Maoists kill 1 UML worker, injure several others

By Om Prakash Sharma

SYANGJA, Nov 3 – At a time when main opposition CPN-UML leadership is coming down heavily against the Maoists, one UML worker was killed when a group of armed Maoist rebels carried out a deadly attack in Chapakot village in the Syangja district Friday evening.

Gupta Bahadur Bishwokarma, acting Secretary of the Area Committee of the CPN-UML, was killed in the attack. Bishwokarma is also the science teacher in the local Ganga Lal Higher Secondary School.

Locals said the Maoists carried out the attack mainly because the locals – both UML and ruling Nepali Congress (NC) workers – forged groups to counter Maoists and that was hindering the organisational development of the Maoists. Earlier, the rebels numbering almost 500 had entered into Chapakot from Gajarkot village of Tanahun district.

According to eyewitnesses, the Maoist rebels, after carrying out the attack, took away three injured NC workers – Ram Chandra Pangeni and Padma Prasad Pangeni of Kuwakot-3, and Netra Prasad Bhandari of Chapakot-6 – along with them.

Those severely injured in the incident – Shankar Bhakta Bhandari of Chapakot-4 (UML), Narayan Bahadur Thapa of Chapakot-2 (NC) – were found in the incident site (Chapakot, Suntalitar) Saturday morning. Their hands and legs were broken and they were airlifted to Pokhara for treatment in the Saturday evening.

The police have given direction to send the dead body of Bishwokarma to the district headquarters for post-mortem and three reinforcement forces have been dispatched towards the incident site from Waling, Galyang (both in Syangja) and Palpa district, said police chief of Syangja, Sarbendra Khanal.

Locals believe that the Maoists could have attacked the Chapakot villagers, who had openly come to counter the Maoists as retaliation, because the villagers on Tuesday had attacked two Maoist workers – Hari Prasad Khanal and M. S. Gaire.

Both Khanal and Gaire were severely injured in the earlier incident and the former is currently undergoing treatment in Manipal Teaching Hospital, while the condition of Gaire is still unknown.

According to a locally-elected leader of Chapakot village, some UML and NC workers, fearing the Maoist attacks, have already fled to the district headquarters, Waling, Galyang, Palpa and Terai.

Meanwhile, even six days after the abduction of Mukti Prasad Subedi, teacher of Purnamrit Bhawani Higher Secondary School, his condition is still unknown. The Maoists had abducted him on October 29.

Now the locals in the village have been demanding with the government to deploy army there.

Meanwhile, the Standing Committee of the UML today strongly condemned the Maoists for killing Bishwokarma.

UML to intensify anti-Maoist campaign

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 3 - The main opposition party CPN-UML has decided to strengthen its campaign against the Maoists and to accelerate its anti Maoist public awareness campaign throughout the country.

The decision was taken during an emergency meeting of the party’s standing committee, which concluded here today. The emergency meeting was called on Friday after the Maoists abducted three prominent members of the party in Jumla on Thrusday.

Iswore Pokhrel, a prominent leader and a member of the standing committee said that along with the anti Maoists campaign the party cadres would address the inefficiency of the present government while interacting with locals. He said that the party would focus on the "shameful absence" of the government from different parts of the country and instill awareness among the citizens about its failure along with its anti Maoists campaign.

Agitated because of the recent news of yet another murder of a UML activist in Syangja by the Maoists, Pokhrel labelled Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba as "not serious" and only concerned about keeping his chair intact. "Deuba’s only concern is to keep his Prime Ministership intact and for that he has included people with dubious image in his cabinet and those people are doing nothing but cheating the public," he said.

He lambasted the Maoists, saying that their action in Syangja is condemnable and height of foolishness. "This kind of action does not benefit anyone not even themselves," Pokhrel said terming the Maoists as "fascists among the communists".

Pokhrel informed that the party had requested Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka to give medical care of the injured people in the Syangja incident.

Apart from the decision to accelerate the anti-Maoists campaign the standing committee meeting also discussed about the present political situation in the country and evaluated the role played by its MPs during the last session of Parliament, Pokhrel said.

