No casualties reported
Massive fire engulfs Biratnagar Jute Mills

By Binod Bhandary

BIRATNAGAR, Dec 14:A major fire broke out in Biratnagar Jute Mills early on Saturday evening and blazed uncontrollably until late evening, possibly causing millions of rupees worth damages to the country’s oldest factory.

At least four fire-fighting vehicles were rushed to the scene but they could not keep the blaze away, reports our correspondents from the district.

The fire apparently started at the ‘belching department’ following a short circuit in the electric lines in the main building inside the factory, where the materials were used for stuffing and are processed into ready-made goods.

However, according to police, it was too early to accurately assess the damages, as the massive blaze continued to ravage the mills for several hours in the night. "We have not been able to control the fire still, nor could we assess the damages this early," said superintendent of police Sharad Kumar Khatri.

"The fire broke out from belching department inside the factory and is still uncontrollable," said Dinesh Golchha, one of the investors of the mills.

While the government has a share of 46 per cent, there are eight other private businessmen who have invested the remaining portion of the shares in the mills, which employs some 1,800 people.

The cloud of black smoke was visible from several kilometres far. Emergency services are still fighting the blaze but no casualties have been reported.

The factory, which had been shut for several months, has been hired and run by Golchha Organisation since November last year.

Meanwhile, reports stated that a paper mills factory similarly caught fire in Gaidakot, Nawalparasi this afternoon, causing damages worth several thousands of rupees.

The fire broke out at around 12 noon on Saturday. It destroyed about 100 trucks of straw. It is presumed that the fire broke out after a truck’s silencer pipe burst out in flames in an accident, according to police.

RPP convention concludes

Post Report

POKHARA, Dec 14:Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s third National Convention concluded here today with the voting for a chairman and eighteen other members for the next four years term.

The counting of the votes continued upto Saturday midnight but the final results are yet to come in.

Results of the four reserved women’s seat has been declared by Saturday evening but vote counting of other members is still continuing. Pratibha Rana, Renu Yadav, Durga Shreshtha and Roshan Karki have been elected to the post of central committee members.

The result is expected to come by early morning on Sunday. A strong candidate for chairman Pashupati SJB Rana commented to The Sunday Post that his first efforts would be to accommodate the views others in each and every important party decision if he wins.

Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani, another contestant, said the winner should have a wide heart to lead the party towards further progress.

There were very few signs of lobbying during the run-up to the polls. Most of the voters cast their votes on the basis of panel and only few votes were cast independently.

PABSON extends closure upto Dec 22
ANNISU-R sticks to demands, warns nation-wide strike

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Dec 14:The strike on educational institutions has been extended further to December 22, as pressures continue to mount from the All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union (Revolutionary), a student wing of the Maoists, which demands radical reforms in the education sector. And if the situation turns much grave, the closure could be extended even further.

A decision to this effect has been arrived at during a meeting of the organisations of private and boarding schools in the Capital today due to intense pressure from the ANNISU-R.

Earlier in the week, over 4,000 schools and campuses around the Valley were forced to close due to the ANNISU-R’s indefinite strike call.

The strike is set to create more havoc on about 1,700 private and 8,000 public schools in the Valley and about 102 Campuses, affiliated to Tribhuvan University (TU), 13 affiliated to Pokhara University, 25 to Purbanchal University and three to Kathmandu University. An estimated 800,000 students throughout the three districts of Kathamndu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur will be gravely affected by the strikes.

The private schools’ organisations, guardians’ association and human rights activists since Monday, held numerous meetings after the Education Ministry had shown its reluctance to hold a dialogue with the rebel students. TheANNISU-R and the government Ministry have been drawn to the conflict, with both sides unable to come to the table.

Last week, the ANNISU-R rejected a package of education reforms announced by the government labelling it as "unsatisfactory" and "hollow". The revolutionary Maoist students demand further reforms and say that unless the government removes the "terrorists" tag imposed on their organisation, they would continue with their indefinite strikes. They also demand free schooling up to secondary level while demanding the government to end what they describe as "commercialisation" of education sector.

