73 pc Nepalis favour multi-party democracy: Study

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KATHMANDU, Dec 24:A recently conducted study has revealed that over 73 percent of the Nepalis still favours multiparty democracy.

Majority of the people preferred to participate in the multiparty system of government but they want reforms in the governance, it is stated in the research study carried out by the Centre for Economic and Social Development (CESOD), a Kathmandu-based non-governmental organisation. CESOD released the research report at a function today.

The report is based on the field research of six sample districts - Surkhet, Bardia, Sindhuli, Rautahat, Dhankuta and Morang - and the research team comprised of former ambassador to the European Commission and former member of the National Planning Commission Dr Durgesh Man Singh, Shiva Hari Dahal, Shrawan Sharma, Pradeep Mani Dixit and Priya Dixit.

The report, however, did not include the October 4 royal move and its implications, as the study was done from February to June 2002. People wanted resolution of the Maoist problem through peace dialogue between the government and the Maoists, the report said.

"But the people questioned during the research stressed the need to address the causes for origin of the problem along with peace talks between the conflicting parties." The report recommended concerned parties to begin peace process in three different phases to bring the talks to conclusion.

"The people in the grass root level, civil society in the middle level and political parties and leadership in the top level must start simultaneous peace processes in their respective levels," the report suggested.

The report said that the people in the village levels were ready to form village level peace councils to facilitate the peace process in the grass root level if the top political level start the talks. The study has come at a time when the king has sacked an elected government, accusing the latter of being "incapable".

Sirohiya’s arrest vindictive: Business community

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KATHMANDU, Dec 24:Business community has strongly reacted to Kantipur Television (KTV) Director Kailash Sirohiya by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), calling it a vindictive without proper knowledge and analysis about what the ‘bid bond’ in a particular deal is all about.

In their strong reaction against the detection, personalities and representatives from different business organisations have said the detention would send a wrong signal to the private entrepreneurs and the government needs to clarify its position on the issue they have demanded.

The CIAA, which filed a case against Sirohiya in the Special Court today, has claimed that the Ministry of Information and Communications ‘improperly’ returned the bid bond to the promoters of the television station, while awarding license for terrestrial television of the KTV.

Leading bankers said that return of the bid bond is a minor process after signing an agreement and stressed that it could not be an issue of irregularity. Commenting on the nature of the bid bond, Narendra Bhattarai, President of Bankers’ Association of Nepal, said the bid bonds are generally demanded to ensure that the bid winning party doesn’t refuse to sign the final agreement if it is awarded the contract.

"If the party fails to sign the contract after being awarded, then the bid awarding agency can seize the bid bond amount," Bhattarai said.

"Every party, which fights in the bidding process, wants its bid bond released as soon as possible. Since the party has to bear additional costs for the bond, it is quite normal that the party seeks the return of the bid bond amount and it is a normal business practice," said another leading bank expert, who preferred anonymity.

Bankers were also of the view that the action has jeopardised a lucrative investment opportunity, as they view the KTV is an attractive opportunity for the banking sector too, which is facing problems of excess liquidity. Sudhir Khatri, Chief Executive Officer of Development Credit Bank, stressed on the need of creating a conducive environment for attracting more investments into the economy to revive it from the present recession.

"Kantipur Television is an attractive investment opportunity for the banking sector," he said. Kantipur Television, which has an authorised capital of Rs 1 billion and paid-up capital of Rs 500 million, is one of the biggest private sector projects of the moment directly generating employment for over 300 people.

Like bankers, the detention of Sirohiya has also irked the business community. Binod Bahadur Shrestha, Acting President of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) said that innocent businesspersons should not be discouraged. "If such acts of harassing innocents are not checked, it can adversely affect the entire private sector and investment," Shrestha said.

Rajendra Kumar Khetan, Second-vice President of FNCCI, the apex body of the Nepali business community, said that policy makers have often been non-cooperative to the private sector for its development. "We have been facing similar types of harassment in the process of acquiring license for operation of mobile phone and life insurance," he said. "KTV seems to be the latest victim of such bad intention and practice," he added.

Similarly, Rajesh Kaji Shrestha, President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) also said that the latest step is against the government’s repeated policy of promoting private investment in every sector. Shrestha further said that the detention has affected the government efforts to take private sector into confidence and urged the concerned authorities to reconsider the charges filed against Sirohiya.

Similarly, Surendra Bir Malakar, Vice-President of NCC also said that private sector should not be harassed at a time when the economy is in need of more private investments to bail it out from the deepening economic problems. "We need more investment at the time of recession and the detention of Sirohiya can distract aspirant investors," Malakar said.

Govt scrambles to implement education reform package

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KATHMANDU, Dec 24:The government is wielding the stick at the private schools and it has initiated steps to ensure that they fully comply with the commitments listed recently in the 11-point education reforms programme. It is also obtaining support from the donor agencies to ensure that necessary funds are in place to implement the 29-point education reform programme announced recently, Minister of Education and Sports Devi Prasad Ojha said here today.

