50 killed in deadly Maoist raids in Dang

By Sudarshan Rijal & K P Ghimire

SADBARIYA, Dang, April 12 : At least 50 people, including four civilians, were killed Thursday night in the mid-western district of Dang when Maoist rebels launched simultaneous raids on an Armed Police Force (APF) base in Sadbariya, an area police office in Lamahi and Bhalubang. Security sources suspect that around 50 rebels were killed in the clashes.

The APF base camp in Sadbariya and the police post in Lamahi are located along the busy East-West Highway and about 25 and 30-km south of Ghorahi, the district headquarters of Dang.

After inspecting the clash sites, AIG (Additional Inspector General of Police of the APF), Sahabir Thapa, told reporters that 37 personnel of the APF, including Deputy Superintendent of Police Dhan Bahadur Basnet and three Police Inspectors were killed in the Sadbariya raid. There were 120 police personnel in Sadbariya.

AIG Thapa said that 29 personnel sustained serious injuries while eight others were still missing after a fierce battle that lasted about five hours. Forty-six other APF personnel sustained minor injuries in Sadbariya base camp.

Four civilians travelling in night buses from Kathmandu were also killed in the crossfire in Bhalubang, about 25-km east of Lamahi. The civilians killed in the crossfire have been identified as driver of the night bus (Se 2 A 1334) Mahendra Shrestha of Syangja and Kusendra Kharel of Bardiya, a passenger travelling in another bus (9655). Two others are yet to be identified. Our reporter in Butwal said that four other passengers were also injured in the crossfire and they were rushed to Zonal Hospital in Butwal for treatment.

AIG Thapa said the rebels made off with 96 Self-Loading Rifles and Light Machine Guns from the base camp. Six 303 rifles and one Chinese-made pistol left behind by the rebels were recovered today from the site.

In yet another audacious attack, the Maoist guerrillas killed nine police personnel including Police Inspector Padam Adhikari in Lamahi-based area police outpost. Thirteen other policemen were injured in the gunfight. Chief District Officer of Dang Mathur Prasad Yadav said that the rebels looted most of the arms from the outpost.

All the injured police personnel were rushed to Nepalgunj and Kathmandu for treatment. The rebels also ransacked Rs 1.6 million in cash and other valuables from two branch offices of Agriculture Development Bank and Rastriya Banijya Bank in Lamahi. They also set the office on fire, said Sobharam KC, Officiating Manager of Rastriya Banijya Bank.

The rebels had earlier blocked the busy highway and a link road to Ghorahi by felling big trees and laying landmines at several places to prevent the government reinforcements from reaching the battle sites.

Locals said that the rebels had also exchanged fire with security personnel in Ghorahi, Tulsipur Municipality and Bhalubang to divert the attention of the security forces from Lamahi and Sadbariya.

The surviving policemen said that the rebels retreated for a while after a helicopter equipped with nigh vision sights flew in the area and began aerial offensives. But soon after the chopper disappeared, the rebels caused heavy casualties on the security side, said the victims. Communication between the Sadbariya base camp and the police post in Lamahi was disconnected within half an hour of the clashes. The survivors said that the rebels had also used long-range weapons while attacking the Sadbariya base camp.

Rescue teams of the security forces could reach the battle sites only on Friday morning as it took hours for them to clear the highways blocked by the rebels.

Though the highway was opened for vehicular movement from Friday morning, Lamahi bazaar remained closed throughout the day due to the nightmare. The rebels had also attacked a sub-station of the national power grid resulting in disruption of power supply to the mid-and far-west Nepal.

Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry confirmed 46 security personnel dead in Sadbariya and Lamahi incidents. The Ministry said that the security forces have encircled the area to hunt down the Maoist "terrorists."

In a press statement issued today by the Ministry, a meeting of the Defence Council held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba took stock of security situation. PM Deuba gave instruction to the security officials to immediately improve security arrangements by learning lesson from last night’s Maoist attacks.

The Ministry also added that eight Maoists were gunned down in Palpa, Humla, Kathmandu and Ramechhap district on Thursday.

Lower House passes four crucial bills

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KATHMANDU, April 12 : The House of Representatives on Friday passed the four crucial Bills unanimously with the suggested changes agreed upon yesterday at a meeting of an informal joint parliamentary task force comprising lawmakers from all the parties in parliament.

The bills will be sent tomorrow to the Upper House, the National Assembly, which is expected to pass them after a lapse of 72 hours on Tuesday.

Some of the contentious provisions which not only raised the heckles of many of the opposition lawmakers but also of the constitutional anti-corruption body – the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) – have been removed.

The parliamentarians agreed to include the ministers’ and quasi-judicial units’ decisions under the purview of the CIAA investigation and subsequent action, deleted the provision of setting time limit (of two years) for investigation into corruption by holders of public office and made it binding upon the government to take compulsory departmental action against officials if recommended so by the CIAA.

However, despite some opposition members’ reservations, policy decisions made by the Cabinet or any of its committees have been exempted from the purview of the CIAA.

