9th SAF Games postponed amid mounting tension

By Suman Malla

KATHMANDU, Sept 23 - Any hopes that prevailed over the successful hosting of the 9th South Asian Federation (SAF) Games evaporated Sunday when Pakistan called off the Games owing to mounting tension there over the possible US strikes against Afghanistan.

Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) issued a press release here today about the postponement of the games, quoting a high-level official of the Games’ Technical Committee. "The Games have been postponed" said the NOC press release, signed by its president Rukma Shumsher Rana.

The Games were slated for October 6-15 in the Pakistani capital Islamabad and were expected to draw over 1,600 participants from the SAARC region.

And the Agence France Presse (AFP), in a news dispatched from Islamabad, confirmed the Games postponement.

"We announce with regret that due to recent happenings, the SAF Games are postponed for the time being," AFP quoted S K Tressler, minister for sports, tourism and cultural affairs, as saying.

The South Asian games are now likely to be held in February or March next year, Tressler said.

Major General Syed Arif Hussain, the head of the organising committee, as reported by AFP, said that technical delegates from the other countries had been unable to make it to Islamabad following advice from their governments not to travel to Pakistan. "In order to avoid being left in the lurch, we decided to postpone the holding of the games," he said.

The Games organisers in Pakistan, had been insisting until last week that the SAF Games would be held as per schedule assuring tight security to the visiting contingents and round-the-clock surveillance at all the Games venues. But with the US rapidly moving planes and ships to within striking distance of Afghanistan, a decision to call off the Games became inevitable.

The Nepali players, who were in closed camps, termed this latest development as a big letdown.

"This is very unfortunate for all of us," said Rajendra Kapali, a Nepali table tennis player, in his reaction to the news. "It’ll have a big negative impact especially on the newcomers. The concerned authorities have to make some arrangements now to keep the Nepali sports on roll."

Rukma Shumsher Rana, president of Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) and vice president of Nepal Sports Council (NSC) also expressed disappointment at the decision.

"We realise the current world situation evolved after the terrorist attacks in the US," said Rana. "However, we will continue to prepare our teams for the games to be held, hopefully in the next six months."

NSC has already spent over Rs 14.12 million on the training of the Nepali team. A majority of this amount has been spent in sending out the players to various countries for special training in foreign countries and closed-camps. The council had estimated a total Rs 36.6 million expense for the 220-member squad in 14 disciplines in the Games.

Boxing, karate and taekwondo squads are presently undergoing training in Pakistan, Iran and Thailand respectively.

According to a highly placed source at NSC, the council has urged all the players and coaches of the respective disciplines to report at its premises on Monday.

Judges flay new bill entitling CIAA

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Sept 23 - At a time when the parliamentary State Affairs Committee (SAC) is all set to forward the Bill that entitles the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to probe and prosecute judges on corruption charges, Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhyay and other senior justices have flayed such developments.

Chief Justice Upadhyay said the disciplinary actions, evaluations and control upon judges should be carried out from judiciary itself. All the jurists concur that if influence of other organs of state is exerted upon such matters, the independence of judiciary will be influenced in an inappropriate manner, added Upadhyay.

Upadhyay was speaking at a symposium on " The Role of Judicial Council to maintain the conduct of Judges" organized by SAARC Law, Nepal.

Upadhyay further said judicial immunity is always restricted by judicial liability. There is ‘Judge’s Code of Conduct." to be complied by the judges. Similar codes are being developed even in international level. "The Banglore meet has adopted propriety, Independence, Integrity, Impartiality, Equality, Competence Diligence and Accountability as ‘values’ for international standard for the code of conduct of judges", said Upadhyay.

Chairman of SAARC Law Justice Laxman Prasad Aryal warned that the constitution will turn in to a rag if we lose the independence of judiciary as it is achieved through a ‘silent revolution’ a long time from 2007 BS (1950). " If there is not an independent judiciary, all the freedoms including the press freedom will be thrown out and we will be back to 2007 (1950) again," said Aryal.

"If it so happens, the damage will be greater than that of Pentagon or the Twin Tower fall in the US. Therefore, the independent judiciary is a must not for the judges, nor for the institution but for the people at large", Aryal further said.

Another Justice Kedar Nath Upadhyay, Chairman of SAARC Law, Nepal Chapter said

independent judiciary is the soul of democratic system and it is contained in the constitution from the experiences gained in a long period of time in the past.