In a press statement issued today, ANNISU-R’s president Devendra Parajuli warned that his organisation’s indefinite strike call on education sector would not be restricted to Kathmandu Valley alone. He warned that the strikes might be launched nation-wide unless the government stops branding them as ‘terrorists’ and initiate a dialogue with them.

The ANNISU-R today announced that the strikes would be launched in other districts of the country, if their demands were not met, a spokesperson for PABSON told The Sunday Post referring to revolutionary’s latest statement, which was issued to the PABSON.

"After a long deliberation today, we decided to extend the closure until next Sunday (Paush 7)," said Bhoj Bahadur Shah, general secretary of PABSON.

"This is done to intensify the on-going efforts of the human rights activists to bring the government and the revolutionary students in the negotiating table," he added. PABSON believes that only a negotiated settlement of the crisis in education could ensure safe running of schools.

A joint network, comprising of over two dozens of organisations and led by eminent human rights activists Padma Ratna Tuladhar, Sudeep Pathak and Birendra Pokhrel, has been holding discussions with the Education Minister Ojha and the ANNISU- R, to end the crisis. The group has in the last three days tried in vain to bring the two sides to the table, creating further uncertainty.

Minister Ojha had earlier said that he had not ruled out talks with the ANNISU-R but insisted that the latter must renounce violence in the first place.

The ANNISU-R has been demanding radical changes in Nepal’s education system. But they have often resorted to bombing schools and education offices during previous strikes, and the education authorities have said that they are not going to hold dialogue with the revolutionary unless they abandon their violent path to achieve their objectives.

Polls possible within six months: PM Chand

Post Report

POKHARA, Dec 14:Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand on Saturday said that election could be held within six months, so as to avert a possible constitutional crisis. He was hinting at the stipulation in the constitution, which makes it mandatory for any person holding a position in the government to become a member of either House. As the ministers in the Chand Government are not members of Parliament, they need to get themselves elected within six months.

"As the present government does not want to precipitate any crisis, we may conduct elections within the next six months," said Chand at a face-to-face programme here, organised by the Reporters’ Club.

Chand also said that the recent royal audience to the leaders of the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML, might open the door for solving the ongoing crisis in the country. King Gyanendra had meetings with Girija Prasad Koirala, NC President last Thursday and with Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the CPN-UML the day after.

"I am happy they met the king and discussed the crisis in the country. It may open the door for creating an environment to give outlet to the present imbroglio," the Prime Minister said.

Terming the government’s stance on tagging the Maoists as terrorists correct, the Prime Minister, who arrived here on Saturday to cast his vote during the leadership selection polls of his party in the National Convention concluding here today, reaffirmed that they are "terrorists".

Saying that the earlier government’s decision to call the rebelling communists as terrorists is valid to his government too, the Prime Minister said, "The cabinet has not taken any decision to revoke the price tags on the heads of Maoists leaders".

The Prime Minister also used the face-face programme to criticise other political parties in the country for not supporting government’s efforts to bring the Maoists to peace talks through some non-government organisations.

"The efforts for peace talks are not yielding any concrete results," the Prime Minister said, adding "The political parties are not creating environment for the talks".

The Prime Minister told the gathering of newsmen that the government is determined to hold elections within six months, to ensure the Constitution is not affected.

Nepal gears up to improve standards of Asian Highway routes

By Surendra Phuyal

KATHMANDU, Dec 14:Road-transport officials in Nepal have begun preparations to improve the standards of the country’s major highways so as to make them compatible with the design and standards of the proposed Asian Highway (AH), a network of highways across the Asia Pacific, which would ultimately be linked with Europe.

"Our highways in the Terai meet the AH standards, but we may need to improve the engineering standards of our highways in the mountains in a few places," said Suresh Kumar Regmi, Deputy Director General at the maintenance division of the Department of Roads, under the government’s Ministry of Works and Transport. "And we are capable of doing that on our own."

The 1026-km East West Mechi to Mahakali Highway, the 174-km Tribhuvan Raxaul-Kathmandu Highway and the 130-km Kathmandu-Kodari Highway have been included in the 130,000-km network of highways, which would link hundreds of cities and towns of the Asia Pacific region.

