UML leader for united govt

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KATHMANDU, Sept 3 – Powerful leader of the main opposition CPN-UML K P Sharma Oli today demanded the formation of a united government with representatives from all the political forces, including the Maoists.

Speaking at a face-to-face programme held here Monday, the UML second man said that the present constitution needs to be amended to pave the way for the formation of the united government which, according to him, will be somewhat like the interim government, proposed by the underground Communist Party of Nepal – Maoist.

He urged the government panel to speed up the dialogue with the rebel leaders and settle the problem for once and for all. Oli added: "Neither side can be irresponsible, we want the government panel and the Maoist negotiators to be serious and lead the on-going process to a logical conclusion…And for the united government, constitutional amendments are a must."

Such a united government will be responsible for holding general elections, which will elect a new government, according to him.

Amendments in the Constitution, Oli said, should be done in two phases: First, at the time of forming the united government and, second, after seven months on the basis of recommendations made by a Constitution Amendment Proposal Committee. "The second-phase amendment should be done after detailed studies and home works."

The largest communist party leader’s such proposal came four days after the government panel led by Deuba-loyalist Chiranjivi Wagle held first ever face-to-face dialogue with a team of Maoist negotiators, which was led by underground CPN-Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara, at a posh resort in Godavari, 15 kilometers away from downtown Kathmandu.

The two sides familiarized themselves during the meet and agreed to sit for next round of talks within two weeks. The venue was not fixed, but Maoist leaders are said to be keen on holding the talks in Rolpa, one of their stronghold districts in the Mid-Western hills.

Oli’s Monday’s utterance at the Reporters Club came one year after the party’s General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal floated a proposal seeking amendments in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990.

The proposal was also discussed by various political parties, but disappeared after a faction of the governing Nepali Congress (NC) leaders started rebelling against the then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s resignation a few months later, and subsequent political turmoil in the country. Asked whether his proposal to amend the constitution was endorsed by his party, Oli said: "Our party endorsed the constitution amendment proposal long time back, in last Kartik (November-December)."

"This is not an ordinary situation," Oli said, referring to last week’s first ever talks between the government panel and the Maoist negotiators. "Everyone is confused and terrorized as to what could happen next. The nation cannot move ahead like this. Status-quoism is not going to help, that is why we need to put special efforts in special way to end this stalemate."

After the united government is formed, Oli said, families of those killed during the nearly six-year-old "people’s war" should be compensated while the Maoist militias and guerrillas should be recruited in the Nepal Police and the Royal Nepal Army. "The rebels should forget their local janasarkars (people’s governments) and let the existing local government units function properly."

The influential leader added, "At present some people are in jungle, some in cities, some in the streets while the others are in power; everyone should be in power." Nepali Congress leader Narahari Acharya, also a member of the government panel, welcomed the Maoists’ initiative for further talks and keen desire to resolve the crisis. He did not comment on Oli’s proposal, but reaffirmed his party’s commitment to cooperate with the Maoists and seek an amicable solution to the problem.

Former leftist lawmaker Padma Ratna Tuladhar, a prominent figure in the on-going peace process who was also one of the facilitators in last week’s government-Maoist talks, called on both sides to live up to their promise of maintaining enough flexibility during talks.

"Both sides have come a long way," Tuladhar said, referring to last week’s talks between the government and the Maoist negotiators. "They have finally sat before the negotiating table seeking solution to the problems facing the country through dialogues, which should not stop. Both sides ought to be flexible enough to find an amicable solution, and once they do so the problem will be resolved."

Maoists demand Rs 400,000 from Kantipur Publications

KATHMANDU, Sept 3 (PR) - Despite Maoists’ public commitment against the extortion, their donation collection spree continues unabated.

And even the publication houses have not been spared, which also includes Kantipur Publications. Two activists of the underground Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) came to the Kantipur office on Monday and handed over an appeal to Publications’ Managing Director Kailash Sirohiya and Director Binod Raj Gyawali, demanding a donation of Rs.400 thousand for "counter struggle."