On the occasion, Chief Justice Upadhyay released a book that contains working papers and programs presented in Eight SAARC Law Conference held last year. The conference held on 22-24,2000 was participated by Chief Justices of SAARC countries.

" We could organize the best conference last year" said Purna Man Shakya, Secretary of SAARC Law.

In the program, separate three working papers were presented by justice Krishna Jung Rayamajhi, Secretary of Judicial Council Kashi Raj Dahal and advocate Prakash Osti. All the three papers were concentrated on conduct of judges and the role of the Judicial Council.

As stated in the Constitution the Judicial Council was established ten years ago to accomplish the functions relating to appointment, transfer, discipline, dismisses and other functions relating to judicial administration. But it was born full fledged when the Judicial Council Regulation was made four years ago.

Lawyers say the scope of Judicial Council is very broad but it is still left to accomplish many activities. Pointing out shortcomings, General Secretary of SAARC Law Bharat Upreti asked," Why some of the judges were made to resign and why not other actions (mere resignation) if they were really guilty?"

UML has edge over Maoists in wooing other Leftists

By Utpal Raj Misra

KATHMANDU, Sept 23 – The main opposition Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist) and the ultra-Left CPN (Maoists) are wooing smaller Left parties for unification or working alliance. But no concrete results have been accomplished yet.

It has been more than a month since the various Left parties started their unification process calling each other for dialogue. But they have not been able to sort out their differences till date. First, it was the main opposition party CPN-UML which formally called nine other "like minded parties" to discuss unification. Then the Maoists followed suit, coming forward with its own unification proposal.

Both these bigger Left forces in the country are trying to outdo each other to become the largest communist party. This tug-o-war between these two forces, the pragmatic and the dogmatic, started with each trying to get over another. But the proposal of the CPN (UML) is more practical as the smaller parties have differences with the Maoists’ "People’s war."

But none has come forward with any concrete plant whatsoever. Many small Left parties have serious ideological differences with these two major forces. They all claim that the call for unification of the parties in opposite poles of the "communist revolution" in Nepal is not just for strengthening the individual parties but for uniting the fragmented and therefore "weakened" communists.

Leaders of CPN-UML claim that the party is open to discuss unification with all "like minded parties" and say that the Maoists don’t fall in that category but don’t have any problems with Maoists initiating dialogues with other parties.

"All parties are free to talk with one another and we are not concerned about any other party other than ours sitting in dialogue with anyone. We are happy that they are exercising their rights as we are," says Bharat Mohan Adhikari, a politburo member of the CPN-UML, who also heads the party’s dialogue committee.

Leaders of other prominent left parties such as ML and the United People’s Front Nepal say that the dialogue is necessary but admit that unification with the Maoists would not be possible as there are some differences in principle. And the majority of the smaller parties too reiterate the same thing.

"We cannot unite with the Maoists as we have differences in principle but can certainly work together," says Siddhi Lal Singh, leader of the CPN (ML).

According to Singh, ML is talking with every left party and there always is possibility of a working unity with all of them. "But the merger is possible only with the UML," says Singh.

On the other hand, Lila Mani Pokharel, general secretary of the United People’s Front Nepal wipes out the possibility of unity with any party but says that it is the duty of all the left parties to sort out differences among them.

The UML did not even recognise the ML as a political party for the last four years, says Pokharel. "But now it has recognised it and is holding the dialogue for unity." In Pokharel’s view, the Maoists too have many positive points but they are presently making a political mistake. "But that should not be the reason why we should not talk with them," says Pokhrel.

But he adds that despite the differences, various Left parties’ effort to unify has brought these parties closer. "This process is a competition between the left parties to come up with the best communist theory and it is not going to end in the short run. This process will only end when there is a classless society."

So much for the conceptual explanation of the communists but as the present situation goes, the pragmatists have the upper hand in wooing the mediocre parties than the Maoists.

Security beefed up in Biratnagar

Post Report

BIRATNAGAR, Sept 23 - Security has been beefed up in this eastern frontier city and its neighbouring districts keeping in mind the 15th national conference of the Maoist affiliated All
Nepal National Independent Students’ Union (ANNISU)-Revolutionary.

Police and the Royal Nepal Army have jointly launched their night patrolling and have carried out security checking in most of the hotels and lodges of the city to thwart any impending violence during the union’s national conference. The union’s five-day 15th national conference is scheduled to start from Monday.