"And the beauty of our geographical setting is that Nepal is situated along the alignment of highways linking Sri Lanka and India with the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China, where several major infrastructure projects are nearing completion," Regmi told The Sunday Post.

"Nepal may have remained a land-locked country, but it is set to become a land-linked country soon. It stands to benefit a lot from the Asian Highway."

Press reports from China, available in the Internet, say that the total length of highways in China totalled 27,000 kilometres by 2001-end, and 97 per cent of Tibet’s townships and 74

Their Majesties to visit Biratnagar

MORA NG, Dec 14 (PR)- His Majesty King Gyanendra and Her Majesty Queen Komal are slated to visit the industrial city of Biratnagar on January 3. Deputy Prime Minister Badri Prasad Mandal informed the heads of the government offices, industrialists, business people and intellectuals about Their Majesties’ visit on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a 1,101-member reception committee was formed under in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister Mandal, Minister for Information and Communications Ramesh Nath Pandey and the Minister for Land Reforms and Management and Forest Conservation Badri Narayan Basnet in coordination of Megh Raj Pandit, a member of Raj Parishad Standing Committee today.

Rocca meets Deuba

KATHMANDU, Dec 14 (PR)- The US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Christina Rocca had a meeting with former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Saturday. During the meeting they discussed current the political scenario and bilateral issues, a press release issued by Nepali Congress (Democratic) said. Also present were US ambassador to Nepal and Deputy Commissioner of the US mission.

Petition to King against two dailies

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Dec 14:Two individuals submitted a petition on Saturday to His Majesty the King, urging for closure of the English daily, The Himalayan Times and the Nepali daily Annapurna Post, both published from the capital, claiming that the publications are operating illegally on foreign investment and management.

The two, namely Ram Bahadur Subedi and Bishnu Gopal Verma of New Baneshwor, also pleaded for the cancellation of the citizenship certificate of the papers’ investor, Ravin Shepherd Lama, alleging he was not a Nepali citizen and holds an illegal citizenship certificate. They reportedly produced evidence in support of their claims.

The duo had on Friday petitioned the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and the District Administration Office, Kathmandu, asking for the same action against the dailies and also Lama. They have also petitioned the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the Minister for Information and Communications demanding action on the issue.

The petition to the king alleged that foreign investment in local media would facilitate conspiracy against the country.

Meanwhile in Biratnagar, Minister for Information and Communications Ramesh Nath Pandey said today that the local district administration was probing the alleged foreign investment and management of the two dailies.

Speaking to reporters during the inspection of Radio Nepal’s transmission centre in Dharan, Pandey said, "I have heard about the probe. Necessary action is going on at the appropriate level."

The Kathmandu district administration started the probe into The Himalayan Times after its publisher filed an application, demanding its closure on the grounds of it being run by illegal foreign investment and management. Similarly, Annapurna Post that has appeared in broad-sheet format, with more pages from Thursday, has allegedly not completed the required legal formalities.

Refugees urge international community to intervene

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Dec 14:The Bhutanese refugees of the Khudunabari camp in Jhapa district have appealed the international community to urge both Nepal and Bhutan to declare the results of the refugee verification of the camp and resolve the long-festering refugee crisis.

A statement issued today on behalf of the refugees by Kamala Khadka, camp secretary at Khudunabari, urged the governments of Nepal and Bhutan to make the results public, start verification in other camps and the start the process of repatriation and rehabilitation of the verified refugees. Friday marked one year of completion of verification in the camp by Nepal-Bhutan Joint Verification Team (JVT).

The refugees said that although they possessed documentary evidence of being Bhutanese nationals prior to their eviction from the Druk Kingdom, they accepted the verification exercise and co-operated with the process. Now they want the two governments to declare their nationality. An earlier appeal failed to elicit any response, they alleged.

The refugees also threatened "to launch a series of massive peaceful programmes from within the camps" if the verification results are not declared soon. They added that they cannot remain refugees any longer and demanded an end to the problem.

The JVT started the verification of the Khudunabari camp on March 26 last year and concluded on December 14, during which over 12,000 Lhotsampas (Bhutanese of Nepali origin) were verified. According to refugee leaders, the JVT findings have shown that more than 90 per cent of the camp dwellers are bona fide Bhutanese nationals.