Govt set to declare State of Emergency today

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 25 – The government is all set to declare the State of Emergency on Monday in the wake of the latest mayhem by the Maoists in several parts of the country since Friday night.

"An ordinance to impose emergency and declare the Maoists as terrorists is almost ready with only some changes in the wording of the ordinance," said a minister after the Cabinet meeting, the second such in consecutive days.

According to the minister, tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting, following the ruling party’s Central Working Committee meet, will formally pass the ordinance. Thereupon, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba would recommend His Majesty the King to declare the State of Emergency throughout the Kingdom.

The move to impose emergency follows the positive indication from His Majesty for the move. The Prime Minister had met the King today afternoon to apprise him of a National Defence Council (NDC) decision to declare emergency in the country and launch a joint operation of the army, the armed police force and the police to control Maoist activities. The NDC comprises of the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister (at present it is the PM who looks after the Ministry) and the chief of the army.

Today’s Cabinet approved the NDC decision and also discussed the ways and means to legally brand the Maoists as terrorists. Today’s meet also discussed the draft of the ordinance.

According to the Cabinet sources, once the emergency is declared, the government would control the activities of the CPN (Maoist) and its sister organisations, their publications and the party’s mouthpiece and all the publications supporting them.

However, the ordinance has the provision that the curbs would not apply to other parties and their sister organisations.

PM Deuba is expected to make a public address to the nation tomorrow to win the support of the opposition parties and the people.

The government’s move follows the governing Nepali Congress (NC) decision today that gave open mandate to the government to employ all means and security wings under the Constitution to maintain law and order in the country.

In a sign of toughening of stance, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba vowed to "defeat" the Maoists, accusing them of cheating the country and government by suddenly breaking the cease-fire.

"I assure you that I will defeat them (the Maoists) by using the full rights offered by the Constitution since they have pushed the country into critical situation through their terror," Prime Minister Deuba said. However, he did not give the details of how he would bring the Maoists on track.

He was inaugurating the two-day-long 8th Council of the Federation of District Development Committees today.

Earlier, after the emergency Central Working Committee meeting in party headquarters, PM Deuba said that "tough measures are necessary" to deal with the Maoists.

However, the CWC meeting today failed to arrive at a consensus as to what plan of action be taken against the Maoists. The CWC will meet again tomorrow in an attempt to narrow down the differences on the course of action to be adopted now.

Although the party Spokesperson Arjun Narsingh KC said that the party gave open mandate to the government to take all possible measures within the Constitution to deal with the Maoists, he implicitly said that the party might not back the move to impose emergency in the country.

The Constitution does have the provision of declaring the State of Emergency, either partial or total. The spokesperson declined to say whether the party would back the government move to impose emergency, a move sanctioned by the Constitution, if the government chose to do so.

This would be the second time in the country’s history if an emergency were declared. In December 1960, the then King Mahendra, the current Monarch’s father, declared one while toppling the democratically-elected government of late B P Koirala, founder of Nepali Congress.

Recovering looted ammunitions: Royal Nepal Army’s ‘first’ job

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KATHMANDU, Nov. 25 – Though the government is still considering the full-fledged mobilisation of the army, hundreds of personnel of the Royal Nepal Army has already been mobilised in the Dang area to recover the ammunitions the Maoists looted on Friday night.

The first job of the army is to bring back the ammunitions, a highly placed source inside the RNA told The Kathmandu Post. "It is virtually a warfare, not only search operation, when the army moves ahead to disarm the oppositions," he said.

The Maoists, numbering about 1000, attacked the Bhawani Prasad Gulma (Barrack) in Lamahi in Dang district and looted a huge amount of ammunitions.

According to this officer, the army does not have to wait for the government’s approval to take action in this type situation as the army code clearly gives them full authority to get back the ammunitions and disarm the oppositions.

About 200 personnel of NGa Gulma and Gha Gulma of Bhairav Nath Gan (Company) were deployed from Saturday morning, the source said. They have already been moved into the jungles of Dang and the adjoining districts of Salyan, Pyuthan and Rolpa, regarded as the stronghold of the Maoist rebels.

NGa Gulma is the barrack including the personnel trained in Counter Terrorism (CT) and is based in Para in Maharajgunj whereas the Gha Gulma is known as the department of Special Air Service (SAS), based in Shivpuri, on the outskirts of the capital. Personnel in both these barracks are highly trained in jungle warfare and are the toughest personnel in the Royal Nepal Army, one of the security experts told The Kathmandu Post. "They are virtually commandos who can adjust to any situation."

According to this expert, there are only about 200 personnel in the SAS and 400 to 500 men in the CT. But the main worry here is about looted ammunition, he said. The source said, "With this amount of ammunition, the Maoists can create mayhem."

