Quadruplets, mother improving

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POKHARA, Oct 2 – The health condition of the mother and her quadruplet undergoing treatment at two hospitals improved today, according to the staff at the hospitals.

Rupa Thapa, 28, gave birth to a son in her house on Sunday night and on Monday, she delivered three more sons at the Western Zone Hospital, Pokhara. The newly-born babies were born underweight. The babies weigh 1.6 kg, 1.1 kg, 1.1 kg and 1.2 kg respectively. Normal weight at birth is 2.5 kg.

While two of the babies have improved, the other two are still at the ICU unit at the Manipal Teaching Hospital. These two babies are being administered glucose.

The babies were shifted to the Manipal hospital as the incubator at the zonal hospital is out of order.

Dr Kaushiki Khan at the Manipal Teaching Hospital said the babies had high chances of surviving despite being underweight. The doctor referred to a case in the hospital seven months ago when a baby weighing only 980 gm was saved after being kept at the ICU in the hospital. The baby, Manish, is now healthy, said the doctor.

Rebel students claim to halt anti-private school agitation

By Kiran Chapagain

KATHMANDU, Oct 2 – Maoist-aligned students today publicly claimed that they have decided to
redirect their energies from attacking private boarding schools to developing them as "co-operatives." However, in the same breath, they also hinted that they will now target the "mushrooming" higher education schools.

Speaking at a press conference organised in the capital today by the radical students’ group, All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R), its General Secretary, Purna Poudel, said, "Our demand is to convert all private and boarding schools into co-operative ones."

The change in tactic was a result of the flexibility of the ANNISU-R, claimed Poudel. "Since the government categorically failed to address our demands of immediately nationalising all such schools, we now have become flexible and are putting forth softer demands," he said.

The press conference was held two days after the student group’s 15th national convention that concluded in Biratnagar. The ANNISU-R has emerged as one of the most violent and radical student groups in the country. Even as the government pursued peace talks with the mother party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the students have repeatedly gone on rampage, burning schools and buses and even attacking children, guardians, parents and school officials.

Such violent action has led to a turn-around in the public image of the ANNISU-R in recent days, with many groups coming out vocally against the radical students. The latest change of tactic could have been partly a result of the public’s opinion, but the rebel students have made it clear that they still had some violent agendas up their sleeves.

While pre-primary, primary and middle schools have now been spared the wrath of the violent student agitators, their anger is now certain to be directed towards higher education schools, particularly the private 10+2 schools and colleges.

"Our convention has decided to go ahead in confronting corrupt persons in the educational sector and also fight against all the anomalies predominating this sector," Poudel warned.

According to the ANNISU-R, a co-operative school is that which will be run by a certain community. They say they want to hand over the present private and boarding schools, which are basically in the grip of individuals into the hands of the local community. It is something like community schools, said the Maoist-aligned students.

However, the officials of private schools say it is not possible to convert their schools into co-operatives. "It is impossible," said Arjun Bahadur Adhikari, Secretary of National Private and Boarding Schools’ Organisation of Nepal (N-PABSON).

"These schools are our private property and it cannot be made public at any cost," Adhikari told The Kathmandu Post. He also said they had already opposed this proposal of the radical students during the meeting in the Education Ministry six months ago.

"The concept of co-operatives can be imposed in those schools, which are not properly run," said Gita Rana, former president of N-PABSON. "It is not possible to convert all private schools into co-operatives."

The Maoist students also warned missionaries that they would launch an agitation to thwart the "teaching" of certain religion in schools. The measure was passed by the Biratnagar convention.

The ANNISU-R today said that from now on, it had dropped its demand to nationalise all private boarding schools. "We realised that the demand could not be materialised right now," Poudel said.

The student wing close to the underground Maoists maintained that the decision does not mean that they have left its past demand to establish a Communist education system in the country. "The transformation of the boarding schools into co-operative schools is a first step towards the Communist Education System," said Secretary Poudel.

During the convention, a faction of CPN-ML aligned student group led by Krishna K.C. joined the radical students’ group.