Nepal-India trade talks get underway
Political compulsions may be considered

By Bhaskar Sharma

KATHMANDU, Nov 3 – Despite the latest talks rippling through the Indian diplomatic corridors  that political care should be taken while renewing the 1996 Nepal-India Trade Treaty, Indian commerce ministry officials currently participating in another round of trade talks here stood steadfastly to their former demands.

Though officials seeking to find an amicable solution to the impasse over the renewal of the 1996 Treaty declined to comment much given the sensitivity of the issue, they hinted that both sides adamantly stuck to their earlier reasoning.

Joint secretary level officials from India and Nepal began a two-day trade talks today. The 1996 Treaty will expire this December unless the two sides come to reconciliatory terms and ratify it before December 5.

Officials who took part at the talks today said that both Nepal and India stood fast to their respective demands. A Nepali official also told The Kathmandu Post that no concrete understanding was reached. "We have not reached any conclusion," he said preferring to remain unnamed.

This is the third time that officials from the two sides are meeting ever since India formally sought review and revision in certain provisions of the Trade Treaty. The talks will conclude on Sunday. "Any outcome would depend only on Sunday," said the official.

However, an Indian official who came as a part of the Indian delegation to Kathmandu said that some positive developments were achieved. "The talks are progressing ahead," he said, without further explanation. Nepali officials, on the other hand, merely hoped that the talks on Sunday would prove fruitful.

Despite all optimism expressed by the Nepali officials, there has been a general apprehension in the Nepali intellectual circle that failure of the latest talks may either mean an end to the preferential trading arrangement or may force the two sides to seek a political solution.

And that may necessitate the Commerce Ministers of the two governments, or even the Prime Ministers themselves, to impose a solution to the trade dispute that has drawn out for over two months now.

Meanwhile, media reports from India makes it evident that the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is concerned over the Nepal-India trade skirmish. The Thursday edition of The Economic Times states, "While the Commerce Department is yet to finalise its stand, the External Affairs Ministry has indicated that political compulsions should also be taken into consideration during the review (of the Treaty)."

The concern of the Indian government is apparently over the possibility of a closer Nepal-China economic ties if the trade talks between Nepal and India is not settled at the satisfaction of the Nepalis. "Nepal should not move away politically from India as this will result in proximity with China," the report says.

At the crux of the dispute lies in the five Nepali items that India views have fallen under the surge net. The Indian side has been taking a tough stand on the export of these five products, namely, acrylic yarn, zinc oxide, vanaspati ghee, steel pipes and copper winding wires, which it claims to have forced the closure of many of its domestic industries.

India wants to either put the five items into the negative list. However, the Nepali side for long has been urging to settle the issue by imposing a maximum of 30 per cent value addition arguing that any step to strictly curtail its exports would further tilt the trade balance in India’s favour.

Nepal-India bilateral trade since the signing of the Treaty in December 1996 has grown tremendously. While exports to India from Nepal has grown from Rs 5.23 billion in 1996/97 to Rs 27.3 billion, imports has grown from Rs 24.85 billion to Rs 46.66 in the same period. The five items of Indian concern share around 20 per cent of the total exports from Nepal.

Slow data analysis delays Census 2001 report

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 3 - Although three months have passed since the completion of the data compilation process for the Census 2001, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) is yet to announce the final result.

The compilation of data on the demography of the country was completed in July. However, the CBS is still working on the voluminous data, and has managed to release only a preliminary finding which has found that Nepal’s population is now slightly over 23 million. The final findings of the Census 2001 is still some months away, say CBS officials.

"It will take at least three months more to make public the final results, " said Rabi Prasad Kayastha, Deputy Director of the CBS. "The major problem we had to face while bringing the compiled data was the transportation. The process of bringing the compiled data from various remote places of the country was very time consuming."

Kayastha added that the data entry is likely to be completed by January and then the final results would be made public.

The responsibility of data entry has been given to the private firms. Right now two private firms, Computer Interface and Cosmos Engineering, which are entering the findings in the database. The total budget allocated for the data entry is approximately Rs 20 million.

According to the CBS, three categories - dialects, religion and ethnicity - incorporated in the questionnaire of Census 2001 are making the coding process really difficult.