Those close to the army said that the looted ammunition include almost 300 guns which include Self-Loaded Rifles (SLR), Light Machine Gun (LMG), GPMG, 9 mm Pistol and Bheri Pistol. The Maoists also looted around 10,000 to 15,000 rounds of bullets.

"This is a huge amount of ammunition," the expert said. "If they (the Maoists) attack and take away ammunition from one more barrack, they will even threaten the army."

Meanwhile, people are still surprised on the Maoists attack in the army barrack in Dang. But those closely monitoring the situation claim that the rebels hit at the right time when 60 personnel of this 200 capacity barrack were on a weekend leave while 100 others had been deployed in other parts of the region.

"The attacks is not possible without getting the inside information on the situation of the barrack," the army source said. "And the Royal Nepal Army is desperately looking for the informer who might have sent the green signals to the Maoists," he claimed.

According to reports received from Dang, the Maoists attacked the barrack when the majority of the personnel, numbering about 45-50, were fast asleep. First they killed the guards and took control of all those sleeping. And hundreds of rebels looted the ammunitions, according to the report.

Our reporter in Dang said that about 300 army personnel moved towards Holeri of Rolpa in the evening today. And the local people arriving from Rolpa told our Dang reporter that they have seen helicopters dropping the army personnel in the jungle between Dang and Rolpa.

Meanwhile, sources said that the Maoists are taking the ammunitions towards the jungle between Thawang and Gaam villages in Rolpa district. The Maoists have blocked all the roads leading to this jungle and have used donkeys to carry the ammunitions looted from Dang barrack on Friday.

Maoist leader, 11 others, arrested

KATHMANDU, Nov 25 (PR) – The Maoists today received a major setback after the police arrested Central Committee Member of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Rabindra Shrestha from his residence early Sunday.

According to a police officer at the District Police Office, Kathmandu, Maoist leader Shrestha, who also held unofficial first ever talks with the Girija Prasad Koirala-led government last year, was arrested along with his wife Laxmi Shrestha, Ravi Karki and 11 aides, all of whom reportedly being Maoist workers. The arrest came at 5 am.

Another police team in separate incident arrested Maoist sympathiser and Co-ordinator of National People’s Movement Co-ordination Committee, Bhakta Bahadur Shrestha, another police source said. The committee is also supposed to be close to the Maoists. Others arrested in the incident are reported to be Krishna Bhakta Maharjan, Tulsi Amagain and Gokul KC.

The police have confiscated a revolver and other ammunitions including communication equipment from Shrestha.

Police said 28 operation squads were dispatched across the Valley early Sunday morning from 3:00 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. The police operation in the Kathmandu Valley followed the massive Maoists raid in various parts of the country, killing at least 40 security men including 14 Royal Nepal Army personnel.

However, the Maoists have not confirmed the arrest.

Shrestha had held Padma Ratna Tuladhar-brokered talks with the then Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ram Chandra Poudel last year. However, the Maoists later did not join the government for talks, blaming the latter of not heeding to their demands.

Maoist leader Shrestha is reported to have sustained minor injuries after he tried to shoot at the police and flee, before the police held him.

But, chief of the Valley Police Office, Kathmandu and Deputy Inspector General of Police Om Bikram Rana said he was unaware about the arrests. "I am yet to know about the arrests," he told The Kathmandu Post. Spokesperson of the Home Ministry Gopendra Bahadur Pandey also denied speaking in this regard.

Shrestha is also a member of United Revolutionary People’s Council, Nepal, a parallel government of the CPN (Maoist). Maoist politburo Dr Baburam Bhattarai is the co-ordinator of the council and chief Maoist negotiator of the peace talks with the government Krishna Bahadur Mahara is its acting co-ordinator.

Meanwhile, our correspondent in Kapilvastu has reported that the police today confiscated large chunk of explosives, which was being smuggled to Nepal from Indian city of Khunuwa.

The police confiscated the explosives that was on the way to Nepal was carried by a bus with registration number UP 78 N 7337 in front of the gate of Suthauli Tax Office.

The explosives included 1,410 gelatine, 3,300 detonator and 740 meter long fuse wire. All the explosives were either wrapped with a piece of cloth and kept inside steel boxes or were hidden inside boxes containing daal.

Amar Bahadur Shah, resident of Jalepa VDC-2, Palpa and Kul Bahadur Shah of Devinagar VDC-6 have jointly claimed to own the explosives. Presently, all the passengers along with the bus have been kept under custody in the District Police Office, Kapilvastu.

Maoists launch daring attacks in Solukhumbu
Army, rebels exchange fire

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KATHMANDU, Nov 26 – On the third day after the underground Maoist rebels launched daring and well co-ordinated attacks in Dang and Syangja districts, the rebels on Sunday night carried out violent attacks in Salleri, district headquarters of Solukhumbu.

