Three Maoist rebels killed

SURKHET, May 13 (PR) - At least three Maoist rebels, two of them women, were killed Sunday in an exchange of gunfire between the rebels and the policemen at a school premises in Tatopani village, 57 kilometers far from the district headquarters of Surkhet.

Identities of those killed in the encounter could not be known, but sources said they were wearing the special camouflage uniform worn by the underground Maoist militias.

Police sources said the incident occurred at about 2 p.m. Sunday, and followed nearly two-hour-long exchange of gunfire. The dead rebels were maintaining security at the school premises, where the rebels were holding a cultural show.

Altogether 35 policemen were involved in the raid. They have also seized some hand-made bombs and other weapons from the rebels. It was not immediately clear how many on the police side were injured.

The attack came after a lull of several weeks, and at a time when prospects of peace talks are heightening. Over 1600 people have lost their lives since the Maoists’ "People’s War" began over five years ago.

China keen to dispel doubts about insurgency

By Utpal Raj Misra

KATHMANDU, May 13 - When Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji arrives Monday for a three-day official visit to Nepal, the two nations will no doubt talk more about trade and investment than anything else. Nepal is, after all, swamped by Chinese imports - over Rs 12 billion worth of it in the last fiscal year - whereas exports have been meagre.

But lurking just beneath the surface will be China’s growing concerns about the brutal Maoist insurgency that has claimed more than 1600 lives in this Himalayan Kingdom. With a long border with Nepal, China is acutely sensitive about the stability of this country. But since 1996, Nepal has been anything but stable. Ironically, much of this instability has arisen out of the actions of the supposed adherents of the late Chairman Mao.

Under such circumstances, China is concerned that it will be somehow linked to the brutal insurgency. And therein lies one of Premier Rongji’s chief aims during the visit: to dispel whatever doubts that lingers here that China has a role in the Maoist uprising.

Security analysts say, the comments last week by Chinese Ambassador Zeng Xuyong denying involvement with the Maoists pointed to just such thinking among top Chinese leaders. "It is significant that the Chinese have opened their mouths after a long time, and they have talked about the Maoists," says security analyst Dhruva Kumar of the Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS). "What that means is that the Chinese, I think, want to dispel any doubts that they have a role in the Maoist insurgency."

While discussion of this particular subject matter could be a novelty between Nepal and China, it should not come as a surprise to anyone, say experts.

"Whenever there is turmoil of any kind in Nepal, it is quite natural for China to show concern as the fear always exists that a third force may use the situation against Chinese interest," says Kumar of CNAS. "China has been watching the Maoist movement in Nepal very carefully...No one should be surprised because it has shown concern in an issue which can hurt their sensitivity."

Aside from the Maoist topic, the Chinese side is also likely to once again seek reassurances from Nepal in curtailing activities aimed against China, primarily by groups such as the "Free Tibet" movement. Nepal will be quick to provide such assurances again, as Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola has already stated.

During a press conference last week, Bastola, though saying that there were limits to what a democratic nation could do when it came to curtailing free speech, also reiterated Nepal’s long-standing position as to not allow any activity aimed against "any of our neighbours."

Says former Foreign Minister Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani, the challenge for Nepal will be to convince the Chinese that it is really serious in pursuing this policy. "China will always have security interests in Nepal. At the minimum Nepal has to be able to convince the Chinese Government that no anti-China activities will be allowed from the Nepali border. But the assurance should come from action and not just words," he said.

Lohani gave clear indications that in recent days Nepal’s performance has been below the Chinese expectations regarding the security reasons and stressed that the recent visit could be very beneficial if the Nepali Government succeeds in convincing the Chinese Premier about the assurances.

Such assurances could lead to the eventual opening of additional border crossing between Nepal and China, greatly benefitting trade and tourism. Nepal wants additional four points opened up, in addition to the four already in operation. As Bastola said last week, Chinese security had to be kept in mind while seeking the border openings.

It would be a challenge for the Nepali Government, the Foreign Minister had said, to assure the Chinese authority that opening the routes would not hinder Chinese security concerns in any way.

Pvt schools to close for three days

By Nitya Nanda Timsina

KATHMANDU, May 13- Over a million schoolchildren are being forced to stay at home for at least three days beginning Monday, possibly longer, as private boarding schools across the kingdom announced they were shutting down to pressure both the government and the ANNFSU (R), a Maoist-affiliated students’ group, to re-start talks that has been in limbo since Saturday.

Officials of Private and Boarding School Organizations of Nepal (PABSON), which groups over 8000 boarding schools all over the nation, said Sunday that they were closing down the schools for three days (Monday to Wednesday). The early summer vacation could extend indefinitely if the government and the ANNFSU (R) both failed to come around for talks, they said.

"We have decided to close for three days," announced Rajesh Khadka, president of PABSON. "If the government and revolutionary students do not show up for talks within these three days, then we will close down indefinitely."

