Massive reforms in judiciary on the anvil: CJ

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KATHMANDU, Dec 16:Chief Justice Kedar Nath Upadhyaya today said he would bring about massive reforms in judiciary.

"Massive reforms are required in judiciary and I will bring them during my tenure," CJ Upadhyaya said.

He informed that the justices in the Supreme Court would be given different responsibilities besides dealing with the cases filed in the Court.

"The justices would be deputed to look after the judicial situation of districts and regional courts," CJ Upadhyaya said. "Even in dealing with activities in the apex court only senior justices would not be deputed."

He claimed that the division of works among the justices in the court would lessen the burden on only one justice and it would bring better output in judiciary.

He, however, said that the Court Management Paper prepared during the tenure of the erstwhile CJ Keshav Prasad Upadhyaya would be a ‘blue print’ for the court.

"Supreme Court is an eternal institution and there will not be any change with the change of its Chief Justice," CJ Upadhyaya said, while speaking at a programme organised to give a farewell to the outgoing CJ Keshav Prasad Upadhyaya and to welcome the newly appointed Chief Justice at the Supreme Court today.

CJ Upadhyaya said that he was grateful to the former CJ for his great contribution in judiciary.

Talking about the delay in appointing the justices in the supreme, appellate and district courts¸CJ Upadhyaya said that the Judicial Council has held routine meetings with no any outcome in the past.

Speaking at the programme, former chief justice Upadhyaya said the most significant factor in judiciary was not an individual but the system.

"Judiciary alone can not resolve all the problems but other components are equally important in this regard," Upadhyaya said.

Sharing his four decades of ups and downs during his service in judiciary, Upadhayaya said that the criticism would instigate him to go more effectively and the appreciation would inspire him.

"I was not so touched by both criticism and admiration in my life," Upadhyaya said.

Three diplomatic appointments finalised

KATHMANDU, Dec 16 (PR)- The government has decided appointments of at least three Nepali envoys, all career diplomats. However, official announcement may still take a few days.

Gyan Chandra Acharya, currently Joint Secretary and the Spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been designated as Nepal’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva. Pushkar Rajbhandari, a senior joint secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is being tipped as ambassador to Pakistan. The appointment was approved by a meeting of the cabinet today.

Likewise, Arjun Thapa, joint secretary in the ministry in charge of china affairs, is being posted as the deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York. Bhagirath Basnet, chief of the protocol division, is likely to be appointed ambassador to Bangladesh.

Don’t use education for political means: UNICEF chief

By Nitya Nanda Timsina

KATHMANDU, Dec 16:The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today appealed the concerned parties in Nepal to end the present school stalemate in the Kathmandu Valley, asking them not to use basic education for children as tool for political means.

"We are very concerned that basic education should not be used for political means," said Suomi Sakai, UNICEF Representative to Nepal, calling on both the government and the civil society to pay greater attention to basic education.

"School education, as a basic right, must be declared a zone of peace," Sakai told The Kathmandu Post. "But the community of parents must feel greater ownership and take care of schools at the time of crisis like this."

The appeal comes as all the schools in the Kathmandu Valley have been closed indefinitely, following the calls of the All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union - Revolutionary (ANNISU-R), a pro-Maoist students’ organisation, and possible violence in case of defiance.

The Private and Boarding Schools Organisation of Nepal (PABSON) has decided to close the schools after a growing threat from the Maoist students. PABSON extended the closure of the schools till December 22 to put pressure both on the government and the Maoist students to find a proper solution to restart the schools.

Nepal is one of the 25 countries in the world that is unlikely to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015, Sakai warned. "They include universal primary education and achieving gender equality in education."

UN member states, including Nepal, agreed on achieving six goals during the 2002 UN Special Session on Children, which is known as the ‘Millennium Development Goals’. As per this agreement, member states had pledged to ensure, by 2015, to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

Nepal has a Herculean task in achieving those goals at the current pace of development in light of these everyday strikes, Sakai further said.

"The strike exacerbates the situation but we are also concerned about other factors, including the violation of children’s right in Nepal," Sakai said. "Overall, the Nepalese children were already a disadvantage lot due to conflicts in the country," she added.