The changes in the bills – CIAA (2nd Amendment) Bill (2002), Corruption Control Bill, (2002), Impeachment (Regulate Working Procedure) Bill (2002) and Special Court Bill (2002) – were tabled jointly by teams comprising both the governing and opposition lawmakers.

The CIAA Bill also has a provision that requires the officials to submit their property details at their concerned departments. Earlier provision required civil servants to submit their property details with the anti-corruption body.

Similarly, the lawmakers also decided to update a provision in the Impeachment Bill, increasing the number of parliamentarians in the proposed parliamentary impeachment probe committee to a maximum of 11 from three. The lawmakers also decided to empower the proposed parliamentary Probe Committee under the Bill to seek co-operation from any individual or any organisation during their investigation. Earlier, the committee was limited to seeking help only from the CIAA.

In the same Bill, the time limit for the probe has been increased by 30 days if the Speaker of the House felt there were sufficient grounds to add to the three-month probe limit.

Maoist tactics flayed

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KATHMANDU, April 12 : Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has condemned the recent Maoist tactics of targeting the telecommunication infrastructure, said a press release on Friday.

He has also flayed the recent tactics whereby the rebels have widened their sphere of activity to blocking food supply to Humla and Jumla. Their tactics of attacking the hydropower stations, drinking water facilities, pipelines and bridges too have come under fire.

Downer has also condemned the instances of kidnappings and torture, execution and intimidation of common people even as he has billed the moves as "deliberate moves to undermine the development of Nepal and livelihood of the people.

Dang aftermath: The injured still dazed

By Seema A Adhikari

KATHMANDU, April 12 : "Am I dead or alive…?" 26-year-old police head constable Durga Bishwokarma, who sustained serious injuries during yesterday night’s fighting with the Maoist rebels in Dang district, was murmuring from a Bir Hospital bed where he was undergoing treatment.

Unlike other customary scenes in any of the police offices, senior police officers were guarding the injured Armed Police Force (APF) personnel, while some other policemen were removing the bloodstains and other dirt from the body and bed of their injured comrades.

These were some of the scenes what one could see in the country’s two prominent civilian hospitals – Bir Hospital and Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Some other injured policemen were taken to the Birendra Military Hospital, Chhauni and Dipendra Police Hospital.

Altogether 16 security men, including the APF personnel and policemen injured in massive Maoist assaults at various places in Dang district, were rushed to the capital’s hospitals at about 10:00 a.m. Most of them were immediately rushed to the Bir Hospital, said a top-ranking APF officer who was there at the hospital premises guarding the injured.

Doctors and all the hospital staff at the Emergency Ward were seen rushing to facilitate the treatment to the injured cops. Three of the APF personnel were transferred to the Medical Observation Room after minor treatment while one of the seriously injured among them was still lying at the Emergency Ward until late afternoon.

From the Medical Observation Room, 24-year-old Makkar Bahadur Rai, another APF man who fought all the night yesterday, said out of unconsciousness, "I don’t remember anything except fighting for several hours. And, where am I now?" Rai has bullet shots and injuries on his forehead and eyes.

"Among the four APF personnel, Rajendra Sapkota’s condition is very critical due to major blows on the head, eye and mouth," said Dr. B. P. Pant of the Emergency Department at the Bir Hospital.

This is the first ever attack against the APF that was established two years ago with the view of quelling the Maoist insurgency.

Among the three injured armed policemen who were brought to the Teaching Hospital, one of them is undergoing abdominal operation due to massive bullet shots, while leg and hand bones of other two been ruptured, said one of the doctors at the Emergency Ward at the Teaching Hospital.

Later this evening, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba held an emergency meeting with all the security chiefs, including Chief of Army Staff Prajwolla SJB Rana, said an APF officer. Altogether 17 dead bodies – 15 of the APF personnel and two of the civilian police force – who lost their life in yesterday’s fighting were brought to the capital today.

US assistance

KATHMANDU, April 12 (PR) - The United States embassy has announced humanitarian assistance to the tune of US $ 100 thousand to fund programmes targeted at victims of the Maoist insurgency on Friday. The money will be chanellised through non-governmental organisations, which assess and fund programmes related to the rehabilitation of the affected people, the press release issued by the mission said. The US embassy has also announced US$ 111 thousand grant to the National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET) to fund Earthquake Action Plan Implementation Project.

Petrol bombs hurled

KATHMANDU, April 12 (PR) - The outlawed Maoists hurled petrol bombs at five different police beats in the capital Friday morning causing minor damages.

The Maoists exploded bombs in the police beats at Buddha Nagar, Bansbari, Dhumbarahi, Mandikhatar, Dhalkopakha and Samakhushi at around 3-4 a.m. The police beat at Mandikhatar has been blown up but no injuries have been reported.

The NSET assists the government by coordinating the demonstration of numerous organisations involved in disaster management.

Indian grant for telecom project

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KATHMANDU, April 12 : India has extended grant assistance to the tune of Rs.1344 million to Nepal for setting up optical fibre cable based 1,000 km-long information superhighway on Friday. The memorandum of understanding to this effect was signed on Friday by Indian ambassador to Nepal and Finance Secretary.

Once completed in two years, the project is expected to cover 81 important cities and towns from Bhadrapur in the east to Nepalgunj in the west, which account for very large section of the telecom users in the country.

