep driven by Thapa was voluntarily given by Uddhav Prasad Timsina. "I voluntarily lent my vehicle because of my faith," Timsina told the reporters.

Maniraj Tamang, patron of MUNAS said that it would be good if this event was given continuity. The organizers also claim that this trip is first of its kind in the world.

According to the driver duo, they had wished to do this before the palace massacre but they did not have enough fund and technical support. But both expressed satisfaction that their wish was now fulfilled. The duo paid homage to Pashupatinath on Wednesday after their return.

Khimti I hydel project completes first year

KATHMANDU, July 12 - The Khimti I Hydropower Project, Nepal’s first privately developed power project with the capacity to generate 60 MW electricity, completed first year of its commercial operation, Wednesday.

Developed by Himal Power Ltd. (HPL), an independent power entity controlled by Norwegian state energy company Statkraft SF, the project had commenced its operation in the midnight of July 11 last year. "Despite lots of challenges like political crisis, landslides, among others, we are doing well with the power production," Harald O. Skar, General Manager of the HPL told The Kathmandu Post. "If the political risk settles, everything will go well."

Other owners include ABB Kraft, Kvaerner Energy of Norway, and Butwal Power Co. of Nepal.

Defending the high per unit price of Khimti-I Project, which is among the costliest in the region, Skar said that it is because a total of 75 per cent of the production cost is from loans.