Temba youngest Everester

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KATHMANDU, May 24 – Temba Tsheri Sherpa, 16, who had lost five fingers to frostbite last year, has scaled Mt. Everest to become the youngest climber to summit the world’s highest mountain.

Temba set foot on the summit Tuesday at 7 a.m. local time from the Tibetan side of the mountain. According to Pemba Sherpa, director of the Thamserku Trekking that had equipped and sponsored the expedition, team members had called from the base camp to report the climb and that Temba was already headed back towards the base camp after the successful climb.

This was his second attempt on the mountain. Last year, a failed attempt from the Nepali side of the peak had ended with him losing five of his fingers to frostbite. He was only meters away from the summit when he was forced to turn around due to exhaustion, frostbite and lack of bottled oxygen.

Born in Gaurishankar Village in Dolakha, he is an eighth grade student at Sidartha Vanasthali Institute, Kathmandu.

Meanwhile, at least 19 foreign climbers and their Sherpa guides have scaled the peak form the southern side today, according to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.

The Mountain Experience Expedition put five members and nine Nepali Sherpa guides on the summit while the Indian army expedition had one member and four Sherpa guides atop Everest.

On the sad note, an Austrian climber identified as Peter Gerfreid Ganner, a broadcast engineer, fell 500 meters at an altitude of 8,500 meters and died on the mountain. While there are reports that an Australian climber also died on his way to the summit on the Tibetan side.

CIAA to file cases today

By Damakant Jayshi

KATHMANDU, May 24 - The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has decided to file corruption cases against several high level former government officials for their role in the infamous Lauda Air scandal.

The cases are being filed tomorrow at the Patan Appellate Court, one of the CIAA Commissioners, Madhav Dutta Bhatta, told the press Thursday. He, however, indicated that Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala will be spared from the court case, but will nevertheless face a strong rebuke for his combative answer to written questions asked by the CIAA earlier.

Speaking to the reporters after the final meeting on the infamous deal at the CIAA offices at Babarmahal on Thursday, Commissioner Bhatta said that PM Koirala would not be prosecuted. He, however, said that the Commission has mentioned the PM’s reply to their question on the "sealed questionnaire".

High-level sources at the Commission said that the CIAA has also decided to send another letter to the PM Koirala, asserting its right to ask questions even to the Prime Minister. However, the sources add, this letter is polite in tone and asks the PM not to take any offence over it.

The constitutional watchdog body, said the sources, has also "cautioned" the Cabinet to, henceforth, monitor all deals involving the clearance of foreign exchange. The Cabinet had approved foreign exchange for payment to Lauda Air, Austria under the heads of bank guarantee and as an advance of one month. The sum was 1,005,000 US dollars each.

On May 2, CIAA had sent a "sealed questionnaire" to PM Koirala to which the latter also sent a sealed answer the very next day, challenging the jurisdiction of the constitutional body to question Cabinet decisions. The PM also answered the five questions asked by the CIAA on the infamous Lauda Air jet deal signed last year by RNAC, the national flag carrier.

Two high-profile bureaucrats, a former executive chairman of RNAC and a board member of the airline, are in detention since April 26 at the Hanuman Dhoka Police Station, unable to fork out the Rs 50 million each in bail ordered by the CIAA for their roles in the deal. That same day, the CIAA also ordered the impounding of the passport of ex-Minister for Civil Aviation Tarini Dutta Chataut who was in government when the deal was signed.

Basudev Lamichhane (who investigated the case at the CIAA) said that the anti-corruption body would file the case at the Appellate Court in the first hour and a press conference would be held after that at the CIAA premises.

While all indications are that Prime Minister Koirala will be left off the hook by the CIAA, it is unclear what bearing that will have on the agitation called by the communist opposition parties. The group of six left parties, led by the main opposition CPN-UML, has called a three-day bandh next week on the issue.

Prior to this, the six parties had launched brief street protests against PM Koirala. Even before that, the entire opposition had disrupted the 19th Session of the parliament for 57 days, with the dubious record of the parliament not having conducted a single second of normal business in the House.