"It will be a tragedy if we do not educate Nepalese by the year 2015," Sakai warned.

UNICEF is currently providing US $ 7.25 million for funding education in Nepal with a campaign towards achieving Education for All (EFA) goals and achieving gender-parity in education by 2005. It supports formal education, child protection and alternate learning, both from its regular as well as other resources.

Nepal baffles Bangladesh to retain semi-final hopes

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KATHMANDU, Dec 16:Nepal today shrugged off its 27-run defeat against India with a two-wicket win over Bangladesh in a super league match to keep its hopes alive of making it to the semi-finals of the U-15 Asia Cup.

Putting in a fine all-round display, Nepal restricted Bangladesh to 180 for 9 in the allotted 40 overs, after opting to field first at the Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Led by a brilliant half century from opener Pawan Das, it overcame a disastrous start - six for one - to successfully chase the target in the penultimate ball of the innings.

Bantu Bataju drew first blood for Nepal when he clean bowled Zishan Abedin (9) to leave Bangladesh at 19 for 1. For his tight line and length, he was rewarded with the wicket of the other opener Mehdi Hasan (12), caught by Irfan Siddiqui, to make 35-2.

Ahad Hossain was the mainstay for Bangladesh as he lifted his side with a sensible 76 off 84 balls, including a six and 6 fours. He was involved in a couple of valuable stands: a 33-run partnership for the third wicket with Mazhar Uddin (21) and 61 for the fourth with Marshal Aub (30) to lead the Bangladesh innings to a respectable total.

Although Nepali skipper Raj Shrestha took some beating, he fought back with his left-arm spin to snare three wickets. Irfan Siddiqui was the other Nepali bowler to take two wickets while Paras Khadka and Susan Man Shrestha took a wicket apiece.

Chasing 181 for victory, Nepal lost Sunil Kumar Jain, who fell to Serajullah for one. But Das, a southpaw, showing great maturity, defied Bangladesh bowlers to hold on to the crease. Understanding the situation, he rarely played his shot in air while making 62 runs off 78 balls. His man-of-the-match-winning knock, before being run out, included only two boundaries while most of his runs came off singles and twos.

Das was given good company by Sharad Veswakar and Mahesh Chhetri to put Nepal back on track. Veswakar, who cracked a century against Kuwait, continuing his fine form with the bat, contributed 22 to take the total to 49 runs before he fell leg-before to Zishan Abedin. Mahesh Chhetri (25) then shared an important 67 run partnership for the third wicket.

Nepali batsmen, smelling victory in the match, nearly blundered in their hurry leading to four run-outs in the innings. It was left to Bataju again as he held his nerves to remain unbeaten on 22 to coast Nepal home in 39.5 overs.

The win puts Nepal at third place with four points in their group. India leads the group with nine points from two wins followed by Bangladesh with five. Nepal has a realistic chance of progressing to the last four of the tournament if it beats Kuwait in its last super league match on Wednesday and India takes its match against Bangladesh on the same day.

Governance, livelihood and bio-diversity conservation to be incorporated in community forestry

By Kiran Chapagain

KATHMANDU, Dec 16:In a bid to make community forestry ‘inclusive, more participatory and transparent’ and to weed out loopholes in the existing community-managed forest conservation practice in the country, efforts are underway, officials said.

Governance, livelihood and bio-diversity conservation have been incorporated in the present community forestry drive so as to make it more effective, said Dr. Keshav Raj Kandel, the Chief of Community Forestry Division (CFD) at the Department of Forest.

"We have forwarded the process of encompassing governance, livelihood and bio-diversity conservation in the existing community forestry drives," the CFD Chief told The Kathmandu Post.

It will take at least three years to see these new "ingredients" in the community involved forest conservation efforts being practised mostly in hills and mid-hills, and a few in the Terai, officials claim.

The government has taken the steps after having come to know that the indigenous forest conservation in the country contributed little towards sustainable forest management and improving the condition of the poor, women and other socially backward people, over the past two decades of its practice, officials said.

The inclusion of governance and livelihood will eliminate these drawbacks of community forest, officials said.

