65 arrested from Maoist gathering

ANEKOT, Kavre, March 18 (PR) - Police today arrested as many as 65 people during a raid at a function organized by the Maoist rebels in memory of their fallen comrades.

Scores of police personnel were helicoptered to this mountainous area just 40 kilometers east of the capital city. Eyewitnesses said that helicopters hovered over the area supplying aerial support while police reportedly abused hundreds of villagers who had come to attend the program.

The program was in memory of seven Maoist rebels who had been shot and killed by police two years back while they were holding a cultural program. Maoist rebels often use these cultural programs to gather attention of the villagers towards their cause and recruit new fighters. Police and the rebels exchanged fire at Manedanda around 2 in the afternoon.

PM seeks party workers' support

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KATHMANDU, March 18 - Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today reiterated his stance that he would not bow down to the pressure from opposition parties who are demanding his resignation.

Instead he challenged them to produce substantial evidences proving his involvement in the controversial Lauda Air deal and called for party unity during the opening day of a mega meeting that was attended by who is who of the nation’s largest and oldest political party.

The meeting of ruling Nepali Congress (NC) was called with the purpose of discussing a way out and resolving the current political turmoil in the country.

However, the absence of senior NC leader and former prime minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai cast shadow over the purpose of the meet.

Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel denied that there were any differences or political motives for the absence. "Bhattaraiji told me (over the phone) that he is on maun brat and that he has vowed to maintain silence all day today," Poudel said.

Most of the participants warned PM Koirala against opting for mid-term polls in the face of continuing political turmoil and uncertainty both in the parliament and in the streets, NC spokesman Narahari Acharya told newsmen after the meet.

Birendra International Convention Centre, the venue of the meet, was crowded with NC party workers who were seemingly dissatisfied with the frequent ups and downs in their party.

PM Koirala, DPM Poudel, most of the ministers and members including the ones from the rebel camp headed by former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba were present at the meeting which concluded inconclusively at 6:30 p.m. after nine hours. Almost all the Central Working Committee (CWC) and District Working Committee (DWC) members were also present at the meet.

The meeting is slated to start at 8 a.m. tomorrow and is expected to conclude before 12 noon.

The meeting began with PM Koirala denying his involvement in the controversial aircraft lease deal and called on the opposition parties to adopt to constitutional means to seek his ouster.

Acharya said 53 of the 60 DWC members attending the meet spoke today. And "seven of them suggested that PM tender his resignation, while the rest were against the idea," he said.

Poudel said that today’s deliberations emphasized two major strategies: upholding of the constitutional means and party unification.

"Most of the leaders speaking today were of the view that PM Koirala should not resign just because the meeting of the opposition parties have decided to seek that (PM’s resignation)," Poudel said.

Meanwhile, speaking at another program, Prime Minister Koirala reiterated that he was ready to resign if the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) chargesheeted him for his alleged involvement in the Lauda Air deal.

He also expressed his fear that the democratic system in the country might come to an end in one single stroke if the ongoing deadlock in the Parliament continued as there was a big conspiracy going on to end the current democratic system in the country.

He was addressing a function organised by Society for Democratic Thinking to felicitate Hashina Devi Shrestha (the widow of Martyr Ganga Lal Shrestha), 80, for supporting and keeping the spirit of democracy alive. Prime Minister Koirala presented her with a citation and draped a shawl around her.

‘Snap poll threat aimed at NC MPs’

RAUTAHAT, March 18 (PR) – Leader of the main opposition Communist Party of Nepal (UML) Madhav Kumar Nepal today declared that the threat to call snap polls by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala was aimed more at his own lawmakers from the governing Nepali Congress party.

Nepal, who is the general secretary of the UML, also said that his party was against snap polls. "Our main demand at this moment is that Koirala should resign, and that a thorough investigation of RNAC should be conducted," he said.

The UML strongman made these remarks at a press conference today. The UML as well as a slew of other parties in the parliament have disrupted the Winter Session of the parliament demanding that Koirala resign for his alleged role in the controversial Lauda Air jet lease deal signed by RNAC, the national carrier.

"The Prime Minister should aid the investigation process (of the Lauda deal) by stepping down on moral grounds, " Nepal said. "If he is cleared by the investigation, then he can again lead the government."

