SC quashes writs against land reforms

By Rudra Sharma

KATHMANDU, Sept 20 - The Supreme Court today quashed all the writ petitions that were filed on August 17 against proposed land reforms announced by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

However, the Court did not give an unqualified victory to the Deuba government as it also declared the freezing of land sales announced by Deuba on August 16 to be illegal and unconstitutional.

Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhyay ruled that the ban on transfer of property, that was imposed immediately after the announcement, is illegal and unconstitutional since there are no laws that would support such a measure. But he noted that since the ban on land transfer was already lifted through the notification published in the Gazette on August 31, the writs filed against those were inconsequential and hence quashed.

By this order of the court, these writ petitions filed separately by Namasa Karki, Madhav Kumar Basnet, Surendra Kumar Mahato, Uttam Shrestha, Silki Gautam and Krishna Bastola have been thrown out.

Even after the lifting of the ban imposed by the government on August 31, Basnet, helped by another advocate Sudip Poudel, filed another writ petition stating that the land ceiling stated on the basis of proposed Bill is unconstitutional because the Bill was still under consideration in the Parliament and it was yet to take the form of a law of the nation. The Chief Justice threw out this writ too.

While lifting the ban, the government had said though there could be transaction of land but it would have to be within the ceiling stated in the Bill.

The Bill, still under discussion in the Parliament, proposes new ceiling on land ownership at 11 Bighas or 143 ropanies in the Terai region, 30 Ropanis in the Kathmandu Valley and 75 Ropanis in the remaining hilly region.

The order was passed by the special bench comprised of Chief Justice Upadhyay along with Justices Laxman Prasad Aryal, Kedar Nath Upadhyay, Krishna Jung Rayamajhi and Govinda Bahadur Shrestha.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had announced that there would be freeze on land selling on August 16 and his announcement was backed by a notification published in the Gazette on August 28.

Three days later, the Gazette notification was annulled by another Gazette notification that lifted the ban imposed on transfer of land within the limit of the land ceiling proposed in the new Bill by Premier Deuba in the House of Representatives.

Similarly, Surendra Mahato had filed a separate application demanding the issuance of the writ even after the changed context caused by the August 31 announcement of the government. Mahoto’s application was rejected.

Terror strikes in Valley schools
Maoist students set ablaze 6 vehicles

By Nitya Nanda Timsina

KATHMANDU, Sept 20 - Violence flared up in the capital today as the members of the Maoist students organization set six vehicles on fire as a majority of the schools in the Valley remained closed for the second day.

The agitating students of pro-Maoists All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union - Revolutionary, ANNISU(R), hurled petrol bombs at two buses of Rato Bangla School in Patan Dhoka and damaged a car owned by a journalist.

These students also set ablaze three government vehicles in the evening, in connection to the Valley-wide school bandh called by them. They called for school bandh, demanding the release of their colleagues.

Nepal Electricity Authority, the Supreme Court and the Irrigation Department owned these vehicles, the police said.

Police have arrested two Maoist students in connection with these acts of vandalism. But the Maoist students have claimed that police have arrested about 200 of its members till now.

The Maoist students stormed into the Rato Bangla School in the morning and set two school buses on fire and damaged the car owned by Kunda Dixit, the chief editor of Nepali Times weekly.

The school was holding "Out of School Programme" for 24 poor students of the city when a group of Maoist students stormed into the school and started pelting stones. They later set two parked school buses on fire and smashed the windscreen of the car.

"Everything was over in a few minutes and the perpetrators took to heels minutes before the arrival of police," said a frenzied bus driver on condition of anonymity, who was one of the witnesses.

The famous Madan Puraskar Library, situated near the school, had a narrow escape as fire raged through the burning vehicles. "But thanks to the school guards and workers, nothing happened to the country’s biggest library for Nepali books," said Shanta Dixit, director of the school.

Madan Puraskar Library has a rich collection of some 20,000 books and 3,300 periodicals on Nepali literature.

The Maoist students later claimed that they have been targeting the Rato Bangala School for quite some time. "We decided to take action against the school as they had assaulted our colleagues before and has been collecting very high fee from the students," said Yubaraj Bhattarai, secretary of Lalitpur District Committee of ANNISU (R).

But the parents of the school are furious over this attack. One of the parents Bharat Basnet said that their children have been terrorized by the attacks. "Their grievances are against the government but why do the innocent children have to bear this problem?" questions Basnet.

"We call on all school administrators to keep their schools open in spite of threats and terrorist acts in order to ensure the smooth education of our children," a press release issued by the concerned parents of the school said.