Begun in 1978, community forestry is one of the most successful forest conservation efforts in Nepal. More than 1.3 million households constituting 11,860 users’ groups, mostly in hills and mid-hills of the country, are managing nearly one million hectares of forest in the country. One users’ group is made up of 15 to 150 households.

A number of donors- American, Australian, British, German, Swiss and recently Dutch - are supporting community forestry programmes in 58 out of 73 districts where this programme is operative.

According to Krishna Bahadur Shrestha, former Chief of the CFD, in the earlier practice of community forestry, focus was only on forest conservation ‘at any cost’ but little attention was paid to governance, livelihood and to over all bio-diversity conservation.

"As a result, the conservation efforts yielded little in sustainable forest management and in improving livelihood of the people living the poverty line and other socially backward people," Shrestha said.

According to knowledgeable sources, the voice of these people are not heard by some elite people, who capture the executive body of most forest user groups in managing forests and in benefit sharing. Besides, the most serious problem of the community forestry at the moment is the lack of sustainable management.

The forest operational plan guides how much volume of forest products should be extracted at a time from a particular patch of jungle and how many plants should be planted whereas the inventory helps assess the total volume of forest in a particular jungle.

"These problems have cropped up due to absence of effective governance," former CFD chief concludes.

But officials are optimistic that these loopholes seen in the community forestry will be avoided as these newly incorporated ‘ingredients’ make appearance in the existing forest conservation efforts by communities.

"Realising the weakness of community forestry from the past experience, we have began to include governance, livelihood and bio-diversity conservation in the present practice of forest conservation," says CFD chief Kandel.

Meanwhile, the CFD has started initiatives to hold interaction and experience sharing among different community forest projects in a bid to calm down criticisms that the projects lack co-ordination.

Similarly, the Maoist insurgency has affected the revision of the forest operational plan and making the existing inventory understandable to members of community forest users’ groups. The operational plan was due to be revised two years ago.

UML soon to decide further protest programme

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KATHMANDU, Dec 16:The Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist and Leninist (CPN-UML) would soon come up with further pressurizing, non-cooperative and united agitation against the October 4 royal move, the UML-Standing Committee spokesperson Iswor Pokharel said today.

"The central committee meeting to be held on December 19 will take specific decisions in this regard," Pokharel said.

He, however claimed that the party would soon initiate dialogues with other political parties to go unitedly against the royal move.

The UML’s one-month people’s awareness programme carried out across the country concluded yesterday. The party supremo has already warned the king to immediately rectify the errors committed by him or face severe consequences.

The leaders of the party even went to the extent of uprooting monarchy from Nepal in case the king did not follow the suggestions given by the political parties.

The party Standing Committee meeting held at the party central office at Balkhu today concluded that yesterday’s mass meeting called by the party in the capital was effective enough to make their voice heard by the concerned authority.

However, the meeting flayed the government’s foul attempt of stopping the party cadres from taking part in the mass meeting.

The attention was also drawn at the meeting towards the presentation of the party programmes through government media, a press statement issued by the party central office said.

"The government media always tried to downplay the party’s activities carried out across the country against the royal move," the statement said.

The meeting gave directives to all its sister organisations, co-ordinating committees to immediately work for collecting relief fund for the fire victims in Tehrathum.

Mask rally held to protest royal move

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KATHMANDU, Dec 16:Nepal Tarun Dal, the youth wing of Nepali Congress (Democratic), held a rally in the capital today to protest the October 4 royal proclamation.

The protesters marched through the city with their faces covered with masks of 22 incumbent ministers appointed by the king after Sher Bahadur Deuba’s government was sacked for failing to conduct the elections on schedule.

The masked rally, called locally as "Bukhyacha rally", chanted slogans against the king’s move to sack the democratically elected Prime Minister. Rally demanded withdrawal of royal proclamation and end of anti-democratic actions.

Addressing the participants of the rally, Tarun Dal president Balakrishna Khand said the rally was held to make the public aware of their rights and also to show the face of present government members before the society.

Meanwhile, NC (Democratic) today said it is organising peace rallies in nine big cities in country on Dec 31 to spread a message of peace to all sectors of the society and the parties involved in terror.