The Lauda deal is under investigation by the nation’s corruption watch-dog agency, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).

Aviation fuel scam hits RNAC

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KATHMANDU, March 18 – Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) officials who stand accused in the latest fuel scam to hit the state flag carrier today denied further fresh charges of financial irregularities.

The latest in the series of scams set to dog RNAC is the acrid smell of aircraft fuel. This time it is Rs 275,640,331 that cannot be traced due to higher quoting of aviation fuel prices.

Speaking to The Kathmandu Post, Tirthalal Shrestha, an influential RNAC Board member, at first denied any knowledge of the fuel deal. From denial, he shifted to misunderstanding and ultimately his concern was why only three – former executive chairman Hari Bhakta Shrestha, Flight Support Department chief M L Singh and himself – were named whereas the entire Board was responsible for signing the deal. However, he was quick to deny any wrongdoing in the deal.

"I don’t exactly recall the Board meeting in which the decision was taken," said Shrestha, adding, "I have to check the papers first."

The former chairman Hari Bhakta Shrestha could not be reached for comment.

And this comes at a time when the infamous RNAC’s Lauda Air jet lease deal has rocked the current Winter Session of parliament and the political scenario for over a month.

According to the available information, the former RNAC management, even before the Lauda deal, signed a huge contract for aviation fuel. Documents obtained show that RNAC signed separate contracts with three international oil companies in May last year to provide its fleet of jets with add-on aviation fuel for two years. Add-on fuel is added at international airports when the original loaded fuel in the RNAC planes is exhausted.

The total price to be paid by the Corporation, according to the documents, is worth Rs 654.2 million but the actual price of the fuel for two years comes to a little over Rs 378.55 million. Thus the net loss to RNAC is over Rs 275.64 million.

The story began long before former RNAC executive chairman Hari Bhakta Shrestha, who was booted out in the wake of Lauda scam, even took charge of RNAC. In October 1998, RNAC officials called for sealed quotations from suppliers to provide its fleet of jets with aviation fuel for two years. However, the Corporation did not take the decision to purchase the fuel until mid-2000.

But by then, RNAC officials, who had access to the sealed bids, had already opened up the quotations and negotiated with one party to reduce its price just a little so that it would emerge as the lowest bid, giving it the contract, according to sources at RNAC.

According to RNAC insiders, only a handful of people had access to the sealed quotations, which included the operations support chief, Board members and the executive chairman. When Shrestha came in as the chairman in April, he immediately moved the files of the fuel deal. In May, deals were signed with Shell Markets (Middle East Co.), Elf Aviation and Air Total International.

The break-up for the seven international airports where RNAC jets replenish fuel are: Hong Kong (3000 metric tons per year), Bangkok (3500 MT/year), Singapore (1000 MT/year), Dubai (8000 MT/year), Frankfurt (6000 MT/year), London (700 MT/year) and Paris (300 MT/year). After conversion to US gallons ( one MT equalling 331 US gallons), the total price for two years stands at 5,115,671.2 US dollars (Rs 378, 559,668.8). The agreement signed with the three companies – Shell, Dubai; Elf, France; Air Total International, France – is Rs 654,200,000.

Interestingly, RNAC management has shown a strange business acumen by purchasing the most of the add-on fuel from Dubai where the prices are by far the steepest. While the price of fuel per metric ton varies from four US cents (Hong Kong) to 10 USC (Paris) for the other six airports, the price per MT at Dubai is 86.75 cents.

Forest fire in Sagarmatha National Park

KATHMANDU, March 18 (PR) - The fire that has spread across the Sagarmatha National Park since Thursday last week, is now engulfing more forest areas into its territory, thereby posing a serious threat to the entire national park.

According to Chief District Officer of Solukhumbu, Sitaram Pokhrel, the fire has engulfed over 3,000 square feet of forests.

The fire, which is believed to have been caused by the lack of adequate snowfall this year, resulting thereby in dryness, has now reached the spot below the Thamseku Himal, which is mere half an hour’s walk from Namche.

Efforts to put out the fire are being made by the Royal Nepal Army, National Park employees, police and the local people. But these attempts are being marred by the strong winds from the north.