The appeal, written on the party’s note-pad and signed by the top Maoist leader Comrade Prachanda, has asked big sums from different organisations and business establishments. The Maoists seem to have forgotten their commitment of not derailing the dialogue process with the government. Their representatives reiterated in their meeting with the government-formed committee that the rebels would not indulge in such activities.

The letter handed over today is backdated in an attempt to give the impression that it was written before the commitment to stop the extortion.

Although the letter is addressed to one Namaste Group in Koteswore, the two rebels said that it was intended for the Publications, which also has its office in Koteswore. "We will contact in a week," the two Maoist workers said before leaving the Kantipur office. Sirohiya and Gyawali were previously associated with the Namaste Group which does not function any more now.

When Sirohiya and Gyawali pointed out to the duo that their action was against their commitment of putting an end to extortion and also against the talks, they replied that the demand was due to the "orders from the above." Meanwhile, speaking to The Kathmandu Post, K P Oli said that it was not proper to collect donation by creating terror and using force. He said it was also not conducive for the talks process.

Likewise, Padma Ratna Tuladhar told The Kathmandu Post that everyone knew about the Maoists’ collecting donations. "It cannot be called against law as they do not believe in the present Constitution."

Ten left parties to work together

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KATHMANDU, Sept 3 - Ten various left parties including the main opposition CPN-UML are on the verge of forming a working alliance for the first time in Nepal’s political history.

Various left leaders pointed out that it has been decided that the 10 different left parties have agreed for "working unity" after the end of the second round talks today in the capital. The left parties include the main opposition Communist Party of Nepal United Marxist and Leninist (CPN-UML), its splinter group Marxist and Leninist (ML), United People’s Front, CPN-United, CPN-Marxist, National People’s Front, CPN-Marxist Leninist and Maoist (MLM), Nepal Worker’s and Peasant’s Party, CPN-Masal and CPN-Unity Centre.

The leaders of the CPN-Masal and Unity Centre who did not turn up in today’s meeting conveyed their message of agreeing for the "working unity" through the leaders of National People’s Front.

As the leaders came out from the meeting venue in UML Central Office in the capital, Bharat Mohan Adhikary of UML said, it was agreed upon that the ten left parties would forge an alliance and jointly fight for the issues like the land reforms bill. "For that purpose we have decided to form a drafting committee with one member representing each of the parties. This committee will decide in detail about forming an alliance which will be later approved by a meeting similar to this," Adhikary added.

Amik Sherchan of the United People’s Front said that the 10 lefts had agreed to have a working unity and that the lefts would jointly start a protest program but each party still has to do its homework. "We will protest the land reforms bill in and out of the parliament but we have not decided how we are going to go about it," he said.

The meeting was attended by UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and its standing committee leaders Amrit Bohara, Bharat Mohan Adhikary and Iswore Pokhrel and central committee member Yubraj Karki and Raghu Pant.

Others include Politburo member Siddhi Lal Singh from ML, Chairman Amik Sherchan from United People’s Front, CPN-United General Secretary Bishnu Bahadur Manandhar and leaders Hemanta Bahadur BC and Prakash Adhikary, Chairman Prabhu Narayan Chaudhari, politburo member Lok Narayan Subedi and Mukunda Acharya of CPN-Marxist, Pari Thapa from National United Front, Krishna Das Shrestha and Ganesh Nepali from MLM and Chairman Narayan Man Bijuchchhe and Central Committee members from Chait Raj Shakya and Sunil Prajapati.

Prithvi Highway may open today

KATHMANDU, Sept 3 (PR) - Prithvi Highway, the main entrance to the Kathmandu Valley, is still blocked Monday due to the landslides at Dangsibhir, near Mugling.

The highway traffic, blocked since Friday, is likely to resume Tuesday though only for three hours, the police at Thankot Check Post said. "The repairing work is still going on and the construction team has said they expected to open it from 4 am to 7 am on Tuesday," police said.