The rally is scheduled on the date to mark the day of return of BP Koirala and Ganeshman Singh after giving up their self-exile in 1976.

The rallies will be organised in Jhapa, Janakpur Birgunj, Rupandehi, Nepalgunj, Pokhara, Chitwan, Kanchanpur and Bhaktapur.

Pandey assures of probe into RSS report

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KATHMANDU, Dec 16:Minister for Information and Communications, Ramesh Nath Pandey today assured that the government would probe into the motive and circumstances under which the state-controlled news agency - RSS - circulated news accusing former prime minister late Manmohan Adhikari, among others, having inappropriately taken government money for medical treatment.

Responding to the queries raised by the Upper House’s Remote Area Committee (RAC) in the Parliament Secretariat, Pandey said, "I will find out the causes of broadcasting the news through government-run media."

The National News Agency (RSS) had published a news report a couple of weeks ago, accusing some former parliamentarians including late Adhikari of having received medical allowances illegally, citing the latest report of parliamentary Public Account Committee (PAC).

The RAC members criticised the government for "deliberately defaming the political parties and the leaders" through government-run media. The PAC is not functioning since the dissolution of House of Representatives seven months ago but the report is claimed to have released on December 4," said Gaura Koirala, the RAC chairman.

"The news has been published and broadcast with a view to defame the party leaders and the parliament members as it happened on the day when the committee meetings would
commence."

The committee members claimed that the Parliament Secretariat had paid the bill for treatment of former PM Adhikari and another member of his cabinet KP Sharma Oli, who were seriously injured in a helicopter crash. The RAC members claimed that all the bills were cleared five years ago.

On the occasion, Minister Pandey informed that 19 districts are currently without telephone connection due to Maoist attacks on the repeater towers and exchanges. "Repeater towers in 276 places in 45 districts have been attacked by the Maoists so far and it would take about three years to return to the previous condition," Pandey said.

He said the government has started setting up V-sat telephones in some districts to establish link with the district headquarters.

Charge-sheet against Wagle to be filed today

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KATHMANDU, Dec 16:The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) is all set to file a charge-sheet against former minister Chiranjivi Wagle at the Special Court tomorrow.

Prem Raj Karki, a CIAA prosecutor, seeking three days’ of judicial remand to Wagle today at the Special Court said the Commission had already completed investigation upon Wagle and it required three days to file a charge sheet against him.

The Special Court, in the meantime, granted the Commission of three days judicial remand to Wagle effective from December 14.

Wagle has been charged of amassing huge amount of property through illegal means while assuming various ministerial positions in the past. He was under the judicial custody for the past two months.

Meanwhile, the Special Court today released Bharat Ghimire, a clerk at the Tatopani Custom office, after furnishing the bail amount of Rs 10,825,000 as sought by the court. Ghimire was one of the 22 government officials whose houses were raided by the Commission on last August.

Similarly, the Court today extended the judicial remand of the seven out of 22 government officials effective from December 16.

The judicial remand of Sri Ram Pant, Keshar Jung Khadka was extended for 20 days, Dola Raj Sharma for 15 days whereas the judicial remand of Agni Karki, Iswor Pokhrel and Devi Prasad Bhandary was extended for 10 days.

A three-member bench of judges Top Bahadur Magar, Bhupa Dhoj Adhikary and Damodar Prasad Sharma took the court decisions.

The constitutional watchdog today presented Ramagya Prasad Chaturbedi, executive chairman of the Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) and Ananda Prasad Khanal, joint secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works at the Special Court.

The Commission has sought 30 days of judicial remand to both the accused who were under the judicial custody for the past one month.

The trial upon both the accused would begin tomorrow.

Rights activists, politicians suggest mixed remedy

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KATHMANDU, Dec 16:Political leaders and human rights activists have extended differing advices to fight out the Maoist insurgency. While rights activists argued that efforts to fight out insurgency should go hand in hand with the building of an economic system which has something for all; political leaders, however, differed among themselves by putting forth diametrically opposite views.