Maoists release 17 policemen in Surkhet

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SURKHET, Oct 2 – As per the announcement made earlier by its chairman Prachanda, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) set 17 policemen free today at a mass meeting held here.

The Maoist commanders - Sonam, Bibid, Tek Bahadur Basnet and Kali Bahadur Malla had handed over the abducted policemen to the representatives of International Red Cross Society (ICRC). Human Rights activists and journalists were also present on the occasion. Maoists also held a brief press meet prior to the hand-over.

The policemen who were in Maoist detention after they were abducted from Holeri police outpost of Rolpa district on July 12 were released from their captivity at Jamune Bazaar of Rakam Village Development Committee Tuesday.

The Maoists handed over the security personnel to the officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who were specially flown in to the village for the purpose.

But, despite the Maoists’ earlier commitment to release all hostages, there are still 31 police personnel held captive by the Maoists. Those still held by Maoists include police inspector Madan Gurung and sub-inspector Parshuram Malla among others.

The policemen released by the Maoists include assistant sub-inspector Punaram Chaudhary, head constables Kul Prasad Shrestha, Ganga Datta Joshi, Durga Bahadur Kunwar, Prabhat Kumar Shrestha, Keshav Thapa and Tanka Nath Subedi.

Others have been identified as Sunil Kumar Thapa, Ganja Bahadur Gharti, Khadga Bahadur Basnet, Ambar Bahadur Gharti, Kulbir Bhandari, Aman Budha, Karna Bahadur Gurung, Hemant Prakash Budhathoki, Khum Bahadur Pun and Durga Bahadur Basnet.

At the meeting, Maoist leaders said that their party would gradually release other policemen still under their custody. But they did not disclose the number of people held by them.

The government has said that the Maoists held 185 people -116 civilians and 69 policemen – captive.

In a press statement issued today by the ICRC in Kathmandu, the ICRC representatives interviewed the policemen after their release and provided them the basic health check-up.

The ICRC delegates later transferred the released policemen to Mid-Western Regional Police Headquarters in Nepalgunj. Officials from the Swiss Red Cross, currently in Nepal, provided ICRC with logistic support to carry out the operation, the press release stated.

This is the first time that the ICRC has been involved in the release of people detained by the Maoists.

"This operation is a major step forward in the dialogue we are maintaining with the Maoist representatives," said Jean-Jacques Bovay, head of the ICRC in Nepal. "We hope it will also benefit the action we are planning to conduct in the areas where the Maoists are active," Bovay said, adding, "The present operation fits exactly into the ICRC’s role as a neutral intermediary between the two parties."

Meanwhile, our reporter from Myagdi said that the government released three Maoist cadres from its detention on Tuesday. They were detained about six months ago on charges of possessing illegal firearms and ammunition.

Sugar for Dashain in limbo

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KATHMANDU, Oct 2 – The Supreme Court’s order to a government agency yesterday to halt sugar imports is likely to have an effect on how Nepalis celebrate Dashain festival, which is now less than a month away.

The Court yesterday asked the concerned government agency, namely the Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) to halt the procedure of importing 60,000 tonnes of sugar until a final decision in the case is reached.

The Court action came after private businessmen petitioned that the imports be halted since tender to select a party to import the sugar, which was put out by the Nepal Food Corporation (NFC), specified just four days instead of the normal one month period to submit bids.

A similar petition has also been filed with the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority. In addition, the parliamentary Public Account Committee has also initiated necessary investigation in the case.

This latest development has heightened the strong possibility that the consumers will have an acute shortage of sugar in the festival time.

Government officials are angry that private "vested interests" are trying to derail the sugar imports, and thus cause trouble just before Dashain.

"Some private parties are particularly disturbed by the government decision, which bar them from making supernormal profits by surging the price at the festival time," charged Madhav Jung Rana, general manager of NTL.

The government has already decided that any sugar being imported now should not exceed Rs 29 a kilo. To achieve that, the government has also lowered import duty on sugar to 10 percent from the earlier 40 percent.