Meanwhile reports from Chitwan said the highway was partially opened on Monday.

Hari Bhakta Shrestha, the chief of Divisional Road Office in Bharatpur, said the highway was opened partially, allowing the vehicles to pass the critical area through a single lane from 8 p.m.

"From Tuesday the road will be widened to eight metres," he added. But Sub-inspector Ajaya Shrestha of Mugling Area Traffic Police Office said that the resumption of traffic has been controlled as the movement of the vehicles might disturb the maintenance works.

Meanwhile, it was also reported that the Arniko Highway that links Kathmandu and the Nepal-India border has been blocked since last two weeks following landslides that affected 60 families.

The local victims of the landslide protested today, against the government’s inaction to maintain the highway.

Nepali businessmen surprised over Indian trade figures

By Bhaskar Sharma

KATHMANDU, Sept 3 – In what may be termed as an arm-twisting formula to press Nepal for a review in the Nepal-India Trade Treaty that expires this December, India has compiled statistics that show the bilateral trade balance in Nepal’s favour.

The figures come as a big surprise to the Nepalese businessmen and officials alike since Nepal has never enjoyed trade surplus with India. The Indian figures, compiled by the Kolkata based Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS), were provided to The Kathmandu Post recently by the Indian Embassy here.

According to the Indian figures, trade balance for the Indian fiscal year 2000/2001 stood at Rs 5.83 billion in Nepal’s favour. The figures put Nepalese exports for the year at Rs 16.12 billion and imports at Rs 10.29 billion.

The Indian fiscal year ends on March 31st each year.

Similarly, the figures show positive balance of Rs 1.51 billion and a negative balance of Rs 2.63 billion for the fiscal years 1998/99 and 1999/2000 respectively. The Indian figures has put exports during the periods at Rs 9.75 billion and 7.62 billion and imports at Rs 8.24 billion and Rs 10.25 billion respectively.

On the other hand, statistics compiled by the Nepalese central bank clearly show that Nepal’s trade deficit with India for the fiscal year 2000/01 stood at Rs 19.34 billion. Similarly, the deficit for the fiscal years 1998/99 and 1999/2000 stand at Rs 19.59 and Rs 18.44 billion respectively.

Though Nepalese officials concede that some differences may arise during the compilation of data by two different countries, they are surprised over the extent of variance between the two figures. "The Indian figures are impossible. They are wrong," said a high level source at the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

Even officials at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies are surprised over the latest Indian trade figures. "The Indian side made no mention of such figures in the recently concluded inter-governmental secretarial level trade talks. Where did it come from now?" questioned an official.

Indian Embassy officials are of the view that the figures of the two countries need to be reconciled. They, however, have not fragrantly claimed that the Indian figures are right and that the Nepalese figures are wrong. "We are looking into the cause of the discrepancy. Internal exercise is on," a high level official at the Indian Embassy told The Kathmandu Post.

Even the Indian Ambassador to Nepal Deb Mukharji, at a recent interaction programme here, upon being asked over the issue, had said that the two figures need to be reconciled. The exact figures then were not disclosed. "The cause of the differences should be looked into. The Indian figures should also be respected," he had said.

The Indian figures so far have not been passed on to the Nepalese government officially. Indian Embassy officials said that the figures are regularly compiled by the DGCIS and are published openly. "The Nepalese Embassy in New Delhi must have obtained the figures," the official said.

Experts, back home are of the view that the Indian trade statistics is here to further strengthen India’s adamant stand for the Treaty review. "The figures is an attempt to show that it is only Nepal that has benefited from the Treaty," they said. India recently had sent a formal notification seeking review and revision of certain provisions contained in the Trade Treaty that was first signed in 1991 and later modified in 1996.

