Third round of govt-Maoist talks likely soon

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KATHMANDU, Nov 8 - In its latest attempt to make environment for the third round of dialogue with the Maoists, the government is contemplating releasing imprisoned Maoist activists and remove few clauses or completely annul the Public Security Act-2001, a highly placed reliable government source said.

According to the source, the government reached this conclusion after Sudeep Pathak, chairman of the Nepal Human Rights Organisation met with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Chiranjiwi Wagle, coordinator of the government dialogue committee Chiranjivi Wagle. Pathak has been crusading for the peace talks meeting people from both the government and the Maoists.

After the second round of talks in Thakurdwara of Bardia district both the government and the Maoist team had arrived in Kathmandu for the next rounds of talks. However, the process got disrupted after the government failed to meet the demands put forth by the Maoists. The Maoists had demanded that the Public Security Act enforced by the government be annulled, names of Maoists in government custody be made public and be released.

Pathak was told about the government mindset on Wednesday and accordingly met with two Maoist sources on Thursday. Immediately after that Pathak met Prime Minister Deuba and Wagle at 7 and 9 pm, respectively, the source said.

The source added that the government has already made preparations and will announce its decision to release around 70 rebels in custody in a day or two. Similarly the government will make its decision regarding the Public Security Act but since the government has already made public its opinion about the "disappeared rebels" it is not going to touch the issue.

"The situation till now was against the continuation of the peace talks but now it will take its pace," Pathak told The Kathmandu Post.According to a member of the government talks team the coordinator of the Maoist talk team is likely to arrive in Kathmandu on Friday and third rounds of talks will be held on Saturday.

Airlines tighten security to foil hijack plot
‘Bin Laden men in capital’

By Damakant Jayshi

KATHMANDU, Nov 8 – Tribhuvan International Airport is scrambling to tighten security as well   as order all airlines to remain on alert to foil a possible hijacking or sabotage attempt of aircraft serving Nepal’s only international airport.

The new security measures were ordered Wednesday by TIA officials after receiving information of a threat from Chennai, India. A letter received from Chennai warns of a possible plot by members of Osama bin Laden’s group to hijack an airliner out of Kathmandu and ram it into a target in New Delhi. The letter also informed that bin Laden’s men are already here to carry out the attack.

Acting upon that tip off, TIA immediately tightened security at the airport, and also wrote warning letters to all the airlines serving Kathmandu, the Board of Airline Representatives (BARN) said today. BARN has 32 international airlines as members, 13 of which have offices in Nepal.

The security alert letter, according to BARN Executive Secretary Bishnu Subedi, said that Osama Bin Laden’s men are already in Kathmandu with the hijack plan. Their plan is to hijack an aircraft and ram it either into one of three targets in New Delhi: the US embassy, there, the Indian Prime Minister’s residence or the Indian Prime Minister’s Office.

Osama Bin Laden is the prime suspect in the September 11 terrorist strikes in the US, and currently the US has been pounding Afghanistan to force the ruling Taliban to hand over the Saudi national, who is supposed to be hiding in Afghanistan.

Speaking to The Kathmandu Post, Joy Dewan, the President of BARN, said that they would write back to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to provide security to the aircraft.

Meanwhile, RNAC, the national carrier, has put in place new measures in view of the security alert. Rajesh Raj Dali, the airline’s executive chairman, told The Kathmandu Post today that the carrier is stationing one additional security personnel at the "ladder point" to observe all passengers, and is also increasing scrutiny of boarding passes. "We will further increase the security measures based upon threat perception ," he said.

Other airlines are also scrambling to tighten security of their own, as well as asking TIA for more security of their aircraft. Subedi, the BARN executive secretary, informed that the security plan would be effective "in a few days."

While concerned officials are taking no chance, there is also some misgivings about the threat. "The message is very alarming and we are concerned. However, we suspect it could also be a hoax, though it is also wise to be alert," said Subedi.