Left parties alliance stick to bandh call

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KATHMANDU, May 24 – Several leaders of the six left parties including the main opposition CPN-UML today said that there was no way that the left alliance would back out from their call for the 72 hours bandh scheduled for May 27-29 demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.

Speaking at an interaction program organized by the Press Chautari Nepal, an organisation known to be close to the left parties, KP Sharma Oli, an influential leader of CPN-UML, Chitra Bahadur KC, Chairman of CPN- Masal, Narayan Man Bijukcche, Chairman of Nepal Peasants’ and Workers’ Party and Lila Mani Pokhrel, Chairman of United Peoples’ Front all spoke explaining why their call for three-day bandh was necessary.

Chitra Bahadur KC, reiterating that corruption had been institutionalized in Nepal since the times of Rana oligarchy said that it was high time we remove corrupt people from power.

Bijukcche, explaining that the country was divided into two groups- nationalist and anti-nationalist said that the present government was an anti-nationalist government. Bringing out issues like Kalapani and Laxmanpur Barrage, he said that the government made decisions in favour of a foreign nation disregarding the feelings of its people and against the welfare of the country. He also appealed to the business community to support the bandh stating that in the long run the outcome would be beneficial for them as well.

"I appeal to all the business communities and associations like Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) and Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) that they support our call and not an individual who is ruining the country.

Lila Mani Pokhrel of the United People’s Front, said that some people were misleading the public by saying that the nation would have to bear immense financial losses. "It is true that the country will have to bear some losses but if we let one corrupt person to stay in power the nation will lose a hundred times more in a single day," he said.

Similarly, KP Sharma Oli an influential leader of the main opposition CPN-UML said that calling bandhs is not an hobby of the left parties but a national necessity to remove "corrupt Prime Minister" out of power. Oli also made clear that in no way would they withdraw or postpone their call for bandh.

Trying to defend his party member and former Civil Aviation Minister, Bhim Bahdur Rawal who only a day ago was implicated on irregularities by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Oli said that the committee had only charged Rawal on not following the proper procedure and not on corruption. " The accusations on Rawal is different from the accusations on Koirala, he was not barred from doing what he did by the PAC or the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) like the Prime Minister," he said. "In any way Rawal has already resigned from the Central Working Committee of the CPN-UML, which technically was not necessary, but look at the Prime Minister" he added.

NHRC awards compensation

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KATHMANDU, May 24 - National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today decided that families of jail-inmates Vijay Chowdhary and Ghanshyam Oli, who were killed by the police inside Nepalgunj jail premise, are to be compensated with Rs 100,000 each.

This is the first case of compensation decided by NHRC after its inception nearly one year ago.

NHRC report presented to the government today said that, human rights had been violated in killing of Chowdhary and Oli. And, their dependent families are compensated with Rs 100,000 each and five per cent of the compensation amount should be borne by the then Chief District Officer (CDO) of Banke, Shyam Prasad Mainali and 2.5 per cent is to be borne by Superintendent of Police Arun Kumar Singh.

Speaking at a press conference NHRC Chairman Nayan Bahadur Khatri said that it was the first case the Commission had reached its decision. "We perused if there was any violation of human rights and we found that violation had occurred," said Khatri.

NHRC Regulation regarding compensation was put into effect just a month ago.

Chairman Khatri said that even those persons found involved were penalised so as to build up a system where the perpetuators are not let free without any form of remonstrance. "We introduced such requirements of compensation to address the culture of impunity," said NHRC member Sushil Pyakurel.

The story goes like this. About four months ago, jail-inmates of Nepalgunj jail had initially gone on a strike demanding for issue of quilt during the winter season. And, when their 15-point demand was not met with, they had gone on strike inside the jail.

Reading out the report, NHRC Secretary Jogendra Ghimire said that the CDO didn’t consider the jail-inmates’ demands seriously. He also refused to have any dialogue with the inmates over their demand. "If only the CDO had taken timely initiative, then the incident would not have had such grave end," said the report.

"The CDO’s and Superintendent of Police’s statements before the commission showed that there had been no attempts made to prevent such grave situation," the report stated.

The report also said that CDO’s order to shoot could not be justified. It went on to mention that the shooting was carried out without following the prescribed rules.

"Such act by the police administration has deprived the prisoners their right to life inside the jail," said the report.