The announcement comes after student leaders of the ANNFSU (R) failed to turn up for scheduled talks today with PABSON. The students are said to have declined from the talks after two of their leaders were arrested by the government on Saturday.

President of ANNFSU (R) Devendra Parajuli, meanwhile, rejected the PABSON ultimatum, saying "we will never talk until our colleagues are released by the government." He warned of further "stern action" if the students were not immediately released.

The ANNFSU (R) has created terror among private boarding schools in the kingdom by resorting to heavy-handed tactic in an attempt to force their 15-point demand down the throats of the boarding schools. The chief demand calls for a drastic reduction of school fee as well as stopping the teaching of Sanskrit and chanting the national anthem.

Last week, the radical students vandalized two boarding schools in Kathmandu, burnt cars and nearly set on fire one of the principals of the schools. Such heavy-handed tactic employed by the radical student group has won them few sympathizers.

Sunday’s decision to close schools for three days was announced by PABSON at around 2 p.m. after deliberation among its officials about the new situation that has arisen after the arrests of student leaders on Saturday. Before their arrests, the students had sat down for talks with PABSON and officials of the Ministry for Education and Sports, but no solution emerged. Immediately after, PABSON and the ANNFSU (R) said they would hold separate talks between themselves to resolve the issue, but the government acted by arresting the student leaders.

PABSON officials later lobbied Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ram Chandra Poudel to release the students but to no avail. "We asked the government to release them in order to create a conducive atmosphere for talks," said Bhoj Bahadur Shah, general secretary of PABSON.

Meanwhile, the Home Ministry said it had directed the regional police offices to provide security to the school children. But private schools are impatient?

"How long would the school run with police protection?," asked Narayan Prasad Uprety, Principal of GEMS, a Kathmandu-based private school, when asked about the government assurance to provide security to the schools.

PAC irked by Govt promotions

Post Report

KATHMANDU, May 13 - Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has expressed serious reservations over the government’s recent move to promote two high-ranking officials implicated on corruption charges to the post of secretary at the Agriculture and General Administration ministries.

Following a decision made late last week, the powerful committee has forwarded a letter to the Cabinet Secretariat seeking written clarifications from the Cabinet. In the letter, PAC has asked the Cabinet to furnish replies on the controversial appointment before Thursday, PAC sources told The Kathmandu Post.

Last year, PAC implicated the then Director General at Department of Irrigation, Ratneshwor Lal Kayastha, his Deputy, Amodananda Mishra and the then Rastriya Banijya Bank official Mukunda Prasad Aryal on charges of corruption and recommended actions against them. The government, however, promoted the three in a decision last month.

Kayastha was appointed to the position of Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Aryal at the Ministry of General Administration, while sources said Mishra is likely to be promoted to the post of Director General at the Department. Despite the recommendation, no actions had been initiated against them.

Hindu hardliners criticise Dr Rayamajhi

Post Report

KATHMANDU, May 13 - Pashupati Sena Nepal, a fundamentalist Hindu organisation today hurled abuses at the Chairman of Raj Parishad Standing Committee, Dr. Keshar Jung Rayamajhi for his statement which indicated that Pashupati is not only for Hindus.

This issue got into heated controversy after one of the local dailies published on May 10 the statement of Rayamajhi. He had stated that Hindu religion "does not believe in fundamentalism and if people of other religions are allowed to enter Pashupati, the (Pashupati) Trust which has the responsibility for the maintenance of the area might get the monetary boost".

In an acerbic attack, president of Pashupati Sena, Bishnu Kumar Prasain labelled Dr. Rayamajhi a "traitor" at the press conference held at the capital today. "It is shameful for the person like Dr. Rayamajhi to give such condemnable statement," said Prasain.

Prasain also said that, this is an attempt to disintegrate the country and accused other religious groups for proselytizing poor Nepalis taking advantage of the people’s poverty. He also warned that violence could flare if Dr Rayamajhi does not apologise immediately.

Dr. Rayamajhi is a former communist. The holy Pashupatinath temple has been off limits to people of faiths other than Hinduism, and Dr Rayamajhi’s statement was arguing against lifting the ban on other religious groups.

Along with Dr. Rayamajhi, Vice president of Vishwo Hindu Mahasangh, Ram Prasad Adhikari and Narottam Vaidya, chairman of ward No. 8, Kathmandu Municipality were also criticised for supporting Rayamajhi’s statement.

Likewise, addressing the meet, senior advocate, Mithilesh Kumar Singh said that the Constitution which was promulgated in 1990 clearly defines Nepal as the only Hindu Kingdom in the world. "In our Constitution, the term Hindu has been used repeatedly," said Singh.

