Legal experts raise question of porpriety

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KATHMANDU, March 23 - Five of the Leftist parties today agreed to head their protest programs to the streets demanding Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s resignation over the controversial Lauda Air deal in a "planned and organized" manner.

A press release issued here today by the joint agitation committee of the main opposition Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) (UML), Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, National Peoples’ Front, United People’s Front and Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre) states that they were taking their demonstrations to the streets "to end the present situation heading more and more towards instability."

"Despite the joint call for the PM’s resignations, the PM is instead trying to draw a curtain towards his corrupt activities," says the release. The street demonstration is to start from March 26.

Meanwhile, CPN (UML) today also announced a Movement Mobilisation Committee (MMC) aimed at ousting Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala from his office. The committee has 54 members with Krishna Gopal Shrestha as its co-ordinator.

CPN-UML leader K P Oli speaking at a programme organized by MMC, said that it was unfortunate that the country was currently ruled by the Nepali Congress and the country’s bigger misfortune was that Girija Prasad Koirala was the Prime Minister.

"CPN-UML will make Girija resign at any cost. All measures will be exercised to oust Girija," said Oli. CPN-UML was ready to carry out any such programme and not just disrupt the parliament," said Oli.

Oli even lambasted the government’s move to run the House with the help of marshals and said that the party was all prepared to face any move of the Nepali Congress. "CPN-UML alone can take care of NC government. Our party does not need the Maoist help in this regard," said Oli.

"Our movement will not be affected even if Rastriya Prajatantra Party doesn’t join hands with us in our protest programmes in the streets," said Oli.

NSP supports ordinances with reservations

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KATHMANDU, March 23 - Nepal Sadvawana Party has decided to boycott the parliament on the days the two ordinances, Armed Police Force (APF) and Regional Administrators ordinance respectively are to be discussed until some changes are made in the wordings of the Ordinances.

The party opposes the fact that full operation power is given to the Regional Administrators and the Armed Police Force. The party leaders say that this could lead to the misuse of power vested on the APF and the Regional Administrators. The party also fears that the government could use the power against other political parties too to gain supremacy.

During a press conference at the Capital today the leader of the party Gajendra Narayan Singh said that the Ordinances were brought about by the government without consulting any other parties.

"We feel that some wordings in the Ordinances should be changed," he said. "We don’t have anything against the Ordinances but we cannot approve the intention of the government behind the move," he added.

The spokesperson of the party, Mukti Nath Mandal informed the journalists that recently concluded Mechi- Mahakali Rath Yatra organized by the party was a huge success and had united the Nepalis of Indian origins in the terai region all across the country.

"Even the people migrated from hilly regions welcomed the rally," said Hridayesh Tripathi, an MP and the General Secretary of the Sadvawana Party. It was also disclosed at the conference that the party would stage a Singha Durbar gherao rally on November 6.

"The rally will be organized to press the government to bring about changes in the Constitution regarding citizenship issue, and reservations for backward communities including the madeshi community among others," said Singh.

Talking about the present deadlock in the parliamentary proceedings Singh said that the party was of the opinion that the parliament should proceed. "But now the situation is that even if we fully support the parliamentary proceedings we cannot help it from being disrupted, he added."

However, Singh also explained that the party was in no mood to support the existing government but, he added, it did not mean that the party would support any of the no-confidence motions that would be brought against the government.

"We will support a no-confidence motion only if the reason why it has been brought satisfies us," said Singh.

Court awards compensation to torture victim

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KATHMANDU, March 23 - In a ground breaking verdict, the Saptari District Court has ordered Nepal Police to give compensation of Rs 10,000 to a minor, who was allegedly tortured physically while in police custody.

Deepak Raut, fourteen-year-old son of Ram Bahadur Raut, had been allegedly taken into custody on charges of theft last year.

DSP Gopal Giri and Sub-Inspector Rundan Kurmi physically tortured Deepak while he was under detention.

Justice Tej Bahadur K.C of the District Court, on March 21st, gave the verdict to award compensation to the victim. The amount of the compensation is the largest ever paid in favour of such cases.

According to the press release issued by the Centre for Victims of Torture, Nepal, CVICT had been helping to provide legal help and mediating between the court and the family of the victim.

Eliminate TB before it infects all

By Nitya Nanda Timsina

KATHMANDU, March 23 - Despite ten-fold increase in the global health and sanitation, Tuberculosis (TB), the world’s leading curable infectious killer, still causes two million deaths every year, mostly in the developing world.

And, in Nepal the number of tuberculosis cases are still frustratingly high with 8,000 to 11,000 people succumbing to this deadly disease every year.

"Every three hours, two people die of TB in Nepal," said Devendra Bahadur Pradhan, President of Nepal Anti-TB Association. This in itself is a depressing affair to note on the eve of the World Tuberculosis Day, he added.

The disease that emerged as epidemic during the 1660s in Europe, began to decline in 19th century as nutrition intake and sanitation improved. Thanks largely to Dr Robert Koch, who identified the disease, some 119 years ago.

TB was virtually eliminated and almost forgotten in most developed countries until a recent resurgence of resistant stain. But it remains rampant in some developing countries including Nepal. The disease has been found to have undergone complex manifestation in some of the cases and has developed resistant against commonly used medicines.

Global TB Emergency was declared in 1993 and attempts have been made to eliminate the disease and yet it has been killing several thousands of people around the world. The rise in pollution, congested space, deteriorating sanitation and lack of awareness were cited as some of the reasons for the resurgence of TB.

Four years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that as many as 30 million people could die in ten years time due to TB. This could be an indication that the disease would claim more lives should Direct Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS), advocacy, and other awareness programmes launched by various governmental and non-governmental organizations are not passed and relayed to the masses on a war-footing, health officials warned Friday.