The notification had come hardly a week after the secretarial level inter-government trade talks had failed to reach a consensus on the so-called contentious issue of export surge. India’s concern was on the increasing export of five Nepalese items, including copper wires, zinc oxide, acrylic yarn, steel pipes and vanaspati ghee. India wants to curtail the export of the five products into its markets claiming that excessive availability of these items has resulted in the closure of many Indian domestic industries.

"The trade figures compiled by India is clearly an attempt to force Nepal into changing the Trade Treaty. Especially because India has now and again said that the Treaty is heavily in favour of Nepal," said a businessman preferring anonymity.

Delegation to leave for Delhi by Sept last

KATHMANDU, Sept 3 (PR) - A joint-secretarial level delegation is to leave for New Delhi in the third week of September to talk over the proposed review of the Nepal-India Trade Treaty.

According to a high-level source at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, the joint secretarial level talks are likely to be conducted for five to six days.

"Since there are a wide range of issues, the talks would be carried for around five to six days," the source said.

He also informed that a secretarial level delegation, led by Bhanu Prasad Acharya, Secretary at the Ministry, would visit the Indian capital early October to finalize on the discussions.

NTC losing millions due to illegal Net phones

By Ram Sharan Sedhai

KATHMANDU, Sept 3 - Nepal Telecommunications Corporation (NTC), the state-run sole operator of telecom services, is losing a sizeable amount of its revenue from incoming long distance international calls due to unauthorized telephony.

NTC officials say, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), a telephone call made through an internet connection using gadgets like Info-Talk, IP Star, Yap Jack etc., are the major causes of revenue loss to NTC.

Similarly, VSAT users, VSAT network providers and the Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which also use VSATs (Very Small Aperture Terminals), have been directly routing international traffic bypassing the gateway of NTC, the only operator that is licensed to transmit voice up to now.

It has not only caused losses to NTC, but also tarnished the image of the Corporation in the international scene. The global operators try to send traffic through the satellite of local VSAT users but do not succeed due to the traffic congestion. The international callers are not aware of this and they complain of bad network of NTC.

"We have received complaints from international callers of call failures and they blame our network, but we have enough circuit and our network is perfect," said Raghubar Lal Shrestha, General Manager of NTC. " Such illegal transmission of traffic has tarnished the image of the nation and caused a huge revenue loss to us," he added.

Shrestha demanded that the government should take immediate action against those channeling international calls illegally.

Some ISPs have been channeling incoming international calls through their VSAT directly to the end users bypassing NTC’s gateway. "We have detected some phone numbers, which display local numbers but are connected to the callers in the US and other European countries," says Shrestha. "We have complained with Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), the regulatory body of telecom services, in writing and we are expecting some actions soon," he said.

NTC claims that ever since the beginning of VSAT usage, its incoming telephone traffic has been steadily declining. The total incoming traffic calls was 35,292,618 minutes in 1999, which came down to 33,666,725 minutes in 2000 and the first seven months traffic figures of 2001 is 15,536,107 minutes. The trend shows that the total incoming calls would not cross 30,000,000 minutes in 2001.

Now NTC gets revenue of about Rs. 24 per minute call it receives from an international operator in the US. Therefore, an estimated decline of about 300 thousand minutes in incoming long distance calls would cause a loss of over Rs 70 million in its income in 2001, according to GM Shrestha.

The tumbling revenue of the NTC has also been reflected in the tax that it pays to the government. NTC paid a total of Rs. 1.59 billion tax to the government in fiscal year 1999/2000 which slumped to Rs 1.35 billion in 2000/2001 and it is expected to dip further in the current fiscal year.

However, it is not the only reason behind pushing the incoming traffic of NTC down. International operators like AT&T of the US have to pay 32 cents per minute to NTC for routing a call from America to Nepal, while the per minute call charge to Nepal is far less than the revenue foreign operators share with NTC.