Asked sugar could be imported on time for the festival season, Rana said, "Much will depend on the situation. We are still committed to bring the sugar on time."

Government officials argue that the allocation of only 4 days for the tender was essential to arrange ‘immediate and emergency supply’ to meet the festival’s huge demand. It was just crisis management step."

They also blamed the government for informing them ‘too late’ for the supply. Only on September 12, the government directed both the public enterprises to make necessary arrangement to import the sugar to sell during the festival time. "If we go through the normal procedures by allocating 30 days for submitting tender, we won’t be able to supply sugar before the festival," said Purna Nanda Sharma, Chairman of the NFC.

CAAN stops Taiwan carrier from flying to Nepal

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KATHMANDU, Oct 2 – A Taiwanese airline set to begin charter service to Kathmandu has been forced to drop its plans after Nepali authorities asked it not to begin flights citing "unavoidable circumstances."

Mandarin Airlines of Taiwan, which was to begin Taipei-Kathmandu-Taipei service shortly, was asked by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to drop its plans for now citing unavoidable circumstances, sources told The Kathmandu Post today. Earlier, CAAN had entered into an agreement with its Taiwanese counterpart to begin the charter service.

It has been learnt that Mandarin Airlines asked for an explanation, but got the answer that CAAN director general Medini Prasad Sharma was away on business and no one else could give an answer. Sharma is in Canada along with other high-ranking Civil Aviation officials to take part in the ICAO meeting that is currently underway.

Meanwhile, the German news agency DPA reported today from Taipei that Mandarin officials were awaiting an answer from CAAN. "We are still contacting CAAN and waiting for an answer," Mandarin Airlines spokeswoman Hsiao Hsiao-ling told DPA. "Some 100 people have booked the inaugural flight to Nepal. We are refunding them by giving them a free return ticket from Taipei to either of the three destinations - Changmai, Yangon, Phnom Penh," she said.

Mandarin Airlines planned to use a Boeing 737-800 to operate a weekly Taipei-Kathmandu-Taipei flight. The direct flight would saved Taiwan tourists the time and trouble of changing planes at the Singapore or Bangkok airports. In recent years, more and more Taiwanese visit Nepal to see Buddhist temples or trek in mountains. Some tour groups visit only Nepal, while others visit Nepal and India.

Nepal does not recognise Taiwan since China, a close neighbour, regards the island as a breakaway province of China.

A naughty old man leads a host of good films

By Kosmos Biswokarma

KATHMANDU, Oct 2 – Lachuman Magar is a naughty old man. He has married five times in his life. But this 58-year-old former army man still smells sweet whenever he comes across a new belle.

Lachuman Magar is the father of five who works as an assistant at a hotel in Thakurdwara of Bardiya, in the Far West Nepal. Magar’s present daily chores and past experiences in life are sheer examples of joy and sadness entwined within him but his jovial mood prevails over all other aspects.

And this typically uncommon character has now become the main theme of a documentary. Young filmmaker Dinesh Deokota has done a splendid job by putting together this old man’s characteristics in a 29-minute documentary titled "A Rough Cut on the Life and Times of Lachuman Magar."

Deokota’s sleek documentary is one of the 51 short films included in this year’s Film South Asia 2001, the third edition of the festival of the South Asian documentaries, which opens at the Russian Cultural Centre on Thursday.

Magar is naughty because he married five times, that too because he never got satisfied, sexually, with all the previous ones. The film too begins with lots of swearing (in Nepali) as he is really angry with the kids who always scatter human waste around the camp, which he had to keep clean everyday.

There are irregular cuts, as per the title of the film, where the conversation between the director and the protagonist is put on air without editing, giving the film a new look.

After showing his anger against the kids, Magar explains the director why he married for the second time. Magar recalls his days when he came back on a holiday after two years in the Indian army, which he joined at 16. "I was physically very strong and had a huge urge for sex after the army training," Magar tries to prove his point. But when he came back to Nepal he found that his wife was a flat-chested and small in height. "I couldn’t fulfil my desire," says Magar. "Not only people in the village began to tease me because of my wife, I was also not satisfied with her."