"Since the computer does not accept the data on dialects, religion and ethnicity, they have to be coded. This coding process is very time consuming," said Kayastha.

Experts say that in most of the developed countries, scanning is used which is cost effective and much less time consuming whereas in developing countries like Nepal, everything is done manually.

"When things are done manually, it naturally will take longer time than when done automatically," said Kedar Basnet, who is currently busy in coding process with the CBS branch at Baneshwor. "Till now, there has been data entry of around 30 districts."

Currently, CBS is busy in Post Enumeration Survey (PES). PES is conducted with an aim to check the error percentage that occurred while compiling data for the Census.

Samrat wins literary award for ‘Arresting God in Kathmandu’

By Akhilesh Upadhyay

NEW YORK, Nov 3 – Samrat Upadhyay has been named among the best emerging writers for the year by the Whiting Foundation, which annually selects 10 young writers of exceptional talent. The award follows favorable reviews Upadhyay’s first story collection, "Arresting God in Kathmandu," received in the United States.

The Whiting Writers’ Awards, which carries an individual purse of $35,000, have been given to aspiring writers since 1985.

The 2001 Whiting recipients draw on disparate worlds: from Kathmandu, to a remote Montana cattle ranch, an Austrian village between two World Wars, to Delhi. "These writers are remarkably distinctive in sensibility and subject matter," said Barbara Bristol, Director of Writers’ Program. "Most of them have recently published a first book, or soon will, and we hope his award will help to bring them the recognition they deserve."

On October 25, the recipients were announced at a ceremony at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City where the distinguished poet, Stanley Kunitz was the keynote speaker. Kunitz was America’s Poet Laureate in 2000.

Akhil Shrama is another 2001 Whiting recepient whose story is set in South Asia. An Obedient Father tells a story of a corrupt official in the Delhi school system. Sharma’s book was also named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

What follows is Samrat Upadhyay’s interview where he talks about the readers’ feedback, intimate treatment of sex in his stories, and his upcoming novel.

Q - How do you feel about getting the Whiting Award? How do you compare it with your inclusion among the best American short stories writing in 1999?

Samrat - I feel surprised and happy about the award. To learn that a select group of writers, editors and scholars think that my work is worthy of attention is uplifting. When I compare this award to the inclusion of my story in Best American Short Stories (BASS) 1999, I find that the BASS inclusion was much more of a landmark for me, because that caught the attention of the American public in a way that publishing in literary journals here and there never could. It was even more surprising at that time because the story, "The Good Shopkeeper," was set entirely in Kathmandu, with no American elements.

Q - What are your strengths as a writer? How do you feel about your background, and that you write with a different sensibility and that your readers are largely Americans?

Sarmat - I will let my readers decide what my literary strengths are. As far as I know, I enjoy writing stories, creating fictitious characters, who, after a few paragraphs, start taking on lives of their own.

I am perfectly comfortable in my role as a Nepali writing in English—for an audience that is more international than Nepali. This is not without precedent, as we have seen with writers from India. English has become a global language, albeit with a postcolonial flavor, and I think there’s a new generation of writers emerging from Nepal who reflect this duality in their identities—this battle between their Nepali sensibilities and their Western influences or academic interests.

Q. How have Nepalis reacted to your stories? One area that has sparked a lot of interest among the readers is intimate treatment of sex in your stories?

Samrat – Most of the reactions in the US and in Nepal have been positive. A Nepali in the US wrote to me to say that it was one of the best books he’d ever read. I was also heartened to read Narayan Wagle’s review of the book in Kantipur, the first Nepali review of my work. On my book tours here, many Nepalis have come up to me and said that they thoroughly enjoyed the book. In Minneapolis especially I was received very warmly—momo dinner at the Nepali restaurant Everest On Grand, then an evening out with a bunch of fun, young Nepali professionals. A US-based friend recently informed me that at a local Dashain party even those who hadn’t read my book seemed to have opinions on it!