Alarmed by the steady decline in its income from incoming international calls, NTC has been making efforts to increase such calls recently. It has also submitted a proposal to NTA for tariff rebalancing, which basically aims at increasing rental and call charges of local phone service and massively slashing international call charges. "Quick decision on its proposal would be the measure for solving the problem to some extent," says the GM.

NTA officials say the Authority is investigating the case and if any ISP or its VSAT user licencee is found involved in such illegal activity, it would revoke their licence.

Spokesman at NTA, Kailash Prasad Neupane says, "If VSAT users/network providers are found guilty, we will annul their licence." He also said that NTC could also take action against those as per the clause 43, (C) of Nepal Telecommunications Act, 1997.

Confusion replaces chaos in land reforms offices

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KATHMANDU, Sept 3 - Scores of people flooded the offices of Land Revenue in the Kathmandu Valley Monday following the lift on ban on land transaction.

These offices, that for the past few days had been near deserted, was once again crowded with people lining up to transfer their land and property.

However, the sigh of relief for most people after the lifting of the ban was mixed with state of confusion for many of the people who have so far failed to fully understand the new arrangements.

At the famous Charkhal Adda at Dillibazaar, about 23 applicants filed to get their land transferred. However, lack of information and required documents prevented these applicants from getting their paperwork done.

Usually, it takes an average one day to get the transaction process to get through. Though the office is accepting the applications and has moved the process of transaction forward, it is yet to issue the final land ownership documents or fully transferred the ownership from one person to another.

"We have only heard the word that the ban has been lifted and the notice has been verbal. There is no written notice or instructions on how we need to proceed ahead and unless we get such an arrangements there is not much we can do," said an official who refused to be named.

He said that they have been waiting for instructions from Department of Land Reforms on the matter which they had not received even when the day’s business ended in the late afternoon.

The people who had flocked the dirty aisles of this office expressed frustration over the situation of confusion on the part of the government and at the same time fear that this situation of chaos could lead to some of them losing their precious land.

Since the government had announced three weeks back that there would be revolutionary land reforms including fixing of ceiling on land ownership, a ban on transaction of land had been slapped until a new Bill is brought through Parliament.

The announcement of ceiling had worried many people who feared they would lose their land that exceeds the ceiling net. But the setting of the ceiling by the government in the proposed Bill to 30 ropanies in the Kathmandu Valley has given a much relief to the people.

With the exception of a handful of people, most people in the Capital city do not have that much of land. And even for those in this bracket have a little to fear since the ceiling would be imposed only after property is distributed first to the rightful relatives. Around the small cigarette and tea stalls of the Charkhal Adda, the heated topic of debate remained the mode and legality of the step taken by the government.

"How can there be such a law imposed without even making amendments in the present Acts. This is creating confusion among the public," said Dambar Prasad Siwakoti, one of the many people called the Lekhandas who help people with the legal hassle during the transactions.

"I have two annas of land that was kept as collateral in the bank but now I can’t seem to release it due to the present situation. I need to sell this land and get the money to continue with my treatment," said Tulsi Kumar Poudel of Maitidevi.

Many people around the venue who run small tea stalls and other stores like photocopy and stationary lining up the street leading to the building expressed hope that they would be able to get back some of the business lost to the ban. The situation was no better in Lalitpur where the shutters of these lekhandas had finally opened today. The vegetable market scarred across the land revenue office was finally seeing coming to life once again. Despite the downpour, scores of people lined up the yellow building to get their paperwork done. In the Land Revenue office at Chabahil, about 25 applications were filed but there appeared to be less panicky situation than anticipated.

"We don’t expect there to be much problem here since a survey of the area under the jurisdiction of this office has found no such land over 30 ropanies," said Uma Nath Gyawali, chief of the office.

Ram Chandra Khatiwada, who had come to the office to get land transferred to his name, said there should have been some more sub-categorizations of the land.

"It is unfair to categorize land in the prime areas like Asan or New Road with something out of the Ring Road used only for farming," he said. Though land transactions in most parts of the country had begun on Sunday, work began only today in Kathmandu due to the system of two-day weekend.