Subedi reasoned that the Chennai letter was hand-written and not on any official letter-pad. However, the TIA has taken the matter very seriously. The letter that it addressed the BARN is marked "Confidential and urgent".

TIA’s concern could be understandable in view of the December 1999 hijacking of IC-814 of Indian Airlines out of the airport.

PM rebuffs rebel demand for constituent assembly

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KATHMANDU, Nov 8 – Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today rebuffed the demand of the Maoist rebels to form a constituent assembly, arguing that it was next to impossible to solve the present political impasse through such a move.

"It is impossible," the Prime Minister said of the Maoists’ demand. "There are possibilities of amending the constitution but we have to do it by using existing laws. That is the basic norm."

The Prime Minister made the remarks at a talk programme titled "Polarisation of Power: Our Exercise" organised in the capital jointly by Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and Society for Constitution and Parliamentary Exercise (Scope) an NGO on the occasion of Constitution Day.

A day earlier, the newspapers aligned to the Maoists had publicly stated that the rebels would refrain from raising their demand for a republican state during peace negotiations and would press for the formation of a constituent assembly instead.

Though Deuba rejected the demand outright, he did accept that a "national government" was possible if all parties wanted it. "If all parties and people want it, then it is possible," he said.

The rest of the programme, in which a bevy of heavyweight politicians were invited to speak, turned out to be more of a debate between various personalities, including Deuba and the main opposition leader Madhav Kumar Nepal.

Replying to Nepal’s statement made earlier, Deuba said that he had left no stone unturned and was committed to solve the Maoist problem peacefully. "In order to work I have to make sure that my chair remains intact but I am sure no one can say that I haven’t done anything. Anyone can tell the difference my government has brought in the last three months of my tenure as the Prime Minister."

Deuba also said that he needed support from the leader of the opposition to reduce the conflict between legislative, executive and the judiciary and to fight corruption, additionally complaining that parliament was loathe to pass a Bill brought in order to fight corruption. "If I have support of Madhav Kumar Nepal then I can move a step towards controlling corruption by passing an ordinance," he said.

There was however one prominent speaker who supported the Maoists’ call for a constitutional assembly. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives and senior advocate Daman Nath Dhungana suggested of forming a constituent assembly as a way out from the existing political crisis.

"At this point everyone knows that using the army would mean reducing democratic rights that the people are enjoying. We know that the Prime Minister is not as powerful as the Constitution wants him to be and is unable to get rid of corruption therefore changing the constitution through a constituent assembly could be an option," Dhungana said.

But Madhav Kumar Nepal and Taranath Ranabhat, Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament shunned Dhungana’s suggestion by saying it was impractical.

"Why do we need a constituent assembly?" Nepal questioned adding that when everything in the constitution barring Constitutional Monarchy and democracy could be altered, there was no need for it.

Ranabhat said it was more of lack of discipline and responsibility among the parliamentarians and lack good governance that has made this constitution look insufficient.

Chief Justice Keshab Prasad Upadhyaya, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Narendra Bikram Newang and Chairman of Scope Purna Man Shakya also spoke during the programme.

Meanwhile, participants at an interaction organized by the Nepal Bar Association too suggested that it was time to make the changes in the constitution but added that it would not be appropriate to change the entire document.

"There needs to be changes made in the present constitution after assessing the developments of the past 11 years of its existence but that does not mean we should opt for getting an entire new constitution," said Subash Nemwang, central member of the main opposition CPN-UML.

For the past few months, CPN-UML has been voicing for changes in the constitution. Even the party’s Central Committee had passed a resolution seeking amendment in the constitution to accommodate reforms in the electoral system.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP)’s Prakash Chandra Lohani said even after years of restoration of democracy, the Parliament is yet to take control of the government and the concept of separation of power between the executive, legislature and judiciary is yet to be fully implemented.