Speaking to The Kathamndu Post today after inaugurating the South Asian Children’s Forum in the capital, Minister Ojha said the government would make private and boarding schools fully comply with their most recent commitments to provide discount in fee structure and abide by the education regulation.

He also said that the government is currently holding discussions with the donor agencies to implement the 29-point education reform programme announced on December 6.

When asked about the possibility of the resumption of the strikes by the ANNISU-R from mid-February, he said, "We are well aware of the strikes on educational institutions and the efforts at different levels to avert further strikes. We would therefore, make no remarks that disrupt the on-going efforts."

PABSON on December 21 slashed tuition fees by upto 25 per cent that seemed to have convinced the rebel students to withdraw their two-week-long strikes in the Valley.

In the 29-point reform package, Minister Ojha had vowed to regulate fees in private schools and ban the re-admission fee, which was the chief demand of the Maoist students’ organisation. Among other reforms, Minister Ojha has made secondary education free for the ‘oppressed’ and the backward communities, including the Thami, Jirel, Hayoo, Chepang, and Raute. However, the Maoist students are clamoring for a free and compulsory education for all upto secondary level while demanding the removal of Sanskrit from school. The government has declared Sanskrit as an optional subject in school curricula and included a provision for education in mother languages at the primary level.

JICP wants to grill Bhattarai

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KATHMANDU, Dec 24:Nepali Congress (NC) leader and former Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai today expressed inability to furnish details of the payment made to political sufferers within three days’ set by the Judicial Inquiry Commission on Property (JICP).

The commission had asked Bhattarai to furnish details of the payment he authorised as the chairman of the commission formed to hand out compensation to political sufferers. Bhattarai still heads the commission formed to hand out monetary compensation to political sufferers after the restoration of democracy.

The ailing former PM who has been out of active public scene for the past few months said it would not be possible because of his health condition to furnish the details in three days.

The letter from the commission comes at a time when the Supreme Court is yet to deliver judgement on a case filed to challenge the element of transparency in the functioning of the commission. The prosecution is scheduled to depose on Thursday while the verdict may follow soon after.

Advocate Shri Hari Sharma, who is fighting the case at the Supreme Court on behalf of Bhattarai-led commission, said, "Although the petitioners had earlier claimed defraud of million of rupees, the representative of the CIAA had denied having received any complaint of corruption against the commission."

He also said that the accounts of the commission has been audited for the Fiscal Year 2000/01 and the commission has already given the documents to the attorneys for auditing of the Fiscal Year 2001/02. "And, the government has not released any fund for the running fiscal year, so there is no basis about asking for the details," Bhattarai has clarified in a letter sent to the JICP.

Sources in the commission said the commission has recorded names and amount paid out to concerned political activists who either faced imprisonment or exile. The payment was made in proportion to the number of years spent in exile or prison.

The total amount paid out by the commission has been put at over Rs. 198.3 while the bank balance of the commission is merely Rs 15000. However, the commission has yet to pay compensation to nearly 700 political sufferers for the lack of fund coming from the government.

Suspected Maoists shoot dead inspector

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KATHMANDU, Dec 24:Some unidentified assailants shot and killed Pradip Thapa, an inspector at the National Investigation Department, at his residence at Chhampi Village Development Committee of Lalitpur district, 11 kms south of the district headquarters Lalitpur, early on Tuesday morning, police said.

The police said the inspector was rushed to Chhauni Army Hospital after the attackers injured him at 6.30 a.m. by pumping three bullets into his chest.

He was declared dead on arrival, according to Home Ministry spokesperson Gopendra Bahadur Pandey.

According to Pandey, the assailants who fled the scene after the attacks also injured the inspector’s father Gajendra Bahadur Thapa who is undergoing treatment at the Chhauni hospital. He is reported to be out of danger.

The attackers set off a bomb at the yard of the Thapa family house before firing indiscriminately at Thapa and his father, Pandey added.

Meanwhile, Ganesh Raj Rai, Superintendent of Police at Lalitpur District Police office told The Kathmandu Post that a joint team of army and police have sealed off the area and a massive search for the assailants is on.

As in previous cases of attacks and explosions, the police have blamed the Maoists for the crime, though the rebels have yet to own up responsibility for the act.

Amnesty raps RNA for persecuting rape victims

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KATHMANDU, Dec 24:Amnesty International (AI) has accused Royal Nepal Army of further persecuting the victims of human rights abuses here today.

"Tarnum and Tabsum Maniya were pressurised by army officials from Chisapani army camp to retract information given by AI and other human rights organisations, about their rape at the hands of army personnel," said a press release issued by the human rights watchdog.