Since the people who have reached there to put out the fire possess no specialized equipment for the purpose, they are trying to extinguish it by digging the earth and throwing it over the flaming trees and bushes. The situation is made worse by the steep edges around the area. Dozens of deers and lophophoruses were seen driving deeper into the fire-infected forest, running scared of the hundreds of people who reached there to fight the fire. Some of the seriously wounded were seen lying along the woods, oblivious of the frightful sounds emanating from the trees afire.

Karmapa issue comes under fresh controversy

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KATHMANDU, March 18 - The controversy surrounding the 17th Karmapa is here to stay.

An international conference of Buddhist monks and scholars belonging to the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism has decided to write an open letter to the Dalai Lama asking him to keep out of the controversy over the ascension of Urgyen Thinley as the new Karmapa.

Seventeen-year-old Thinley was installed by China in 1992 as the new Karmapa, Tibet’s number three spiritual head after the Dalai and Panchen Lamas, but he clandestinely crossed the Himalayas last year and reached Dharmasala, igniting a fresh controversy. Thinley is accepted by the Dalai Lama as the 17th Karmapa.

An International Karma Kagyu Organization (IKKO) to be based in New Delhi has been requested to write an open letter to the Dalai Lama, on the issue, said a resolution adopted at the end of the conference Saturday. The resolution has also decided to reject "The Dalai Lama’s declaration that he is the authority in charge of recognizing the Karmapa reincarnation."

During the conference attended by about 500 Karma Kagyu representatives, the Dalai Lama was also blamed for attempting to split and ultimately take over the Karma Kagyu sect—one of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The other three schools are the Nyingmapa, the Shakyapa and the Gelugpa.

The 14th Dalai Lama belongs to the Gelugpa school, which is said to have the largest number of followers, including high profile Hollywood stars, like Richard Gere and Pierce Brosnan.

As head of the Karma Kagyu school, the Karmapa is considered to be the number three spiritual leader of Tibet after the Dalai and Panchen Lamas.

While the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government back Urgyen Thinley as the 17th Karmapa, Shamar Rinpoche, the paramount regent of the Karma Kagyu school based at Rumtek, Sikkim, and thousands of his followers the world over recognise 17-year-old Thinley Thaye Dorje as the genuine reincarnation of the 16th Karmapa.

Dorje lives in a monastery in Kalimpong, India, and keeps touring the world. The search for the Karmapa Lama started after the death of the 16th Karmapa Lama in 1981 at the age of 56.

GNLF calls for indefinite strike

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DARJEELING, March 18 - The Ghorkhaland National Liberation Front (GNLF) announced today that the party would call for indefinite Darjeeling strike, if the Indian Government fails to arrest people who attacked Subash Ghishing by March 25.

After meeting with the head of Darjeeling Police Department Sanjaya Chandra, the President of the Sarsang department of GNLF, I N Pradhan told journalists that this was last warning issued by the party to the Indian Government to arrest the attackers. He also appealed to the public to store food, water and other essential items ahead of the strike.

Similarly the Assam Gorkha Student Union (AGSU) has also called a strike against the recent attack on the Union’s president Roshan Giri.

The students are going to be the ones hit the most by the called strike as the board exams are starting from March 20. Although GNLF has said that they will allow the exams to be conducted, local transportation is expected to come to a standstill.

Bir hospital lab technicians on strike

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KATHMANDU, March 18 – The strike staged by the laboratory technicians and staff working in all but the emergency department of the Bir Hospital entered its 5th straight day today, a hospital staff said.

According to Shushil Kumar Jonchhe, a lab technician working in the hospital’s emergency department, a noticed has been put up across the hospital walls calling on the hospital authorities to immediately provide them with 25 per cent of the lab incomes as pledged earlier.

"The notice says that the strike is being staged because the hospital administration has not yet paid the 25 per cent hazardous work allowance to the lab staffs and despite the other hospitals starting to pay the allowance," he said.

‘Ex-Kamaiyas susceptible to encephalitis’

By Yagya Bikram Shahi

GHIYA (Bardiya), March 18 - Life for the liberated Kamaiyas (bonded labourers) in the camp at Roniyapur-1 is increasingly becoming harder due to lack of medical treatment. Bipatrani Tharu has not been able to take her two-month old daughter even to Bheri Zonal Hospital that is only 10-km away.

She has no money for her daughter’s treatment.