"We have lot of laws but we still need to move from the concept of rule of man to rule of law in the country and adopt the concept of decentralization," said Lohani. "All the questions raised in the country is somehow tangled with the Constitutional performance."

Chairman of the Nepal Bar Association Sindhu Nath Pyakhurel said that in the past 11 years there have been many occasion when questions have been raised on the need to make changes in the constitution.

Refugees concerned over deadlock

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BHADRAPUR, Nov 8 - The Bhutanese refugee languishing in the refugee camps of eastern Nepal are uncertain of their repatriation to their native land as the 12th round of talks between Nepal and Bhutan ended in deadlock on Wednesday.

As the recent foreign secretary-level talks between the two countries ended inconclusively, the refugees have started to express their dissatisfaction over the attitude of the Bhutanese government, according to a press release issued here by Bhutanese Refugee Repatriation Committee.

The committee has also alerted the Nepalese government to be conscious of the motive of the Bhutanese government. It has urged the Nepalese government to introduce India to solve the problem, states the release.

The foreign secretary-level Nepal-Bhutan dialogue on Bhutanese refugees held in Kathmandu during November 6-7 came to a deadlock once again with both sides sticking to their respective stance on the categorisation of the refugees.

The 12th Ministerial Joint Committee meeting that will be held in Thimpu in Bhutan will now be taking up the matter, the time for which will be decided by the respective governments after consultations.

Congress leaders refute Maoist claim

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KATHMANDU, Nov 8 – A day after the Maoists decision to withdraw their earlier demand of a republican state during the third round of government-Maoist talks, former Deputy Prime Minister and Central Committee Member of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) Ram Chandra Poudel today branded the Maoist move as a "conspiracy."

"The statement made by the Maoists is a conspiracy," said Poudel while speaking at an interaction programme organised on the occasion of the Constitution Day today.

The questions being raised by the Maoists for a Constitution Council itself is the problem and their move to withdraw their demand for a republic state is a conspiracy, said Poudel, adding, "This is a dangerous situation."

He also said that the government negotiating team, during their talks with the Maoists, should ask the latter to categorically figure out the points in the present Constitution where there are flaws, mistakes, inequality and the provision that has deprived the people of their rights.

Prior to the delayed third round of government-Maoists talks, the Maoist side has withdrawn one of their three political demands – institutional development of a republican state. But they are still adamant on other two demands – interim government and new constitution.

Talking to The Kathmandu Post, a high-ranking Maoist leader said that the Maoists decided to reduce their demands to materialise the third round of talks as soon as possible. He also hinted that the Maoist negotiators are arriving in the capital "very soon."

But, he denied divulging details saying that he is yet to consult other central committee leaders.

Meanwhile, our Jhapa correspondent reported that NC General Secretary Sushil Koirala has said the Maoists still need to be more flexible with their demands. "The upcoming talks will be successful only if the Maoists withdraw their demands of interim government and annulment of the present Constitution," Koirala said while speaking at a press conference organised in Bhadrapur.

Koirala also urged the government to deploy army personnel in more districts to quell the Maoist insurgency.

Similarly, one of the facilitators of the government-Maoist talks Padma Ratna Tuladhar, quoting the chief Maoist negotiator Krishna Bahadur Mahara, said in Pokhara that the Maoists are focussing more on the complete change on the present constitution, leaving aside the demand of a republican state.

Tuladhar also urged the government to be ready for more rounds of talks with the Maoists. Earlier, NC President Girija Prasad Koirala had made statements that the third round of talks should be final and decisive.

He also hailed the Maoists for being more flexible on their demands and expressed his opinion that the talks would yield concrete results.

‘Counselling centres’ having field day at students’ costs

By Seem A Adhikari

KATHMANDU, Nov 8 - Like hundreds of other aspiring students, Sudarshan Pokharel, 22, of Ratna Rajya Campus, also wanted to travel to the United States for higher education. He did the rounds, shopped for an educational agency and filled up the required forms. Of course he even paid the money.