Lack of security prevents many from joining Lakhe dance

By Rajeeb Tamrakar

KATHMANDU, Sept 3 – Lakhe, the red-faced demon often seen in the posters and the documentaries to attract tourists, is in the verge of extinction due to lack of a proper attention to preserve the culture.

"Indra Jatra festival was my favourite time of the year when I was young," says Durga Bahadur Dangol, Naya, the leader of Kumari Chariot Festival Committee. "I still enjoy the majestic dance of Lakhe."

But he is equally very worried about the present state of the popular Lakhe dance as more and more people are refusing to involve themselves in this culture.

Senior Lakhe dancer Laxman Ram Ranjit is another worried man. "It is very sad that we could not take out Lakhe last year because of the security reason," he said. "We can not risk our life just to continue the tradition."

Fighting between the supporters of Lakhe dance and Bhairav dance is a regular affair to enhance the excitement of the festival. But this fighting between the two supporters has now become one of the biggest problems as the drug addicts and hooligans have taken over. This has not only threatened to discontinue this age-old tradition but has also increased fear among those involved in the process.

According to Laxman Ranjit the reason for this sort of incident is because of the loss of respect for the deities among the young generation. "Earlier, people used to have respect for Lakhe as a deity but now people lack respect for their tradition," said Laxman. He also stressed the need for the parents to make their children aware about the importance of this traditional value.

The legend has it that Lakhe came to the Kathmandu Valley with Goddess Taleju. This Lakhe dance is taken out during the Indra Jatra to show the path to the Goddess.

Lakhe is supposed to be the commander of demons and the reason to worship him is that he would control other demons and keep them at a safe distance from the city dwellers.

Sarju Ranjit, 24, began to dance as a Lakhe since he was 16. Last year, he got seriously injured from stabbing when he was attacked by a group of hooligans while he was performing the dance.

This has added to his frustration as he is rethinking on continuing to dance as the Lakhe. "I have my family to look after," says Sarju "How can I continue to become a Lakhe if there is no security."

Now they have to take out the procession with a police escort. "It is very absurd to have police escort with us when we go around the city," says Binod Ranjit, also a senior Lakhe. "This festival is meant to be for fun and it is a disgrace to everyone who wishes to celebrate this occasion."

And it is not just security reason that is playing a spoilsport. Laxman Ranjit says, "We are trying our best to continue our culture, but we have our own problems, we do not have financial back-up."

The government used the Lakhe as the logo of the Visit Nepal Year’98 but has never given adequate attention in safeguarding and promoting this age-old tradition, complains these Lakhes. "Even the house where the Lakhe is kept is on the verge of collapse but the government is doing nothing."

39 headmasters resign over union pressure

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CHAUTARA, Sindhupalchwok, Sept 3 - Less than a week the 67 head-masters of public schools in Chitwan had resigned from their posts citing the Maoist aligned students’ union’s pressure, 39 principals of the government funded schools of this district tendered their collective resignation stating the same reason on Sunday.

There are 54 government funded high schools in the hilly district, one of the Maoist affected districts in the central region.

All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union (ANNISU)-Revolutionary has pressed teachers at public schools for not collecting any forms of fee from students. Teachers claim that the government’s fund to public schools does not cover the expenses of daily administration and salary to teachers hired on local basis.

Maoist aligned students’ union has not stopped its pressure tactic in spite of Prime Minister Sheer Bahadur Deuba’s announcement of a cease-fire to end the five and a half years old insurgency through peaceful talks with the Maoist party.

Reading a strongly-worded statement in Parliament the other day, PM Deuba warned the Maoist leaders not to continue such pressure tactic going against their own promises. The Head-masters, who tendered their collective resignation to the District Education Office (DEO), stated that they had no other options than to submit their resignation in order to draw the government’s attention.