The insurgents who started the attack at about 11:00 p.m. have exchanged heavy firings with the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) personnel deployed to man the headquarters. Earlier, the rebels had attacked the Faplu Airport, a 30-minute walking distance from the headquarters, and completely damaged its tower before bombing the airport. At the same time, the rebels launched simultaneous attacks in the District Police Office (DPO) and quarter of the Chief District Officer (CDO).

An army source has said a special platoon of the RNA and the rebels exchanged heavy firings from the midnight to the early Monday morning. Amidst the firing, there was radio contact between the Salleri Barrack and Namche Barrack, the source added.

Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation, Bal Bahadur KC, talking to The Kathmandu Post at 2:30 p.m. confirmed the cross firings between the rebels and the RNA personnel. However, he said, the communication was disconnected after midnight.

According to an army source, the RNA of Salleri had regular radio contacts with the No. 2 Army Bahini stationed in Dhankuta till 3:00 a.m. The source added that the rebels were not being able to break into the army barrack till then.

Solukhumbu is the district put in the Grade C in the list of the Maoist insurgency.

It is reported that the CDO of Solukhumbu, at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, had informed his counterparts in the neighbouring districts that a crowd (of Maoists) numbering almost a thousand had gathered in the headquarters and the security situation of the district being at stake.

Deputy Superintendent of Police of the Eastern Region, Him Gurung, said at midnight that there came shrieking voice from the radio set saying that the rebels were attacking the headquarters from all sides. Then, DIG Gurung said, the connection was disconnected.

A local woman from Solukhumbu said in telephone at midnight to her relative in the capital: "The rebels have raided Faplu and are heading towards the headquarters; many people are seen here…" Then the telephone connections were disconnected, the Solukhumbu inhabitant told The Kathmandu Post.

Since the Deputy Superintendent of Police Shyam Khadka was out of station on Sunday, the DPO was in the command of Inspector Tek Bahadur Shrestha.

Nepal, China to sign tourism pact today

By Satyendra Timilsina

KATHMANDU, Nov 25 – Chinese Tourism Minister He Guangwei arrived here this evening to sign the much-awaited tourism deal between Nepal and China, which would put Nepal in the list of outbound destinations for Chinese tourists.

Minister Guangwei, Chairman of National Tourism Administration of the People’s Republic of China, is leading a team of 20 high-level Chinese delegates that includes Director Generals of the Tourism Ministry, representatives of four Chinese provinces and other officials.

Minister Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Bal Bahadur KC welcoming the Chinese Minister said that the Chinese Government has made a significant achievement in a short period of time. "Nepal appreciates the Chinese Government for showing keen interest in the upliftment of Nepali tourism industry," he said.

Chinese Minister Guangwei upon arrival expressed the hopes that both neighbours would benefit from the upcoming deal. China also expects that following the agreement, Nepali tourists would also visit China, he added.

During his five-day visit, he would sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), on enlisting Nepal in China’s handful outbound tourist destinations, which will formally allow the people of both the countries to visit Nepal and China as tourist destinations.

However, the signing of the MoU would allow only group tourists with a minimum of 5 members to visit Nepal.

Minister Guangwei is scheduled to inaugurate Chinese National Tourists Office-Kathmandu on Monday. The office is being established as per the agreement reached between the two countries last April to open non-commercial and non-profit making tourism promotion offices in both countries. Nepal would also open similar government office in China soon.

Nepal has authorised 67 Chinese travel agencies to bring Chinese tourists to Nepal and also vice versa. Nepal would also finalise the authorised list of Nepali travel agencies soon, according to high-level government officials.

The agreement is being signed as per the earlier understanding reached between the two countries to enlist Nepal as Chinese Ninth outbound tourism destination. Then Tourism Minister Omkar Shrestha and Chinese Tourism Minister Guangwei in Beijing signed the understanding last April.

Tourism entrepreneurs and government officials say that several important issues are to be worked out before Nepal can expect a jump in Chinese tourist arrivals. But during the coming discussions in Kathmandu, none of the issues related to facilitate the arrival of Chinese tourist is scheduled to be raised. Increasing air services and currency convertibility between the two countries have been the major issues recently.

According to the latest statistics, a total of 10.47 million Chinese tourists visited several countries last year, out of which 53.77 per cent travelled for private purpose. Asian countries have remained the major attraction for Chinese tourists as seven of ten major destinations falls in Asia. According to an estimate of the World Bank, China will emerge as a number-one inbound tourist destination and a fourth largest outbound tourist destination by 2020 with an estimated nine million Chinese tourists going abroad annually.

Tourism entrepreneurs in Nepal are pushing for the agreement with China hoping to capture a fraction of the huge number of outbound Chinese tourists. At the moment, Nepal’s tourism is dependent mostly on Indian, European and US tourists, who together funnel in just over US 160 million dollars into the nation’s economy.