" The project involves setting up of "synchronous digital hierarchy" equipment to connect the country’s telecom network via 24 core optical fibre armoured cable," the press release issued by Indian embassy said.

The assistance comes at a time when customers seek access to voice, data, video and information irrespective of the location. The first optical fibre cable link under Indian assistance was set up between Birgunj and Raxaul.

The project will be executed by Indian telecom company, Telecommunication Consultants India Ltd, the press release further said, adding that it will greatly strengthen the capabilities of Nepal Telecommunication Corporation and that of the private cellular, basic and value-added service providers by expanding their network and also by introducing state of the art services.

" It will not only remove the current bottlenecks but will also add to the existing infrastructure," the press release further said.

Indian cooperation in the field of telecommunication goes back to the year 1950 when the Indian side established radio telephone link between Kathmandu and New Delhi. This was later followed by setting up facilities like radio telegraph, teleprinter and trunk lines.

Fake certificate probe makes officials flee

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KATHMANDU, April 12 : Eleven government officials suspected of possessing fraudulent certificates have been found fleeing from their offices as the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) initiated action against them, sources at the CIAA said Friday.

Officials at the CIAA certificate investigation section said they were accused of possessing counterfeit certificates and were serving in various government offices. The CIAA officials said they remain absconding after it began a probe against them. CIAA however, did not give names and other details of the colleges they have obtained their fake certificates from.

However, they indicated that most of these officials obtained their certificates from Indian universities in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India.

The officials at the CIAA certificate investigation section said these officials failed to turn up after they have been asked to summon before the office for verification. "When we made an inquiry in their respective districts, they were found missing. No one knows their whereabouts," said an official at the CIAA requesting anonymity.

Dashi Ram Panthi, a Section Officer at the Election Commission (EC) similarly fled his office recently after the CIAA ordered a probe against him for allegedly possessing fake certificates just to get a job in the EC.

In its latest bid to track down the public servants obtaining their fake certificates, the CIAA has indicted 30 government officials. The accused mostly include those holding ranks from third class to first class gazetted officials, leaving aside other employees.

Meanwhile, sources at the Ministry of Education and Sports said it has collected certificates of teachers and other government officials from about 40 districts. According to Spokesperson Yuba Raj Pandey, the Ministry will hand-over the suspected documents to the CIAA on Monday. Investigation of teachers’ certificates began in August last year.

Sources at the District Education Office (DEO), Lalitpur said the work of certificate verification has not yet been over. The work has mostly been delayed due to a delay in issue of certificates by the concerned offices at Sanothimi and Jamal.

Most of sex workers are waitresses, masseuses: Report

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KATHMANDU, April 12 : About 81 per cent of the total commercial sex workers (CSWs) in capital are the girls and women employed as waitresses and masseuses, a study report released here today by the International Labour Organisation said.

However, the study has showed low prevalence of STD and HIV/AIDS among the capital’s commercial sex workers.

According to the study conducted recently by the ILO’s International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), a sample size of 440 CSWs was evaluated among which were 302 adults and 138 children. They were chosen from three sites - streets, restaurants and massage parlours in Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts. And 357 of them have been found to be working as waitresses and masseuses.

The three-month long study has also revealed that a majority of the CSWs enter the sex trade at an early age, as 20 per cent of them began working as sex workers before 15 years of age and 25 per cent entered the profession before turning 18.

The study was conducted under the ILO-IPEC Trafficking in Children Project (South Asia), focussing on the girls below 18 years of age.

The study conducted in 1999 said that there are an estimated 2,650 girls and women working as commercial sex workers in the Kathmandu Valley.

Interestingly, the report has revealed that the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and symptoms of STDs is quite low among the CSWs. "This can be attributed to the existing NGO programmes targeting these issues, as 92 per cent of them were found aware about the disease," the report said.

The study further revealed that the proportion of children working in the restaurants is significantly high. In some cases, husbands were found to remain silent despite knowing that their wives are in the sex trade, as more than half of the female CSWs in Kathmandu are married and three-fourth of them have children.

However, almost the entire CSWs are willing to shift their profession if given better opportunities. All girls clearly stated that if they were given an alternative opportunity to work, they would willingly shift away from prostitution, the report stated.

Six per cent of the CSWs were forced into the trade or deceived with false promises, it is stated in a report released here today amid a function.

At the function, Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Rajendra Kharel said the trafficking of girls and women in Nepal are very high due to poverty and illiteracy. He informed that the government is soon tabling a bill in the parliament to control domestic violence.

Leyla Tegmo-Reddy, Director of ILO Office-Nepal, said the study was carried out in three categories - internal trafficking among child sex workers, trafficking and sexual abuse among the street children, and cross-border trafficking of boys.

She also expressed her hope that the study would be useful in formulating policies and programmes for the welfare of CSWs and prostitutes. She also revealed that ILO has been developing implementation strategies for a new time-bound programme to eliminate the worst form of child labour in 35 districts of the country.

Chief Technical Advisor of ILO/IPEC Tine Staermose said the research has been designed specifically as action research to provide base lines for effective interventions.