This is why he decided to marry another woman in the village. But even after having five wives, he is still enthused to get married once again. That’s because he once visited Kathmandu as that was his ultimate goal in life. "Wow…Wow!" the old man with young heart expresses his feeling when talking about the girls here. "I had never seen girls of such designs," is what he told the director after returning from Kathmandu. And he takes a long breath and quips, "Had I not grown this old, I would have married again."

Though his love for fairer sex is not the main theme of the film, it totally prevails over the film’s other aspects. There are other aspects like the landless squatters eyeing over his lands, which he has been tilling for the past 26 years. The film shows Magar’s frustrations of not being able to pass this land in his name even taking many rounds of various district offices. The film also captures Magar showing, in practical, how he used to get training during his days in the Indian army.

Deokota’s portrayal of his protagonist is so subtle and substantive that the audience would obviously be glued to their seats during the entire film. But the only point lacking in his film is the reason why Magar came to Kathmandu. Despite this, the film of this quality from a young filmmaker like Deokota should get the pat on the back.

But Deokota is not the only filmmaker whose work is praiseworthy. "There are so many other films in this festival, which would give the audience a rare chance to watch quality short films," says Manesh Shrestha, director of Film South Asia, organised by Himal Association and Himal South Asian magazine.

All the 51 films will be shown from Thursday to Sunday in two different halls at the Russian Culture Centre.

Some of the major films include After Sunset of Pakistan, which deals with the sexualisation of massage parlours, a rare subject in the Islamic society. A Portrait of V.P. Singh is a critical analysis of the life of former Indian Prime Minister. She Wants to Talk to You by Anita Chang, We have the Same Kind of Blood by Berit Madsen, Between the Devil and the Deep River by Arvind Sinha and Jari Mari: Of Cloth and Other Stories by Surabhi Sharma are some of the major attractions of the festival.

The festival will also have a special feature on silent films titled "Kathmandu Silent Nights," a package of short films presented by Farzaan Naqvi, one of the three jury members of the festival, which will be held on Friday evening. Famed Indian director Shyam Benegal and one of the top Nepali directors Neer Shah are the other members of the jury.

The four-day festival is scheduled to open with The Killing Terraces, directed by Dhurba Basnet, which gives an insight into the impact of Maoists insurgency in the West Nepal while the closing film will be the one featured here- A Rough Cut on the Life and Times of Lachuman Magar.

‘No party pressure on Cabinet expansion’

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BIRATNAGAR, Oct 2 – President of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) Girija Prasad Koirala said neither he nor the party would put any pressure on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on the expansion of the Cabinet.

"The Prime Minister will do as he pleases and there will be no pressure from the party," Koirala told reporters at his residence. "It is the right of the Prime Minister to expand the Cabinet while it is the right of the party president to make the changes in the party.

The expansion of the Cabinet is expected this week. Prime Minister Deuba had appointed a 13-member Cabinet after getting elected in July and kept over half a dozen ministries to himself.

Koirala had recently nominated "his people" to the Central Working Committee and other important party positions that had gained him criticism from his opponents in the party. Koirala has the reputation of filing up the party positions with his close aides and supporters so that he can continue to tighten his grip on the party.

Referring to the delayed peace talks between the government and the Maoists, Koirala said the talks should be held as soon as possible and reiterated that he was hopeful that the talks could resolve the issue.

Lawmakers demand Session extension

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KATHMANDU, Oct 2 – With only little over a week left in the present Parliamentary Session, lawmakers today demanded time extension so that important Bills pending discussions could be pushed through even the Session is prorogued.

"The present Session should be extended so that the four important Bills being considered by various committees can be discussed and forced through right this Session," said Pradip Gyawali, a lawmaker from the main opposition CPN-UML.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (second amendment) Bill proposing to empower CIAA and the Corruption Control Bill brought to control the growing corruption cases is being discussed by the State Affairs Committee.

While the Muluki Ain (11th Amendment) Bill, better known as the Property Rights Bill, is being given the final touches at Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Committee.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba who is also the Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare has asked for few more days to be able to discuss the Bill with representatives of other political parties and within his own party.