Meanwhile, a majority of the schools shut down for the second day today due the threats from the Maoist students.

"They are pulling down everything we have raised on our own land since many years," said Bhoj Bahadur Shah, general secretary of Private And Boarding School Organization, Nepal (PABSON), reacting furiously against the violence that rocked all the educational institutions.

"Attacking a school is attacking the entire educational institute...we will apprise this to the Prime Minister," said Umesh Shrestha, founder Principal of Little Angels’ School.

The PABSON, Nepal officials held an emergency meeting soon after the attacks today while National PABSON officials gheraoed the Education Ministry. Meanwhile, Pro-Nepali Congress student Sabin Tamang of Ratna Rajyalaxmi College received a serious head injury when violence broke out in the campus.

The Maoist students charged opposing students with khukuris and other weapons when the latter refused to close down the campus as demanded by them, according to Rajendra Phuyal, member of the Nepal Students Union’s RR College unit.

Educational institutions to open from today

KATHMANDU, Sept 20 (PR)- The All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union, Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) called off the bandh of educational institutions later in the evening at around 6 p.m, Thursday.

The decision of the ANNISU(R) came when its President Devendra Parajuli agreed to withdraw the bandh after a telephonic discussion with PABSON officials, who also discussed with the Maoists’ leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara and the Home Ministry officials, Umesh Shrestha, PABSON’s Vice President told The Kathmandu Post.

PABSON also informed that all the schools will re-open from Friday.

On America lies the burden of proof

By Suman Pradhan

KATHMANDU, Sept 20 – Under intense pressure from the United States and neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia and Muslim clerics today decided to request suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden to leave Afghanistan voluntarily.

The decision itself underscores what kind of situation the Taliban finds itself in. They couldn’t force bin Laden out because he was a "guest." And they couldn’t agree to hand him over to the US because, in the East, you simply don’t hand-over your guest to his enemy.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist now to figure out how the US will react to the Taliban decision. US President George W. Bush, who had already ruled out negotiating with the Taliban, will no doubt see their decision as a delaying tactic. He is now almost certain to go ahead with planned military strikes into Afghanistan with tremendous implications for Central and South Asian geo-politics.

Indeed, having already painted himself into a corner by ratcheting up the war rhetoric, Bush has little to gain and much to lose if he backs down now. A South Asian diplomat based in Kathmandu wryly remarked to this journalist: "He’s already put himself into a corner. He cannot back down from launching the strikes now."

Be that as it may, many analysts agree that the Bush administration would do well to justify targeting bin Laden and the Taliban before launching any strikes. When a Pakistani delegation first delivered the ultimatum to the Taliban earlier this week, the Afghans simply asked for hard evidence linking their "guest" to the terrorist strikes in New York and Washington D.C on September 11. The Pakistanis, according to reports, provided what they could based on the perfunctory evidence relayed to them by the US. That was not enough for the Taliban, however, and hence the intransigence.

Without clear evidence and justification, Bush risks putting his anti-bin Laden war at the same level as the latter’s jihad against the United States. The burden of proof, therefore, lies on US leaders.

This is essential for two reasons. America must publicly lay out the case against bin Laden and the evidence linking him to the terror attacks if it is to build a strong global anti-terrorism alliance, especially if Islamic nations are to form an integral part of any such alliance. Secondly, international law also demands no less.

The international community is jittery about any US action - especially without the conclusive evidence demanded at the moment - for the precedents that could set. Note the recent cautious approach of even some of America’s closest allies.

This is also why some members of the UN Security Council are asking the US to lay down the evidence before launching any counter strikes into Afghanistan. And even in the US, voices are emerging about the need for hard evidence.

The Washington Post, one of America’s premier newspapers, yesterday wrote in its editorial: "The US should share as much evidence as is prudent...so that the reasons for naming Mr. bin Laden as the chief suspect behind last week’s atrocities become clearer."

But despite such exhortations, US leaders have been reluctant to lay out the evidence in public. Apart from vague media reports of cell phone intercepts immediately after the terror attacks, none of the evidence have come out into the open. Part of it is understandable.

If it were to be made public, the enemy could figure out how the evidence was got, giving away key operational secrets so jealously guarded by America’s intelligence agencies. Another reason could be, the US may not have that hard evidence, at least not at this moment.