A meeting of the head-masters that was held here, the district headquarters, decided to resign from their responsibility, including a seven-point demands attached to it. The head-masters stated that they lacked subject-wise teachers in most of the government run schools in remote areas.

A resolution passed unanimously by the meeting accused the government of not taking any steps to resolve the problem, adding that they had become only the victims of union’s continued pressures.

District Education Officer Dhruba Raj Adhikari admitted to the fact that the head-masters had raised a genuine question. But he said that he was helpless as the issue could not be sorted out from the district level.

The head-masters resigning from their posts have assured that they would remain to their post until another arrangement is made. Cadre of the ANNISU, however, have not allowed any public schools to collect fee from students.

IBFS calls for speedy repatriation of refugees

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KATHMANDU, Sept 3 – The Indo-Bhutan Friendship Society (IBFS) in a resolution passed in New Delhi on Saturday demanded a time bound repatriation of the 100,000 Bhutanese refugees languishing in the camps in eastern Nepal, according to a release by the Society.

The resolution was among the four passed at the 2nd Annual Conference of the IBFS in the Indian capital and was presided over by Satya Prakash Malviya, former union minister of India.

"More than 100,000 (which constitutes 20 per cent of the total population) since 1990 were compelled to leave their country due to repressive measures resorted to by the Royal Government of Bhutan under the instructions of the King," states the release.

The IBFS demanded that the repatriation should not take more than 18 months. The refugee verification process, currently underway in the Khudunabari camp in Jhapa district, had drawn flak from several quarters for its snail’s pace. In the 11th Ministerial Joint Committee (MJC) held in Thimphu recently, Nepal and Bhutan agreed to expedite the verification process. The two countries have agreed to strengthen the 10-member Joint Verification Team (JVT) by adding one member each.

Besides, the two sides also agreed to provide a support staff for the verification process to handle minor jobs like filling up the forms. Moreover, the JVT has been given more power to settle the minor disputes itself instead of referring it to the MJC.

The IBFS resolution also called upon the Druk King to start dialogue with the pro-democratic leaders of Bhutan to establish democracy there. The Society urged India to support the pro-democratic leaders of Bhutan and mediate with the Bhutanese King in order to establish a democratically-elected government.

India was also asked to withdraw the extradition cases pending in the court at Delhi against R K Dorji, the President of the Druk National Congress.

Another resolution urged India to treat the Bhutanese nationals in India at par with Indian citizens and not as refugees as per the Indo-Bhutan treaty.

PAC urged to speed up RNA choppers probe

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KATHMANDU, Sept 3 – Army and defense officials today asked the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to speed up the probe into the proposed purchase of two MI-17 Russian helicopters for the Royal Nepal Army (RNA).

Secretary at the Defense Ministry Padam Kumar Acharya told PAC that the process to purchase these two helicopters was being done in accordance with the financial regulations and there were no irregularities in the deal.

"We are asking PAC to decide on the case as soon as possible so we can move ahead with the process or else this could make it difficult for the RNA to make the purchase," Acharya said.

Contract has already been signed between RNA and the Russian Kajan Helicopters through the Asian Airlines Helicopters Pvt. Ltd. based in Kathmandu. RNA now needs to open a Letter of Credit (LC) within one week as per the contract.

Acharya said RNA does not have any helicopters on operation at present and since the ones they have on their possession are either grounded or on maintenance, they need new ones to assist them on their operation.

Besides ferrying army personnel and cargo, RNA has been using their helicopters for rescue and relief efforts during natural calamities or search missing trekkers.

RNA is trying to buy two Russian-built MI-17 helicopters for the price of Rs. 202,694,000 each totaling 405,300,000

PAC began to probe into the deal since earlier reports by the government had said that the price for such a helicopter would be around Rs. 112,000,000 only. This was an estimate by the Home Ministry proposing to buy a helicopter for the Armed Police Force.

RNA official Gunja Man Tamang told PAC that the new helicopter selected by RNA has night vision capability and other equipment boosting the price to almost twice the price quoted in the case of the craft for the police.