The Bill is proposing equal rights to women on parental property among other issues to empower women.

Another important Bill is the Land Reforms Bill recently presented by the government proposing "revolutionary" land reforms in the country. The Bill has not even reached the Natural Resources and Mean Committee and is still lingering in the process at the Parliamentary Secretariat.

Prime Minister Deuba has repeatedly said that all these Bills would be passed through in the present Session. However, with the Dasain festival only about two weeks away and the lawmakers preparing to head home after approving the fiscal budget, it is unlikely that these Bills will get through.

"It is urgent that the anti-corruption Bills should be passed as soon as possible and within this Session to control the growing corruption cases" said Shanker Pandey of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC).

The debate over CIAA Bill continued to get criticism from opposition lawmakers over the reports that the government and ruling party members in the SAC were changing their earlier commitments to bring even the judiciary under the jurisdiction of CIAA over corruption cases.

"Why is the government and the ruling party playing games over such a serious matter. In one meeting there is agreement in one principle and immediately after that the decision is reversed," said Gyawali.

Meanwhile, Former Deputy Prime Minister and central NC member Ram Chandra Poudel said that it was urgent the environment of the Kathmandu Valley should be freed of pollution and strict measures taken to ensure it.

He said the green belt around the Ring Road and Arniko highway should be strictly enforced. "The Ministry of Environment has no jurisdiction, the Ministry of Transport does not care and the Kathmandu Metropolitan Corporation is avoiding responsibility," said Poudel. "These areas have turned into depots for stone and concrete dealers and for trucks and buses to park."

Minister for Information and Communication Jay Prakash Gupta stated that the program to wire all the Village Development Committees with telephone connections has been delayed due to indifference by the government itself.

Minister Gupta said that the Finance Ministry has not allocated the budget for the project that was to be jointly financed by the government and the Nepal Telecommunications Corporations (NTC). NTC was to chip in US$ 30 million while the government had pledged the remaining US$ 40 million.

The project was to be completed by BS 2060 (2003 AD). "At this rate even if the money is given by the government it could take over four years to complete the project and I urge the members of the House to push for this program," Minister Gupta said.

Curfew in Tulsipur on, one dead

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DANG, Oct 2 – The indefinite curfew at Tulsipur here continued for the second day on Tuesday bringing the transport movement to a complete halt here as well as those from Mahendranagar. One of the persons in the police firing on Monday succumbed to his injuries today on the way to hospital.

The transport strike called by the Rapti Zone Bus Entrepreneurs Association, Mahendranagar for Tuesday left many passengers stranded at local bus parks, especially those returning from border areas for the Dashain festival. The transport strike was in support of a similar strike in Tulsipur.

The strikes were called to protest the damage caused to more than 100 buses at the Tulsipur bus park and surrounding areas on Saturday after two students were crushed to death by a bus.

No buses plied on the road from Tulsipur and Nepalgunj to the rest of the country. There were 13 regular buses operating under the Committee from Tulsipur to Nepalgunj. The bus entrepreneurs have demanded of the government that they would not operate their buses unless they were provided with compensations for the vehicles damaged by the mob.

Today, the Mahendra Hospital at Ghorahi in Dang district was thrown in utter confusion as no post-mortem could be done with the parents of the deceased still not coming to claim the bodies. The hospital staff said that the bodies are decomposing.

Meanwhile, one of the 10 people who were injured in police firing in Tulsipur, Dang on Monday, died on the way to Nepalgunj hospital for treatment, according to the hospital.

The man who succumbed to the police firing has been identified as Jeevram Bhandari, 25, from Motipur village of Dang district. The hospital sources said Bhandari died of excessive bleeding. The Situation of Tulsipur Municipality was still tense.

The police had to fire at the angry mob after it started vandalising parked buses and tried to set them on fire over the deaths of the two students on Saturday.

The five seriously injured people in the police firing are being rushed to Kathmandu as referred by the local hospital while four others are undergoing treatment at Nepalgunj hospital.