Speaking at the opening of the workshop organised by South Asian Forum of Human Rights (SAPHOR) on Monday Mahesh Acharya of the Nepali Congress (NC) said that the time has come when each and every political party must try to establish link between them and the rebel leadership. He also conceded that political parties have suffered heavily from the inaction during the last twelve years something which has tended to drift them into hopelessness.

He, however, added that political and constitutional courses are shaped by interaction between different political ideologies. " It is true parties are suffering in an unprecedented way but solution surely lies somewhere," he said, singling out talks as the only way out.

Acharya, who was also a member of the government team to the talks with Maoists last year said that agenda of the meeting should see to it that the achievements of the movement for the restoration of democracy is not overriden.

"There should not be compromise on multiparty political system and constitutional monarchy." Sarita Giri of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) flayed the likely scenario whereby the government may seek Indian assistance in snuffing out the insurgency. "

Speaking on the issue of constituent assembly she said, " There is no easy provision whereby this constitution can be amended by any government. Two/thirds majority to change a constitution is not practicable. Hence any new constitution should have inbuilt provision so that the government of the day can effect amendment on its own."

However, Subas Nemwang of the CPN-UML reminded that political parties have always backed the government on issues surrounding amendments. "Sher Bahadur Deuba promised constitutional amendments to pave way for resolution of the insurgency. We back him but he never took up the issue second time around," he said.

Human rights activist Tapan Bose said until and unless economic and social evils are rooted out from the country no governments can expect to fight out insurgency.

" Economics and politics is interlinked. Talks alone cannot be expected to rule out social unrest in the future," Tapan Kumar Bose of SAPHOR.

Referring to the latest reports that Nepal would do well to seek Indian military assistance to crush the rebels, he said that although the intervention could be expected to suppress the rebels, problems may resurface after the campaign is called off.

"The need here is to fight the problem squarely and comprehensively. If this is not done people could soon see the repetition of the past violence," Tapan said on the first day of the five-day workshop on Maoist insurgency in Nepal. Another human rights activist Biswakant Mainali said, " My impression is Maoist leaders are not bad people. But maybe they have been mis-led over the years."

People’s Front holds nation-wide rallies

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KATHMANDU, Dec 16:The People’s Front Nepal today organised protest rallies in various parts of the country, giving strong warning to the king of serious consequences unless the monarch rectifies his "constitutional mistakes" committed on October 4.

Addressing a mass meeting in Baglung, party’s central chairman Amik Sherchan warned that the future of the monarchy would be in danger if the monarch did not rectify his constitutional errors. Saying that nobody is above the constitution, Sherchan said an absolute monarchy could not be accepted in the 21st century.

"Days have been numbered even to declare king-picked government as an "incompetent" because his government has also been failure to deliver," he said, adding that the forces that try to destroy the 1990’s achievements would be eliminated.

The king on October 4 sacked the elected government of Sher Bahadur Deuba accusing it of being "incompetent" to hold the mid-term polls slated on November 13.

Meanwhile, addressing a rally in Narayangadh, party’s vice-chairman and former lawmaker Lilamani Pokharel said that the people would launch a decisive war against the monarchy if the king did not rectify his constitutional mistakes and hand over the executive power to the people.

"If the monarch remains stuck to his October 4 move, the existence of the monarchy will have to be sought only in history," Pokharel said. He also challenged the king to relinquish his crown if he really wanted to join active politics.

He said that election to the constituent assembly is the only solution to the present crisis. He also said that his party was consulting with other political parties to forge an alliance against the October 4 royal move. Holding election to the constituent assembly is one of the three major demands put forth by the Maoists. In yet another mass meeting in Ilam, party general secretary Navaraj Subedi urged all the political parties, abiding by the present constitution, to forge a unity to bring the constitutional process back to the right track and hold dialogue with the warring Maoist rebels.

The former lawmaker also rapped both the government security forces and Maoists for killing innocent people in the name of maintaining peace and security and for the "liberation" of the people. He also said that the king’s recent move was in sharp contrast to the letter and spirit of 1990’s Constitution and people’s movement.

As part of a series of nation-wide campaigns against the royal take over, the party also organised similar protest rallies in Gorkha, Bara and Surkhet, where central and district-level leaders addressed the meetings.