As for the sexual scenes, none of the Nepalis I met on my tour directly commented on them. But I can tell you that I feel extremely comfortable writing them. In fact, I enjoy writing about sex. There’s a harsh realism in delving into the nitty-gritty of what people, in a conservative society like ours, do in their bedrooms that makes them wonderfully human. It might shock some readers, but sexual depiction in Nepali literature is nothing new.

Q. Are you overwhelmed by the response – and now this award?

Samrat - No, I don’t feel overwhelmed by it. It’s been a very exciting period in my life, and, if you’ve seen me read my work, you know that I thoroughly enjoy interacting with the audience. It’s all a big
conversation, and the discussions are spontaneous and fun for me. I even enjoy when people say odd things. One Indian reader in New York objected to my using the word "God" in the title, whereas, according to her, the title came from only one deity, Indra, from one of the stories in the book. My attempt to reason with her failed utterly, and in the end I just smiled at her and said, "I chose the title because I liked how it sounded."

Q - What are your plans now? You are working on a novel?

Samrat - Today I finished the first draft of my novel. It’ll probably go through a couple more revisions before I try to send it to the market. Since the book might take a different route in the months to come, it’s not helpful to talk of its contents. But it’s a novel about a small family in Kathmandu struggling with itself and against the society to find its place. A school teacher falls in love with one of his students.

Consultation on criminal court gets underway

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 3 – With an aim to press governments ratify the International Criminal Court, Asian Network for the International Criminal Court (ANICC) in association with Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), a Nepal based NGO, has organised a three-day seminar titled National Consultation on International Criminal Court here in the capital.

Prominent personalities from various political parties and prominent lawyers are participating in the seminar that plans to disseminate information about the (ICC), discuss and clarify doubts about it, if any, and build a general consensus in order to push government to ratify it.

According to the representatives of most of the major political parties that were present in today’s discussion, no party in Nepal has made any decisions regarding ICC. Rather, many representatives claimed that they were hearing about ICC for the first time. Advocate Yubraj Sangraula speaking on general principles of International Criminal Law and ICC said that there was no reason why Nepal should not sign on the document ratifying the ICC.

Evelyne Balais-Serrano, representing Coalition for an International Criminal Court, a Philippines based NGO, spoke about the ICC’s background, Rome Conference that took up the issue, negotiation process and current ratification status. She stressed the need of Asian involvement in the process of ratifying the ICC.

Daman Nath Dhungana, senior advocate and former speaker of the parliament giving the inaugural remark stressed that at the hour when terrorism has been the major concern for the world, a court to which every country will be abided is a necessity.

The road to ratification still seems longer. Three years after it was decided to establish a permanent ICC to try individuals for most serious offences of global concern, such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, only 21 nations out of the 120 that approved its Statute have ratified it.

On July 1998 in Rome, 160 nations had decided to establish International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Statute of the Court was approved by an "unrecorded vote" of 120 countries in favour and seven against with 21 abstentions. Among the seven powerful countries that voted against it were United States of America, China, Japan, India and Israel.

But with the recent international scenario where the need to fight terrorism globally has been felt world wide and when, many opine that act of terrorism is actually being conducted in the name of fighting it, the need of this Court has been felt by many. And probably various state opinions about the formation of ICC has been enhanced.

The ICC will come into existence only after 60 countries ratify it. Countries such as Belgium, Belize, Canada, Senegal, Fiji, France, Ghana, Iceland, Italy, Mali, Norway, San Marino, Trinidad and Tobago, Tazikistan and Venezuela have already ratified it but Herculean task of getting 39 other countries ratify it still remains. The Asian scenario is gloomier with only one country Tazikistan out of five that voted in its favour in Rome ratifying it.

Army, police set to leave Betini village

Post Report

NUWAKOT, Nov 3 - The army and police personnel are in the process of leaving the Beteni VDC as the security has considerably improved in the area. The security personnel were deployed there a week ago following the murder of a local Maoist leader by locals.

However, according to the police source the army carried out a massive air search by helicopter and combined patrolling of police and army were carried out even till today. The police source added that the main aim of deploying army and police personnel in the villages was to ensure security to the village people by breaking the Maoist cordon.

The police and army personnel deployed on the site admitted having failed to find any Maoist in the villages.