November 23 becomes a reality check for Prime Minister Deuba

By Suman Pradhan

KATHMANDU, Nov 25 – A new Prime Minister’s honeymoon period usually ends on the 100th day. But for Sher Bahadur Deuba, it ended last Friday, on the 125th day of assuming power.

The reason by now is clear: it was on that day that Comrade Prachanda’s band of rebels went on a rampage in several districts, concentrating their firepower in Syangja and Dang. Forty persons died there. A day later, another five were killed on a lonely highway to Surkhet. The mayhem is still continuing.

The developments couldn’t have come at a worse time for Mr. Deuba, who by now had been emerging as the ultimate survivor in the murky world of Nepali politics. Thanks to his rapport with the Maoist leadership, and the cease-fire and the peace that ensued, the Prime Minister had effectively thwarted the withering criticism against his government by his septuagenarian predecessor and rival Girija Prasad Koirala.

Many analysts believed that as long as the talks held and the cease-fire lasted, Mr. Deuba’s position remained secure. The restless Nepali Congress lawmakers from his party, who had pulled down their own prime ministers on several occasions in the past, were content to give him the benefit of the doubt. The support of many of them, in any case, had already been bought by the power of patronage: ministerial berths and plum assignments.

But all that is history now as the Prime Minister confronts an entirely new situation. High level government sources say, he is in the mood to declare a state of emergency throughout the Kingdom to deal with the security situation.

Tragic as the turn of events has been, it nevertheless provides the government a new opportunity - an opportunity to confront the reality and correct course accordingly.

Ever since the Prime Minister struck the cease-fire deal with Mr. Prachanda, the Maoists have gained in strength. They were underground before, but the cease-fire brought them above ground. They were confined to a few remote areas till then, but now they are spread out.

And all the time, the peace talks that began in late August just went round and round without any meaningful progress. Even the Maoists’ supposed concession of dropping the demand for a republican state was not, strictly speaking, a concession but a strategic move. As long as the demand for a constituent assembly remained, republicanism too remained the ultimate goal, Mr. Prachanda himself made that clear.

But the negotiations, in retrospect, also lulled the nation and its leaders into a false sense of security. A close advisor to the Prime Minister remarked to this journalist just a few days before the rebels’ bombshell announcement: "the Maoists are searching for a safe landing. They will continue the dialogue and will most likely participate in an interim government later on."

The Prime Minister himself was known to be upbeat about the various deals he had struck to get the Maoists to negotiate. But November 23 has jolted Mr. Deuba back to reality. That this person, who has been a fighting democrat all his life, is willing to risk his credentials and declare a state of emergency bespeaks of the fundamental change wrought by November 23.

The challenge before the Prime Minister now is to get his government, the governing party and the entire nation behind him. Getting the opposition parties in line would also help, but all too often, Nepal’s tragedy has been that the legislature often has wielded more power than the executive. Mr. Deuba now has the chance to correct this too.

Another opportunity, should the Prime Minister care to seize it, is that the carnage of November 23 provides an avenue for the government to end the confusing command and control structure of the Royal Nepal Army.

Oppn caution govt against State of Emergency

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 25 - As the government contemplates declaring the state of emergency in the country in the wake of this past weekend’s western Nepal carnage, leaders of various opposition parties today strongly urged the government not to hastily decide on the matter warning that "the move could aggravate the current fluid situation".

"The government should think twice before declaring the state of emergency," said Jhal Nath Khanal, standing committee member of the main opposition CPN-UML at a programme held in the capital Sunday.

He added, "Declaring the state of emergency will invite many other problems. Emergency means muffling up the voices of the people on the government’s decisions and it may be detrimental to our country."

Khanal also said that the only solution to resolve the nearly six-year-old insurgency is through talks. "The state of emergency must be taken as the last resort and the Maoists should continue the talks with the government."

General Secretary of CPN-ML Bam Dev Gautam cautioned the government not to take the last resort measure and went on to warn that his party would protest against the move. "If the state of emergency is declared now, the country will witness more bloodbath and violence. And that would also force us to take to the streets."

Instead, the former deputy Prime Minister, who also held the Home Ministry portfolio a few years ago, pointed out the need to forge a national consensus by bringing together all the national parties "If they really want to resolve the present chaotic situation, there is a need of national consensus between different political parties including the Maoists."

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) leader Kamal Thapa accused the government of not staying ill-prepared and not doing enough homework for the talks, and cautioned that the state of emergency should be taken as the last resort measure. "The Maoist problem should be resolved politically not with emergency."

Thapa added, "Our party condemns the Maoist attacks across the country on Friday night. But the government is equally responsible for the attacks as it did not take the press statement issued by the Maoist (supremo Prachanda) seriously saying that they have broken the four month old cease-fire."