The girls were forced to retract the rape allegations in front of cameras, claims AI. The organisation features the story of the girls in its report and in BBC interview and also named the army officials who raped the young girls.

The organisation has urged the Prime Minister, who is also the Defence Minister, for action to protect the girls and has also sent a message to the Chief of Army Staff demanding immediate action to stop further human rights violations.

Parties flay Home Minister’s comment on conducting partyless local polls

By Yuvraj Acharya

KATHMANDU, Dec 24:The country’s major political parties have flayed the latest statement of Home Minister Dharma Bahadur Thapa of holding local elections on partyless basis, as being against the spirit of the Constitution.

The parties, represented in the dissolved House of Representatives, claimed the statement of a responsible cabinet minister came with an ulterior motive to root out the bases of political parties from the grassroots level and push back the 12-year-old democratic practice to Panchayat days.

Minister Thapa, while speaking at a function at Hetauda on Sunday, had said that the government was doing homework to hold the local elections on a partyless basis.

The Home Minister’s statement was irresponsible and made without considering the provisions envisioned in the governing laws of the land, Nepali Congress spokesman Arjun Narsingh KC told The Kathmandu Post.

This is a premeditated effort of the government to defame the political parties after the October 4 royal move, KC said.

"But our party has not taken the issue seriously, as many members of the cabinet have been making irresponsible statements these days," said KC. "Since the main law of the country - the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal - has been breached repeatedly, violation of the laws cannot be the major issue."

Subash Kumar Nemwang, Central Committee member of Communist Party of Nepal – Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), said it was an unconstitutional statement that showed the government’s intention to alter the laws made by people’s representatives through ordinance.

"A hand-picked government of the king does not have the right to make fundamental changes in the law which represents the people’s mandate."

He claimed that the governing law, which provides for holding the local elections in partisan line, was made by the people’s representatives and reflects the people’s interests.

Hom Nath Dahal, spokesman of Nepali Congress (Democratic), said it was an irresponsible statement made by a responsible minister. "The statement proves the widespread suspicions among the people that the present government is going towards more regression."

Dahal said it was an attempt to push back the democratic process to the state of 12 years ago, when there was no presence of the parties in Panchayat elections.

"Such types of irresponsible statements by cabinet members are inviting state of confrontations between the regressive forces and the popular forces," Dahal said.

Vice President of People’s Front Nepal Lilamani Pokharel also flayed the minister’s statement terming it as irresponsible. "Since the local bodies are the root and basic structures of democracy, we cannot even think of non-partisan elections in this level."

He said the government through legislation could make the local bodies more development oriented than political.

But the senior members at the cabinet declined to say whether it was personal opinion of Minister Thapa or the views of the whole cabinet.

Deputy Prime Minister Badri Prasad Mandal today said the government wanted to hold the local elections at the earliest after consultation with the mainstream political parties in the country.

"The government felt it very difficult to run the local bodies without people’s representatives," Mandal said, while responding to queries at Tuesday’s meeting of the Remote Area Committee of National Assembly, the Upper House.

"Local elections could be held before the coming summer if the political parties showed their readiness," Mandal further said.

Charge-sheets filed against Khadka, Gupta

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KATHMANDU, Dec 24:The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) today filed separate charge-sheets against former ministers Khum Bahadur Khadka and Jaya Prakash Gupta at the Special Court.

In the charge-sheet, the Commission has claimed that Khadka embezzled over Rs 40 million while granting the contract of Bakraha River Control Project at Sunsari district to China Henan Company in 2000. It also demanded the equal amount of money of fine along with maximum imprisonment of five years’ term as a punishment to him.

The anti-corruption watchdog has put the engineer duo Amoda Nanda Misra, Narayan Bahadur Thapa and Biswo Nath Sapkota, the then secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources and China Henan Company as defendants.

In the charge-sheet filed against Gupta and Kailash Sirohiya, the Managing Director of the Kantipur Publications, Gupta has been charged of impropriety while granting the licence for terrestrial television to Kantipur Television Pvt. Ltd. Today also the CIAA delayed the production of Gupta and Sirohiya at the Special Court by three hours.

Gupta has been demanded the amount of Rs 20.5 million as fine and maximum of five years of imprisonment as punishment.

However, the Commission has not yet filed other two charges against Gupta. He has also been charged of embezzling huge amount of money while importing over 60,000 mobile sets and granting renewal licences to film halls.

The court continued written interrogation with Gupta whereas the interrogation with Sirohiya is expected to begin from tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the court hearing on the case of former minister Chiranjivi Wagle could not complete today also due to the lack of time. The defence attorneys Radheshyam Adhikary, Mahadev Yadav and Parsu Ram Koirala completed their pleadings, urging Wagle be released without bail amount.

A single bench of the judges Top Bahadur Magar, Damodar Prasad Sharma and Bhupa Dhoj Adhikary is expected to issue order on whether Wagle be released on bail or not tomorrow.