The report also mentions that Oli was killed after the police had announced that there would be no more shootings.

NHRC spelled out the compensation in accordance with its Compensation Act and Regulations.

Yet in another case, where Tara Prasad Bhusal was arrested from the Butwal Court premise without the court’s order, the Commission today wrote to the Home Ministry that it would like to make the ministry aware that such human rights violation should not occur from any of its subordinate bodies.

Govt denies report on Mahakali dam

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KATHMANDU, May 24 – Ministry of Water Resources has expressed surprise over the recent protests carried out by various left forces and denied reports that the Indian government is unilaterally constructing a dam on the Mahakali river in Purnagiri area in far-western Nepal.

"The reports that a dam is being constructed in Purnagiri area of Dadeldhura-Kanchanpur districts are baseless. It is only that environmental and socio-economic studies are being carried out there currently…We are quite surprised over such reports," said a press release issued here Thursday by Sarada Prasad Sharma, Joint Secretary at the Ministry.

The statement added, "It is extremely important to carry out environmental as well as socio-economic studies to determine whether the Rupaligad area or the Purnagiri area is an appropriate site to construct the re-regulation dam for the Pancheshwor Multi-Purpose Project."

The release also stated that the Indian government cannot and should not carry out any construction works along the Mahakali river course as it would be against the sentiment of the Mahakali Integrated Treaty signed between the governments of Nepal and India in 1996.

The statement has also made it clear that it would take a long time before the two sides decide on where to construct the re-regulation dam for the multi-purpose high dam project. "At present the Nepal-India Joint Project Office for Pancheshwor Investigation is carrying out studies," it said, adding, "The multipurpose project would be developed by a separate Pancheshwor Multi Purpose Authority."

The Ministry’s statement came two days after the activists of All Nepal Women Association (ANWA), the women wing of Communist Party of Nepal – Marxist Leninist (CPN-ML), staged what they billed "Purnagiri march" and carried out protests against the rumored "unilateral move" of the southern neighbor.

Prior to this activists of the CPN-UML affiliated Democratic National Youth Federation (DNYF) had carried out protest programs on the banks of the western frontier river in Purnagiri area of Dadeldhura district. In doing so, a few months back, the activists had also thrown survey equipment into the snow-fed river with vast hydropower and irrigation potential.

Let school open or face public wrath

By Kulchandra Neupane 

BANDIPUR, Tanahun, May 24 - This former district headquarters on Wednesday witnessed a gathering of people, who with courage challenged the Revolutionary students union for forcibly closing down the only service-oriented school in the district.

"It is too much," said Shusila Shakya, a local woman, who had come to admit her two children at Notre Dame, a non-profit school. Pleading with the Maoist aligned ANNFSU-Revolutionary she urged, "If you really want public support, please do not force us to close down this school. Otherwise, we will also be forced to raise voices against your errant decisions."

The locals not only pleaded with the ANNFSU-R to correct their immature decision to close down the school, but also warned of exposing the inconsistent decisions so frequently taken by them before the general public.

"The Revolutionary students have been straying from their declared aims and goals. They are not even able to distinguish between a private profit-making and a service-oriented school. The public support towards the union is waning due to their immature and short-sighted moves like the threat to shut down the school like this one," said a local, Bhairav Sulpe, addressing a parents’ meeting.

He further added that public opinion and sympathy would go against them if they stuck-on to their errant decisions. The school had been providing education to helpless, orphan and poor children in the locality.

The parents’ meeting decided to revive the Notre Dame Higher Secondary School so that light of education could be rekindled again. The Bandipur VDC Chairman Rabiraj Bhattarai and Bandipur Social Service Committee will jointly hold talks with the union leaders in connection to re-starting the school.

"There is still a ray of hope. But, first we have to convince the school Principal, Jenet Tanaka, a Japanese national, over the safety of the school once reopened," said VDC Chairman Bhattarai.

Following the closure of the school, a silent fear has fallen among the locals. Still, the locals seem to be determined to ensure that the school is reopened before Tanaka returns to Nepal on May 29. All three foreign sisters, including the Principal, had left Nepal for their respective countries after the school was forcibly closed by the ANNFSU-R in April this year.