Mid-Marsyangdi puts locals into dire straits

By Surendra Phuyal

FALEGSANGU, Lamjung, May 13  She can be seen breaking boulders with a hammer making some construction material near her makeshift house one of these days. She is not feeling well, but 60-year-old Nanda Kumari Gurung says she is doing so to save money.

Saving money because Nanda Kumari is homeless like dozens of her neighbors. "I am sick, but I am still working because I think this way I can save some money and contribute for the construction of a new house for us (Nanda Kumari and her 18-year-old daughter, who studies and lives in Narayanghat)," she says, her hands clasping the hammer tight.

Up until last January 17, there existed a traditional settlement of people belonging to Gurung nationality on the banks of the river Marsyangdi. The village of Falegsangu, named after a small wooden crossover that supposedly existed in olden times, was also a popular marketplace for people coming in from at least a dozen villages of eastern Lamjung district.

But not any more. A marketplace popular for its crude tobacco and other commodities, Falegsangu bazaar has now become a thing of past. All that is left are the remnants of Falegsangu: ravaged houses with their littered bricks and stones and old clothes and so on. Nanda Kumari says the settlement was pulled down on last January 17 (Magh 4) apparently to make way for a medium-size hydroelectric dam.

"We burst into tears, and cried on that day when our houses were brought down," she says, ruing the past memories.

Over 300 people coming in from 54 families have been displaced by the proposed 62-meter-high dam of Middle Marsyangdi Hydroelectric Project, which will be build where the market of Falegsangu remained till last year. Currently the survey works are going on, and the Project officials say construction works will begin later this year.

The 70-megawatts (MW) hydel project is scheduled to come online in 2004.

KFW, a German government-owned financial body, this week agreed to provide financial assistance for the run-of-river-type project, whose total cost was estimated at Rs 13.65 billion (or US$ 19.5 million) in 1997. KFW has agreed to bear 80 per cent of the cost, while the government of Nepal is financing the rest.

Once constructed, Mid-Marsyangdi will be the second such dam build on the Marsyangdi river, whose headwaters originate high up on the Annapurna Himal. A 69-MW capacity plant (Lower Marsyangdi) was installed downstream of here more than a decade ago.

Officials in Kathmandu say that the project will help bring prosperity in the country after it starts contributing another 70 megawatts to the national power grid. But members of the 54 families displaced by the project do not think that way.

"For us, our houses that are now under ruins, were more important," says Rajendra Gurung, 20, whose family of six made a living out of a small restaurant-cum-guest house at Falegsangu. "Now the government has relocated our entire village here. Fine. But what are we to do for a living? There is no suspension bridge on the Marsyangdi over here, from which visitors would come and go and buy our things."

Durga Prasad Sharma, Assistant Manager of the Project, claims that the government has spent nearly 30 million rupees in relocating the 54 families that have been displaced, and taken into account the recommendations made by the World Commission on Dams. "We have made all the necessary arrangements and have ensured all the basic amenities for them," he says, his left index finger pointing towards a new village that is under construction. "There is road, there is drinking water and electricity, and even a post office and a temple."

But Nanda Kumari – much as her other displaced neighbors – is far from happy. She is unhappy because her husband abandoned her for another woman, unhappy because the dam forced her out of her traditional house, and unhappy still because her sole means of livelihood is now gone. "In Falegsangu we had a small restaurant, which earned us Rs 1,000 to 1,200 a day," she recounts. "But here, I do not quite know what to do for a living…"

PM opens FPAN meet

Post Report

LALITPUR, May 13 - Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said today that he wanted to spend his life in social works like family planning after retiring from politics.

But the 78-years-old Prime Minister and the party president of ruling Nepali Congress did not say when he was going to quit politics.

"I would like to work for social organisations like this when I retire from my political career," he said while addressing the inaugural session of the 24th central meeting of Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN) on Sunday.

The effort to control infant and maternal death rate has shown some improvement but better education and awareness level was lower, he added.

He assured the FPAN that he would try to solve the problems of the association and also promised to talk with the Finance Minister to make the import of vehicles and computers duty free.

At the same time, he urged the Non Government Organisations not to duplicate what the government has been doing. "Lot of projects and plans are lingering because of lack of co-ordination between the government institutions and NGOs," he said.

General secretary of the FPAN Subhash Pradhan said that the relation between the government and an organisation that aims at fulfilling the government’s policy should be smooth to achieve better results. "We don’t want the government regarding us as

competitors. We are working as an supplementary agent," he said.

Dr Hernando Agudelo, the deputy representative of UNFPA said that community participation and support is a key for sustainability and FPAN has been important intermediary between the people and services.

FPAN Director General Nirmal Kumar Bista said that the challenge of FPAN has become even tougher these days.

FPAN, established in 1959, is one of the key role players in raising awareness in the field of reproduction education and use of contraceptive means, which is working in 34 districts. It has 13,000 volunteers and 4,573 staff all over the country.