"We don’t have enough to eat," says a weeping Bipatrani, adding, "From where shall we get the money for my daughter’s treatment."

Many other children are ill in the camp. Life of dependence on landlords not so long ago has rendered the Kamaiyas helpless, so much so that they are mute spectators to the plight of their ailing children. Many of them do not even care for the treatment that they know is beyond their reach.

Japanese encephalitis, that ravages the districts in the Terai every summer and the monsoons, is likely to cause havoc this year in the districts where Kamaiyas stay. Nearly 700 patients, out of the total number brought to the zonal hospital since 1992-93, have died due to encephalitis till now.

Dr Arun Koirala, chief of the Bheri hospital, says: "Humidity increases after the rainfall and mosquitoes thrive. Those who suffer numerous bites and with a weak immune system are susceptible to encephalitis."

Insufficient diet and exposure to mosquito bites are likely to make many of the helpless Kamaiyas victims to the menace of encephalitis. According to doctors, minors below the age of 15 years are worst affected.

None of the 32 Kamaiya families in the temporary camp here has mosquito nets. Laments Kisun Tharu, head of a 10-member family, "We can’t even afford two square meal a day; how can we have nets?"

Tanka Bhattarai, co-ordinator of Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) says that the Kamaiyas were liberated only on paper. "If they are not protected from encephalitis, many of them are going to die. Everyone has to be aware of this."

The Kamaiyas, who get foodgrains during Dashain, Magh Sankranti and Holi festivals, have lost all hopes for their rehabilitation. "We have stopped listening to radio news. There was news that Kamaiyas in Dang district got the land. No one listens to us," laments Santu Tharu.

At a press conference at Nepalgunj a few days ago, Janak Raj Giri, Assistant Minister for Land Reforms and Management had declared the government’s resolve to rehabilitate the Kamaiyas by mid-April.

Chamars renew their demands for action

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KATHMANDU, March 18 - Since the Chamars of Siraha district were ostracised by the local community for refusing to throw carcass last year, more than 300 new cases of discrimination against the Chamars have been recorded nation-wide, human rights activists said today.

At a press conference organised here on Sunday, the Rashtriya Sangharsha Samiti (RSS) - National Agitation Committee - which was formed to spear-head demands by the Chamars and other oppressed groups, said incidence of discrimination have increased nation-wide since last year’s controversy over the dead carcass in Lahan, Siraha.

RSS activists and guest speakers also condemned the government for brushing aside the Chamar incident without taking action against the perpetrators. They warned that violence could flare if their demand for action against the guilty is not taken seriously.

Former member of parliament Man Bahadur Biswokarma said that in the period of 13 months since the Siraha incident, 300 incidents of Chamars being oppressed have been reported from all over the country. "I don’t understand why the government and other political parties are remaining mere mute spectators," Biswokarma said.

The Chamars of Lahan municipality got into a heated controversy 13 months ago after they refused to remove carcass of dead animals, their traditional profession. They were then ostracised by the local community, leading to simmering anger among the Chamars. Since then, Chamars, in conjunction with human rights and other Dalit groups, have waged a futile campaign for non-discrimination.

At today’s press conference, Bishwendra Pashwan, a noted human rights activist, slammed the government for not taking action against the perpetrators. "Even though the Chamar movement has entered its 13 months, government is yet to take any action against the perpetrators," said Pashwan.

He further expressed the concern over the plight of the people living in those affected areas and reiterated his demand of action against the so-called upper class people, who were involved in the incident.

"The Chamars residing in the affected areas are oppressed in many ways," said Pashwan citing the example of children belonging to the Chamar family not being allowed to even enter school. He also warned the government to be prepared for violence if their demand for action against the perpetrators is not met.

UML leader blasts Kantipur daily

KATHMANDU, March 18 (PR) - Central leader and spokesman of the main opposition party CPN-UML Pradip Nepal accused the Kantipur daily for failing to work ethically.

"The Kantipur daily is not working to inform people but for the sake of money," said Nepal after inaugurating the programme organised by the Press Chautari with the theme ‘The fundamentals of communication realm’.

Justifying his statement, he said " The publication has bought a property worth millions, which clearly shows that the daily is not working to inform people but to gain profit." He said that because of the big publishing house like Kantipur, small publishing houses have not been able to come out in the forefront.