But when time came to get a visa, Pokharel was rejected by the US Embassy here. The reason: he had not sat for the TOEFL (Test of English as Foreign Language) exams, which is a must for foreign students wishing to pursue higher education in the US. His educational counselling agency had assured Pokharel that they could get him admitted to a US college even without the TOEFL.

Today, Pokharel realises he was duped. "I did not give TOEFL because the agent said so but the US Embassy rejected my visa showing the reason that I had no TOEFL exam," he says.

With spring semester just round the corner, hundreds of other aspiring students are trying to emigrate to the abroad for educational purposes. Many have followed the rules by the book, but a growing number, like Pokharel, are taking short-cuts and paying for it.

Dozens of educational counselling centres opened in the Kathmandu Valley to "help" such students get admitted in the universities abroad. Some of them are genuine, but most are luring students with the promise of easy admissions. Advertisements in newspapers have been viewed by the consultants as a primary tool of attracting the aspiring students.

One of such consultants is Worldways Educational Institute (WEI), which claims to waive off TOEFL, IELTS (International English Language Testing System) and other highly competitive exams to get admission abroad. "Actually, TOFEL and IELTS exams are not needed while applying abroad and we have successfully sent numbers of students without these tests in the US and UK," claims Rajendra Dahal of WEI. However, he refused to divulge the details about the students who went abroad through his agency.

However, a top official at the American Centre said that US government requires all foreigners to take TOFEL. "If their native language is not English, TOFEL is the first pre-condition before getting enrolled in the well-reputed US educational institutions," he said, adding, "United States Education Foundation (USEF) has been providing free counselling class for the students wishing to study in the US."

There is also the tempting promise of providing admission through conformation letter i.e., I-20 and hosts of other empty promises like freeships, scholarship, accommodations and job guarantee for the students. And all these even before students are assured of a seat in college.

Raju Gurung, one among the students from Bhaktapur who fell into the trap of a counselling centre, says he paid to Kasturi International Education (KIE) of Kalimati Rs 30,000 just for processing his papers to an Australian university. But later he found himself deceived after he could not trace out KIE in the previous location. "The government ought to nullify and punish such consultants," he fumes.

Usually, the consultants take Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000 from the students as service charge. Canada, Australia, England, Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand are some of the pricey countries these agencies claim they have been sending the students to.

According to the Department of Cottage and Small Industries, there are only eight registered education consultancies. Ten others are registered under the Company Registration Office. However, most of others are registered as computer or language consultants and provide educational counselling without getting permission from the government.

"We are charging Rs 20,000 for I-20, conformation letter and we even provide the campus jobs," says Deepak Ghimire, one of the officials at World Link Institute at Bagbazar. The list of such consultants also include International Education and Career Development Centre, Gongabu.

A top government official at the Ministry of Education and Sports said various loopholes in existing law have barred them from taking action against the fraud consultants.

Maoist cadres start showing dissent against their supremo

By Harihar Singh Rathaur

JAJARKOT, Nov 8 – The Maoist cadres in mid-western hill districts have started showing their support for Ram Bahadur Thapa a.k.a Comrade Badal, who is believed to be the main military strategist of the party.

The cadres have started painting the slogans on the walls in favour of Thapa, instead of their supreme leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who is also known as Comrade Prachanda.

The fresh campaign being launched in the Maoist stronghold in the wake of government-Maoist talks indicates that chairman Prachanda and the second most powerful leader, Baburam Bhattarai, who are said to be in favour of the peace talks with the government, have started to lose their grip on the Maoist armed force.

The armed rebels, who respected the party chairman Prachanda as a great Communist leader before the cease-fire in July and subsequent peace talks, seem to have switched support towards Thapa. Thapa is said to be the mastermind of the Maoists military activities.