The school Principal announced the closure of the institution on April 24 amidst a gathering, shortly after receiving the union’s third warning of "physical action unless it is closed down."

Despite the Principal’s sad announcement, the school students are still optimistic, thanks largely to the public pressure on the union to correct their mistake.

Officiating Principal, Bheshraj Pokharel, said that only five children had taken transfer certificates from the school and rests of the others keep regular contact with him.

"Many teachers who left the school following the unfortunate incident are still in touch with me hoping that it will open soon," Pokharel said.

Notre Dame School was opened about 16 years ago. School records reveal that many graduates from the school are studying abroad on various scholarship programs. This is the only institution of which all the locals are proud of. "It has attracted students even from other districts," says a local, Rishiraj Bhattarai.

Although foreigners fund this institution, it is basically managed by the local community. It charges a nominal fee from the students and 25 per cent of the children enrolled at the school come from oppressed, helpless and poor families.

A businessman said that about 40 per cent of the local business had declined due to the closure of the school, equipped with modern facilities and property worth millions of rupees at its disposal.

At the meet, almost all the speakers from across political lines, intellectuals and local businessmen expressed serious concerns over the desolate condition of Bandipur that once used to be a business and administrative centre until all the district offices were shifted to Damauli some 33 years ago.

China to pour US$ 78.3m on Khasa road

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KATHMANDU, May 24 – China is set to reinforce communications and exchanges with its South Asian neighbors with a huge investment in roads from Tibetan inland cities to the region’s border areas, which also includes the Lhaze-Zhungmu road or the Khasa road connecting Nepal’s Tatopani area with Tibet.

The Chinese township of Zhungmu, locally referred to as Khasa, lies 120 kilometers north-east of Kathmandu. According to Keshav Bahadur Rayamajhi of Trans-Himalayan Traders Association, Lhaze is a small township, about 150 kilometers north of Zhungmu road, which ends in Lhasa, the capital of Tibetan Autonomous Region.

According to a news report carried by Asiaport Daily News on the Internet Thursday, China is pouring 650 million Yuan (US$ 78.3 million) on the Lhaze-Zhungmu road alone as part of China’s recent "thoroughfares project" . China is constructing a total of six thoroughfares connecting Tibet’s Puran, Zhungmu and Yardong with India, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal, the report quoted Tibetan Autonomous Region’s general engineer Ran Shipin as saying.

The report said, "Zhungmu, which is the largest border port in the region…is expected to double its annual border trade volume from the current US $ 100 million after the completion of the Lhaze-Zhungmu road."

"According to Ran, total investment in the construction of these six roadlinks is expected to run up to 2.5 billion Yuan (US$301 million). The Lhaze-Zhungmu road, the Ranniao-Sama road, and Barga-Puran roads should be completed by 2005."

"The plans are also aimed at improving China’s national defense along the 4,000-kilometre frontier in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, according to Shipin," the report added.

Zhungmu is China’s only border town having roadlink with Nepal. Last year, the government of Nepal collected Rs 1.28 billion in revenues from the trade route.

Facilitators training ends

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KATHMANDU, May 24 - A week-long training for the facilitators, who will conduct regional consultations with children and adults in all five development regions, concluded in Bhaktapur.

The Consortium for the Child Clubs of Nepal co-ordinated the conduction of the training for the collection of children’s perspective on the "Outcome document on a World Fit for Children", prepared by the United Nations for further discussions.

The document is the draft of the commitment world leaders are going to make in the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) for Children in September, for the next ten years.

The trained 40 children and adults will collect the children’s perspective which will be processed by the Consortium for the Child Clubs of Nepal and sent to the third and final preparation committee meeting of UNGASS.

Talking to the reporters, Anil Raghubanshi, the national co-ordinator of UNGASS/Global Movement for Children, said that each child is a junior citizen of the country and he or she deserves as much investment as any adult citizen does. "Even their participation in policy making is a must," he said.

The training program was conducted by a pool of trainers from Save the Children, UK, Save the Children, Norway, CWIN, Concern Nepal, Hatemalo Sanchar Consortium for the Child Clubs of Nepal and cooperation was also provided by the United Nations’ Children’s Fund.