The Atlantic Monthly, a conservative US magazine, published an insightful piece that laid bare the troubles within the Central Intelligence Agency’s counter-terrorism department. The article, penned by a 9 year veteran of the CIA, and which was published even before the terror attacks, detailed how CIA spooks were loathe to develop real intelligence sources inside Afghanistan and bin Laden’s radical movement. Without such sources, it is difficult to gather intelligence that can pin the blame conclusively on bin Laden.

NC leaders rule out interim govt

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Sept 20 – The Central Working Committee (CWC) of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC), the party’s apex body, today began assessing the ongoing peace talks between the government and the Maoists.

This meeting follows the decision by all the major political parties to meet individually and meet again among themselves to advise and help the government sketch a strategy on moving the peace talks ahead.

"Various issues concerning the nation including the Maoist issue were discussed. Members stressed that the Maoists have not been as responsive as the government side during the talks," said Sushil Koirala talking briefly after the meeting.

Koirala said today’s meeting was "inconclusive" and they would continue the meeting on Friday afternoon since there were still more members who were yet to express their views.

Among other topics, the CWC also discussed the issue of an interim government to include representatives from all the major political parties and possibly the Maoists too. However, leaders of the party flatly denied this option.

"There is no question of an interim government at all. This NC government will complete the full three years remaining in the tenure," said NC senior leader Krishna Prasad Bhattarai. "The government has a majority support of 113 lawmakers in Parliament and it will conduct the election at the end of the tenure."

"The Maoists need to give up their arms. There can’t be two parallel forces in the country," Bhattarai said.

Former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said that there was need for a "massive democratic unity" but did not elaborate on what his proposal was. The issue is expected to be discussed on Friday.

During the all party meet on Sunday, major political parties reviewed the developments following the second round of peace talks last week and decided to meet again to sketch out strategy before the next round of peace talks.

Most of the parties have expressed support to the outright rejection by the government of the demands put forth by the Maoists for abolition of Constitutional Monarchy and the Parliament.

The second round of meeting ended in a deadlock on Friday last week, after the government negotiators made the rejection. The Maoist representatives instead asked the government to make public the names of their comrades still reported missing, release and take back cases against those in custody, scrap the Integrated Security Development Programme and the Public Security Regulations.

Leader of the Maoist negotiators Krishna Bahadur Mahara has made it clear that unless these demands are met, there would be no third round of talks. He also threatened that the indifference on the part of the government could result in the Maoists leaving the peace talks and taking up arms again.

‘Govt set to open NDC Secretariat’

KATHMANDU, Sept 20 (PR)– The government is in the process of setting up a separate National Defense Council Secretariat, and preparations are already underway to recruit as many as 50 staff who include civil servants and the Royal Nepal Army as well as the Nepal Police personnel, confidential sources said Thursday.

According to the plan, a new organizational structure has been drawn up according to which the secretary of the Secretariat will also work as the secretary at the Council. The secretary will be appointed by His Majesty the King on recommendation of the National Defense Council, which will comprise of HM King, Prime Minister, Chief of Army Staff and Defense Minister.

A team of military officials including a Major General from the Royal Nepal Army, and two Deputy Inspector General of Police from the Nepal Police’s Janapad and Armed forces and senior officials from the Special Police and National Investigation Department will be staffed at the Secretariat, according to the sources.

A number of security advisors will also be appointed at the Secretariat, to regularly advise the Prime Minister about the country’s security situation on the basis of day-to-day analyses. The army and the police will cooperate with the advisors.

"The main function of the secretariat will be to advise the Prime Minister about the security situation in the country and help formulate programmes and policies," the source told The Kathmandu Post. "The secretariat will coordinate with the security authorities such as the police and the army."

KMC to investigate into misuse of facilities by its members

By Razen Manandhar

KATHMANDU, Sept 20 – Kathmandu Metropolitan City members, who have been enjoying many facilities till now, may have to lose them soon.

The KMC has decided to look into the facilities enjoyed by its members after some of them were found involved in irregularities and abuse of the facilities.

"Most of the local representatives" of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) will come into close scrutiny, a source at the KMC office said here today.

"The KMC board meeting last Monday decided to investigate on the ward members’ misusing the facilities provided to them from the resources of the KMC," said Naresh Kumar Regmi, assistant executive officer of KMC.

The KMC meeting has assigned chairman of the ward 28 Subhan Kumar Shrestha to investigate this case and present a report in the next board meeting, according to Regmi.

The last City Council meeting, more than six months ago, had asked all its members to return the KMC-owned vehicles, as transportation allowance was provided to them.

But most of the members did not return the cars or motorcycles they were using even as they continued to the travel allowance. The members receive Rs. 4,500 to Rs. 7,000 every month as transportation and telephone allowances.