Sources said that the cadres are showing their dissent against the Maoists’ leaders’ stance on the ongoing peace talks with the government. Instead, Thapa is garnering support inside the party as he commands strong support in the Maoist armed force, which has been the party’s main base in their struggle for the establishment of "People’s State."

The Maoist party had started portraying Comrade Prachanda as the party’s supremo after the party’s second national convention held about one and a half years ago.

Thapa is at present assigned to the eastern part of the country to look after their movement there where he popularly known as Comrade Bishal among the party rank. He was transferred to the eastern region as a punishment for him getting married to a senior Maoist leader, despite the party leaders’ opposition.

Earlier, Thapa played a crucial role in recruiting cadres for political and combat training in Sisne Himal of Rukum and Jaljala of Rolpa districts. This campaign was also known as the "Seize Campaign" in the party, before the CPN (Unity Centre) split up into the CPN (Maoist) and CPN (4th Congress) in 1993. The Maoists launched "People’s War" in February, 1996.

Deputy superintendent of police in Jajarkot, Maya Kumar Shah, admitted having seen such slogans like Long Live Comrade Bishal in various places of the district.

Teachers and cadres of other political parties travelling to the district headquarters also claimed to have seen such slogans in villages like as Shakla, Limsa, Nayakbada, Ragda Chaukha, Dalli, Dhungil Dhar, Sima Chheda, Paranga and other areas. Such slogans are widespread in the Maoist stronghold known as area No-11 that include 30 VDCs of Jajarkot, 10 of Surkhet, Six of Dolpa districts of Bheri and Karnali zones. They have operated their own legal and administration system in these areas.

Some of the leaders, addressing a public meeting in a remote village last week also warned that they would even fight against their central leaders if they attempted to suspend the "People’s War" until their declared goal was achieved.

"If Prachanda and Baburam decide to back down from the movement, thousands of other leaders are ready to replace them," one of the local people in Khagerkot village quoted the Maoists speakers as saying.

Chief District Officer Rishikesh Niraula also confirmed about the new development being appeared in the Maoist rank and file. He said that he received a lot of information about the wall paintings in favour of Comrade Bishal and said that they were closely monitoring this development.

Separate civil, criminal benches to be introduced

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KATHMANDU, Nov 8 - Judges and legal experts on Thursday discussed how civil and criminal benches could be established in the model (pilot) courts to be introduced in the country.

They also discussed the number of laws that might need changes and the possibility of need for a new Act to implement the new programmes.

It was disclosed at a workshop on Establishment of Civil and Criminal benches in Model (pilot) Courts" organised jointly by the Supreme Court and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Inaugurating the workshop chief justice Keshav Prasad Upadhyay said the model courts were in the process of implementation in Kapilbastu, Kaski and Siraha districts and the models would be gradually extended to all over the country.

Upadhyay further said the initiative was taken as a move of developing competent courts on the basis of specialisation in dispensation of justice.

The pilot courts will have separate benches in the district courts to hear and decide the civil and criminal cases.

Delivering welcome speech Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP Alessandra Tisot said the legal system and the judiciary of Nepal are facing manifold problems. She pointed out the corrective measures to be adopted to check such problems which were recommended by two projects - Strengthening Rule of Law and Strengthening Judiciary Programme - for which the UNDP had worked jointly with the judiciary.

Presenting a paper on Human Resources Development in the Judiciary, Dr Ananda Mohan Bhattarai, a judge at the Kathmandu district court said efforts to develop human resources are lacking in the judiciary. Bhattarai said the courts should be officer-oriented and a need assessment should be carried out by a core group of the judiciary.

Presenting another paper, Jadish Prasad Sharma said several laws like Judicial Administration Act, 2048, Judicial Council Act, 2047, National Code, Government Cases Act and District Court Regulations should be amended to provide a way to introduce the separate benches.