Nepal is one country which could effectively eliminate TB through advocacy and public awareness alone said Dr Dirgha Singh Bam, Director, National TB Centre. But, Nepal could be even more vulnerable due to its open border with India, and free movement of people from Bhutan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, which have a record case of TB among the developing countries in Asia, argued Madan Kaji Shrestha, general secretary of Nepal Anti-TB Association.

Despite claim that Nepal has achieved over 90 per cent success through the use of DOTS method, risk factor cannot be ruled out as every Nepali youth between 15-49 years of age are potential TB infection cases.

The pressing needs lurk not in the availability of medicines but more on "advocacy" and DOTS for a country like Nepal where awareness is dismal, say the health officials involved in the challenging job of containing, if not eradicating TB.

However, the officials said that should media, government, INGOs, and NGOs put a combined efforts and shared responsibility for DOTS and advocacy programmes launched in Nepal, the total elimination of the disease within two years is a possibility.

The health experts also see, with hope, towards the distant possibility of inventing cheap TB vaccines and circulating them en-mass. But for now, that dream remains distant as the world’s richest multinational drug manufacturers continue to ignore investing in developing vaccines against this diseases of the poor.

UNEP director in Nepal

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KATHMANDU, March 23 - The United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Klaus Toepfer, is to begin an official four-day visit to Nepal on Saturday, the UNDP said in a press statement today.

It will be the first visit to Nepal by an Executive Director of UNEP. During the visit, Toepfer will meet with key Ministers of His Majesty’s Government, including Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, and with leaders from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation and the UN Resident Coordinator.

On March 26 he will launch Nepal’s State of the Environment Report, prepared by the Ministry of Population and Environment (MOPE) of Nepal, with the support of UNEP and in collaboration with ICIMOD and South Asia Cooperation for Environment Programme (SACEP).

"Nepal has one of the most beautiful environments in the world," Toepfer said, "but it faces a common challenge - the need to safeguard the life-giving capacity on which all people depend."

He said that forest depletion, soil degradation, solid waste management, water quality and air pollution were key issues - identified in the Report - which he would discuss over the course of the visit.

He congratulated His Majesty’s Government for enacting legislation this month on the licensing, control and phase-out of ozone-depleting substances. The Ozone Secretariat has reviewed this initiative and plans to use it as a model for other countries. It provided an example of how national actions, coordinated under an international agreement initiated by UNEP, could successfully address an environmental problem of global scale.

PAC summons RNAC chief on CSWA jet deal

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KATHMANDU, March 23 - Public Accounts Committee (PAC), today decided to summon Rajesh Raj Dali, executive chairman of RNAC, Sahdev Kakshyapati, the alleged middle man in the deal and T P Chapagain, former Director of the Planning and Development Department at RNAC in connection with the PAC probe into the RNAC-China South West Airlines 757 jet deal.

Chapagain has been summoned to brief the members on the alleged forged letter that was printed in a Kathmandu weekly. The letter showed the Chinese airline suggesting the RNAC top brass that they could pocket any amount beyond the 2,800 US dollars per hour that had to be paid to the airline.

The PAC members repeated their demand to make a sub-committee report on China South West Airline jet deal "more specific". Also, there were calls to include the Cabinet decision on clearing the foreign exchange for the deal in the "decision" part of the report instead of its present placing as facts on the deal.

In yet another committee meeting, Human Rights and Foreign Relations Committee, there was an exchange of brief brickbats between the committee members and Ministry of Water Resources officials.

Som Prasad Pandey, the Chairman of the committee, was cut up with the officiating Secretary Mahesh Man Shrestha for saying that he could not provide much information on the Nepal-India agreement on Laxmanpur Barrage.

Last week, another officiating Secretary Dev Raj Regmi had given a similar answer. Chairman Pandey also took exception to the third-time absence of Minister for Water Resources Baldev Shrama Majgaiya who sent a fax message Thursday evening at 5.45 p.m., saying he was ill. The date for today’s meeting was fixed at Majgaiya’s request.

Amodananda Mishra, Deputy Director at the Department of Irrigation revealed that the Department had expressed apprehension about the barrage way back in 1982 itself. The decision to build the barrage, said Mishra, was taken at a political level.

The Committee today decided to summon the minister next after fixing a time with him. It also asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to produce the minutes of the talks before the Nepal-India Joint Communique last year and the discussions on the Laxmanpur Barrage.

Meanwhile, Minister Ojha today categorically told the parliamentary Development Committee that the renewed satellite uplinking license issued to Spacetime Network would not be cancelled anymore.

The Development Committee that also looks after communications, had summoned the minister and the secretary to brief them about the controversy surrounding the renewal of the license to the network.

Secretary Sriram Poudel gave the details of the circumstances surrounding the renewal.

Lawyer forced to quit on bribery bid

By Harihar Yogi

KATHMANDU, March 23 - For probably the first ever incident that has come into light, a government lawyer in the Attorney General’s Office has been forced to resign on charges of attempting to bribe a Justice in the Patan Appellate Court.

Lekhnath Poudel, the lawyer, had allegedly tried to bribe a Justice at the Patan Appellate Court to influence the Court on the decision of Attorney General’s Office to take back a homicide case.

Court officials claimed that Poudel had tried to bribe around Rs. 195,000 through the Justice’s wife.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s Office maintained that Poudel was resigning as his service term had already reached 30 years and was resigning on his health grounds too. Poudel’s resignation has already been forwarded to the Legal Service Commission for further action.

According to the court officials, the incident became public after the Justice, who was offered the bribe, informed the Chief Justice. The news also later reached the Attorney General after the Appellate Court wrote to Poudel’s office disclosing his bribery attempt.

The entire amount, which was enclosed in a briefcase, has already been returned to Poudel, court officials said.