KMC has issued at least 69 motorcycles and several other vehicles in the name of their members as per the official records, a KMC official said.

A majority of the members have been enjoying these dual facilities of using the vehicles and taking the travel allowance, admits one of the members. "And the KMC administration has no knowledge about this as there is no updated official record on this."

"But nobody raised this issue till now as almost all the members are using these facilities," the member said, requesting anonymity.

The same member told The Kathmandu Post that one of the members have even made KMC pay as much as over Rs 32,000 for his personal mobile phone in a single month.

"Some are even taking coupons from the KMC to fill the petrol in their vehicles, though they get travel allowance," says this disgruntled member. "One has even taken the office computer his home."

Though there was a debate on the issue of this misuse of double facility in the KMC board meeting, none was ready to take the responsibility of investigation, said Shrestha, who was one of the few who has been raising this issue.

"After the debate, the mayor gave this responsibility to me and now it is my duty to submit a report in the next board meeting," he said.

Maoists soften their stance on Monarchy

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Sept 20 - Signalling a significant departure from their earlier hard-line stance, the Maoists have reiterated that they are willing to accommodate the "reformed" Monarchy under the new constitution for which they have been pitching hard.

Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the chief Maoist negotiator, also cast a shadow on the next round of talks with the government, threatening to pull out of the process if the government "continued to wage war on us". The two sides have already held two rounds of talks, without any significant breakthrough.

Sharing an open platform with the representatives of the country’s two other political forces for the first time ever after the rebels waged war from the hills of Western Nepal nearly six years ago, Mahara on Thursday said that if the Monarchy changed itself, it could still exist, although he declined to elaborate what he meant by the "reformed" Monarchy".

This softening of their stance on one of their chief demands - a republican state - was reiterated by Mahara in the presence of Narhari Acharya, former spokesperson of the governing Nepali Congress (NC) and K P Sharma Oli, Standing Committee member of the main opposition Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist).

Mahara’s statement comes in sharp contrast to the Maoists’ earlier position that they would not compromise on their demand to turn the only Hindu Kingdom in the world into a republic. "If the Monarchy is willing to undergo changes, then it can also be accommodated in the new set-up," said Mahara, adding, "But Monarchy in its present state is not acceptable to people as they do not have the same faith that they had before the Royal massacre in June."

Expectedly, Acharya and Oli opposed the demands, saying the country was not yet ripe for this momentous change. "The Monarchy is undergoing transformation and it will take time before it completes the process. So, our party does not think that republic is necessary," said Acharya. He also pointed out that North Korea and Cuba are republics but "in effect they are monarchies without crown. Do we want these kinds of republic?"

Oli, who said that peace in the country was of paramount importance, said the demand for the republic was irrelevant as the Maoist leadership has already forsaken the demand. "They are raising the demand only to pacify their cadre."

He urged the government and the Maoists to avoid feeling smug by starting the negotiations. "There is lot to be done and both sides must try to reach a logical conclusion."

However, the two leaders contended that the Maoists’ demands for a new Constitution could be considered, but without completely annulling the present one.

Mahara and Acharya traded charges about the violation of the atmosphere of the talks. While Acharya accused the rebels of continued vandalism and extortion, the Maoists, in turn, charged the government of waging war against them by arresting their supporters and seizing their documents.

The Maoist leader also warned the government not to club together terrorists’ acts in the world and the people’s wish for a change. "It will be a big stupidity," thundered Mahara. He was referring to the recent attacks on the US, accusing the superpower of being a centre and source of global terrorism.

Referring to the talks, the Maoist leader said that the government team must adopt a new approach while dealing with the rebels. Mahara said that government and other political parties should not judge them from within the bounds of the present Constitution. He asked that the Maoists should be treated as a potent force outside the Constitution.

Later talking to reporters, the chief Maoist negotiator said the Maoists would not enter into the third round of talks unless the government released their supporters and pay the costs of the damages they suffered. "If the government thinks that they can be autocratic then they must be prepared for any eventuality. We will not hesitate to take up arms again if we have to. We will not be responsible for that eventuality."

He also expressed the fears that the government forces have killed Dandapani Neupane and 71 other Maoists, about whose whereabouts the government has reiterated that it has no information. He added that his party would take a decision on the continuance of the talks with the government if the latter refused to release the recently held sympathisers. He admitted that 50-odd policemen from Holeri are still in the Maoists’ custody and would be released if the government releases some 300 jailed rebels.