However, the implementation of such ambitious programme must see a new Act or Ordinance consisting the amendment of all the laws proposed for the purpose. When asked when such law could be made, Attorney General Badri Bahadur Karki said, " As everyone has agreed in principle of the programme, it could be done soon."

Nepal calls for Int’l cooperation for hydropower development

By Sudha Shrestha

MARRAKECH, Morocco, Nov 8 - Nepal has urged the international community at the Conference of Parties ( COP-7) here to help her develop the enormous resources of hydro power which can be a major tool both for combating the impact of climate change and meeting development challenges.

Addressing the gathering of delegates here at the high-level segment meeting, Minister for Population and Environment P.L. Singh, who is leading the Nepali delegation, said that water resources in Nepal has huge potential of generating renewable energy to meet not only national energy needs but also that of the subcontinent, if tapped properly. "This could contribute considerably to the reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases in the whole South Asian region," he said.

According to a report, Nepal’s rivers can generated 83,000 MW of electricity, half of which is commercially viable. But the nation today generates less than one percent of that potential.

Minister Singh also informed the international community about the impact of the climate change on glaciers in Nepal which are retreating fast since the past decade.

Especially in the Hindu-Kush region, many of the big glaciers are retreating forming a large number of glacial lakes which very often likely to pose a risk of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF).The floods have disastrous impact in the densely populated areas with enormous loss in capital assets. The recent catastrophic GLOF event in Nepal Himalayan known as the Dig Tscho GLOF in 1987 destroyed the Namche small hydel project costing US $ 1.5 million approximately.

Glacial meltdown has also hit the main source of water . In Nepal, most of the rivers are nourished by glaciers in the Himalayas in particular during the dry season when the water demand is intense.

Mr. Singh stressed the need for international cooperation in carrying out a scientific research into this phenomenon.

Lauding the LDC fund created by the Bonn agreement, he expressed his conviction that the Least Developed will have greater access to cleaner technologies to help them build their capabilities at the national level to deal with the emerging global concerns.

All party meet voices need for constitutional reforms

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KATHMANDU, Nov 8 - The second round of meeting of various opposition parties initiated by the main opposition UML ended today with the conclusion that they were for change in the present constitution if it was necessary for solving the existing political problem and to enhance the economical, political and social sectors.

According to a press release issued today by the UML’s Parlimentary Party Office the meeting held at the office premises also concluded that both Government and the Maoists are not serious about solving the problems of the country and that the present government has been a total failure regarding this.

But according to a participant of the meeting ended after deciding that efforts would be made to rope in other remaining political parties such as Shadvawana and Worker’s and Peasant’s Party presently not involved in the meeting.

Badri Prasad Khatiwada, Chairman of the Nepal Green Party said that the meeting realising the need for an extensive all party meet decided to involve even the Maoist if they leave their hard line. "But if the Maoists stick to their radical ways and don’t give up arms we have decided to come to an understanding with the Congress and corner them and on the other hand if the Maoist decide to soften their stand and still the Congress wants to go its own way and use power then we have decided to get close with the Maoists," Khatiwada said to The Kathmandu Post.

He declared that now a powerful third group had been formed to push the government and the Maoist in the right track.

The meeting also decided to give continuity to this meeting and also discuss with the ruling Congress party. Date for another round of meeting has not been fixed as yet.

Today’s meeting was attended by former prime minister Kirtinidhi Bista, General Secretary of UML Madhav Kumar Nepal, leaders Yubraj Gyawali and Subash Newang of UML, Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani and Parshuram Khapung of RPP, Govind Singh Thapa of Masal, Bam Dev Gautam and Radha Krishna Mainali of ML, Sunil Manandhar and Hemanta BC of CPN-United, Prabhu Narayan Chaudhary and Sharan Bikram Malla of CPN-Marxist, Krishna Das Shrestha and Ram Bahadur Shrestha of MLM, Keshab Nepal of National People’s Front and Badri Prasad Khatiwada and Govinda Dev Pant of Nepal Green Party.