The police and army have focused their security checking on all people travelling to this city in public vehicles from Jhapa, Dhankuta, Tehrathum, Sunsari and other parts of the country, especially from the Mid-Western region.

A police official said that the security was beefed up to prevent the participants of the conference from bringing any firearms into the city. Meanwhile, the police arrested Indra Bahadur Magar along with four kilogrammes of explosives from his house at Indrapur VDC-3. "Our concern is on arms and explosives.

Therefore, we have been checking all guest houses, hotels and other probable places where the union cadres can hide such articles," the official said on condition of anonymity. On the other hand, Vice-President of the Union, Lekhnath Neupane, said that his organisation has requested the chief district officer not to flare up the situation by carrying out unnecessary checking.

The conference was scheduled to be held in the capital on September 17 but the venue had to be shifted to this frontier city after the government announced a ban on public meeting for one month. The ban, however, was lifted after the Maoist aligned sister organisations called off their much publicized meet for September 21 during which they had planned to gather around 200,000 people from across the country to show their strength in the capital.

Maoist-called left meet inconclusive

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Sept 23 – Meeting of left parties called by the Maoists concluded in the capital without any agreement, Sunday.

According to sources, the meeting attended by representatives of all 12 left parties including the main opposition CPN-UML assembled in Thankot of the capital remained inconclusive after they could not reach any agreement on changing the present constitution and conducting election for the constitutional assembly.

During today’s left-party meet, the participants only presented their parties’ policies, the source said.

Leader of UML KP Sharma Oli who attended the meeting, talking to The Kathmandu Post, said, "We cannot pursue constitutional assembly by leaving the constitutional monarchy. The only way out of the present crisis is the formation of interim government."

However, Sonam Lama of Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre) and Amik Sherchan of United People’s Front in the meeting had demanded for the constitutional assembly.

According to a participant who attended the meeting, CPN-ML did not present clear views. "General Secretary of CPN-ML Bamdev Gautam expressed dubious views in the meeting," he said.

Maoist leaders accuse of US for sponsoring terrorists

Post Report

LALITPUR, Sept 23 - High-level leaders of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) Sunday said the persons behind the September 11 terror attacks in the United States were none other than revolting US citizens.

Chief Maoist negotiator for the peace talks with the government Krishna Bahadur Mahara said, "The attacks were carried out by America’s own citizens, who were not satisfied with its rulers."

Mahara who is a politburo member of his party also labelled the USA as the "world’s biggest terrorist."

"The US has itself indulged in killing the people of poor countries, labelling them as terrorists," Mahara said in a Maoist mass meet organised in the historic Patan Durbar Square by its seven sister organisations amid tight security by the Maoists’ security squad.

He also blamed the US of sponsoring terrorists all over the world. This is the first comment from the Maoists on the terror attacks in the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and Pentagon in Washington.

Speaking on the same occasion, another Maoist negotiator Agni Prasad Sapkota said USA’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was the most infamous criminal organisation of the world.

"The CIA is the world’s most infamous criminal organisation," Sapkota said.

He also accused the CIA, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and India’s intelligent agency - Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), of designing a master-plan to suppress the Maoist’s "People’s War." "This trio is also responsible for wiping out the entire family of King Birendra on the fateful night of June 1," he added.

The mass meet was jointly organised by sister organisations of the Maoist party - All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union - Revolutionary, All Nepal Women’s Organisation -Revolutionary, All Nepal Peasants’ Organisation, Dalit Liberation Front, Newa Khala, Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions and Tamang National Liberation Front.

Both the leaders also came down heavily against the government for deciding to provide Nepal’s airspace and land to the US warplanes, for the probable attacks against Afghanistan.

Lawmaker of United People’s Front Lilamani Pokharel, who was invited as a guest to address the mass meet, echoed the Maoist’s voice. "The US attacks is a step taken against the capitalism and imperialism sponsored by the US," said Pokharel.

He also blamed the Bush administration for labelling everyone opposing the US "a terrorist". "If the US has the right to strike in Afghanistan, the terrorists too have the right to attack the US."

Maoist leader Mahara also warned the government not to try to bring the Maoists within the constitutional framework through the peace talks. "The exit of the present crisis in Nepal is the establishment of a republican state," he said.

Mahara also blamed the government of trying to jeopardise the environment of talks by massively mobilising the army in different parts of the country and by not fulfilling their minimum demands. "However, we are committed in solving the problem through dialogue," said Mahara.