"If these helicopters were to come without the sophisticated equipment then we would only have to pay half the price," said the army official.

PAC has called another meeting on Tuesday to decide on the case since RNA is seeking a fast decision in the case.

The government through a Cabinet decision had given a go ahead to RNA to buy these two helicopters with the condition that the total price should not exceed Rs. 40,00,00,000.

The Kajak Helicopter is the lone bid and was quickly accepted by RNA. Though there were three other bids, they were all rejected as they failed to meet the specified criteria.

Last year, PAC has investigated and then put a block in the proposal by RNA to buy a RJ-100 jetliner. PAC had ruled that the army was trying to pay much more money than the actual cost indicating much irregularity in the deal.

Maoists stern over Sept mass gathering

KATHMANDU, Sept 3 (PR) – Despite government’s appeal to the underground Maoist party to stop all kinds of political campaigns and rallies, Central Mass Gathering Organising Committee has called for all to actively participate in the "Mass Gathering" slated to be held in September 21.

According to a press release undersigned by Devendra Parajuli, secretary of the Committee that was formed by the Maoists to organise the gathering, the committee has requested all supporters and general public to attend the gathering.

"The committee requests all participants who are to come from outside the Valley with all required things including food and clothes," says the release. The committee has specially requested the Valley dwellers to help them from every possible angles.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Sunday had warned the rebels not to intensify their activities including widespread Maoist rallies and other offensive activities, which could jeopardize the peace talks between the government and the rebels.

SC issues show cause in Maj. Basnet’s case

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KATHMANDU, Sept 3 – The Supreme Court today issued a show cause notice to the Defense Ministry, Royal Nepal Army, Department of Army Secretary and Para Training Centre of the army in response to a writ petition filed by Major Prajwal Basnet.

A single bench of the Supreme Court Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhyay issued the order asking the respondents to furnish the reply.

Basnet had filed the petition last Friday demanding the approval of his resignation from the Royal Nepal Army. In his writ petition, Basnet states that the respondents treated him with prejudice when he was discharging his duty honestly.

According to the writ petition, Basnet had successfully carried out a Tandem Free Fall Jump on last February 15. Basnet says he had jumped down from the height of about 4 thousand and 5 hundred feet taking another army captain Ujjwal Thapa on his chest.

Basnet wanted to publicize his valiant effort but his immediate boss refused. He felt that his seniors tried to conceal this "most important achievement of his life." He had also filed a request to the Chief of Army Staff asking for an inquiry of the episode.

In his request, Basnet had expressed his sadness on not informing His Majesty the King about his rare feat. But the Chief of the Army Staff gave him a warning letter instead, asking Basnet to improve his behaviour. The letter had accused Basnet of not behaving in accordance with his status, doing whatever he likes for his own interest and exaggerated his feat.

Despite this move, Basnet again applied to the Chief of the Army Staff requesting an inquiry and necessary action. As he did not receive any response, he requested His Majesty the King to look into the matter.

Basnet said an annual report of his activities was also written with a prejudice. "This is why I resigned from the Royal Nepal Army," Basnet said in his writ petition. "But, as I did not receive any response, I decided to knock the Supreme Court’s door," Basnet said.

HURON urges Maoists not to jeopardize talks

KATHMANDU, Sept 3 (PR) - Human Rights Organization of Nepal (HURON) has urged CPN (Maoist) not to jeopardise the cordial environment of talks by continuing reported extortion spree, forceful collection of donations and manhandling.

The HURON, issuing a press release Monday, has said that the Maoists should immediately stop such activities and comply with the commitment made by the party earlier.

"Reports of armed Maoists entering into villages of Baitadi, Nuwakot, Sindhupalchowk and Syangja districts and threatening the locally-elected representatives to resign have started to pouring in", the release says.

"If it is the truth, the Maoist party should investigate on it and act accordingly to stop such activities."