This is how capital-based Gorkha bigwigs manage to get voters’ ID

By Tilak Pokharel

KATHMANDU, March 5 : What is the government to do when its plan fails to materialize in the wake of escalating Maoist violence? Well, nothing but go for an alternative.

That is exactly what the Chief District Officer (CDO) of Gorkha, a Maoist hotbed in western Nepal, doing after its plans to distribute voters’ identity cards to the bigwigs from the district failed. After they refused to go to their home district, the CDO is now snapping their photos for the ID card in the capital city itself.

More than 60 persons from Gorkha, who fled their village fearing the Maoist insurgency, have got their photos for the ID cards snapped in the Heritage Plaza of Kathmandu, under direct supervision of the district’s CDO Kashi Raj Marasini. The CDO is still in the capital.

The date specified by the Elections Commission to get photos for the ID card had expired on February 27. But, Assistant CDO of Gorkha, Ganga Sagar Dhakal, said that the government is going to extend the date. "I have heard that preparations are underway to extend the date," Dhakal told The Kathmandu Post. He also confirmed that all the photographers have already left the district.

Here in the capital, Sudarshan Acharya, Manager of ABS Digital Printing and Support, informed that the photographs for the ID cards were taken for three days starting Saturday. ABS Digital Printing and Support is the Home Ministry-authorised agency to take photos for the voters’ ID cards.

In today’s session of the Upper House , UML lawmaker Bachaspati Devkota asked the government to immediately stop issuing the voters’ IDs from the capital and also urged to annul the legitimacy of the already issued cards.

The other reason that dragged the CDO and other officials to the capital was the constant threat from the Maoist rebels. The Maoists have in the past destroyed the exorbitantly expensive cameras. According to the ABS, the Maoists destroyed at least five such cameras in Gorkha, Nuwakot, Kaski, Dang and Baglung districts.

This is the first time ever after the Maoist insurgents started looting and smashing the cameras, besides manhandling the photographers. The Maoists last year had ambushed a photographer near Makaising VDC of Gorkha, killing a policeman who along with some others was providing security to the crew.

A high level source in the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works said the photographs were taken upon special request from the Minister Chiranjivi Wagle and CDO Marasini. Minister Wagle also hails from the Constituency No 1 of Gorkha.

Most of the persons taking photos were the local leaders of the ruling Nepali Congress who have directly or indirectly received death threats from the Maoists, the source close to the Minister Wagle said.

Acharya said the CDO made an unofficial request to his agency to take photos and he co-operated on it. "CDO Marasini made an unofficial request to take photos and we co-operated with him to take the photos," he said. But he also cast his doubt over the authenticity of the photos taken. "If the Home Ministry does not accept the photos, we will not entertain them," he said.

However, when contacted, Gopendra Bahadur Pandey, Spokesperson of the Home Ministry, said he does not have any idea of it. "I don’t know anything about it," he said.

Another Manager of ABS, Sameer Raj Gautam, said the photos were taken by the official photographers of Gorkha. "They were brought to the capital and photos were taken here," he said.

Gulmi accident death toll reaches12

Post Report

GULMI, March 5 : The death toll of the bus accident in Gulmi on Monday has now reached 12 after one more passenger died here today while undergoing treatment.

Dev Bahadur Basnet, 66, of Butwal died Tuesday in Mission Hospital in Tansen, according to police. A passenger bus met with an accident in Thanpati-4 on Monday killing 11 people and injuring dozens others.

Meanwhile, police has identified those killed in the bus accident. According to the police report, those killed in the accident are Sudan Dhital, 7, of Maharani-4 of Jhapa, Baikuntha Bhandari, 60, of Tamghas-4 of Gulmi, Thaneswor Gautam, 70, of Tamghas-2, Durga Bahadur Khadka, 42, of Baletaksar-5, Usha Ghimire, 20, of Simichaur, Shovakar Pandey, 65, of Arghakhanchi, Bed Prasad Aryal, 16, of Birbas, Ghanshyam Pandey of Birbas-6, Krishna Chettri of Nawalparasi, Sila KC and Ghanshyam Acharya of Bharbhung.

PABSON planning to resist future bandhs

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KATHMANDU, March 5 : Educational institutions remained closed all over the Capital for the second consecutive day Tuesday, as the Maoist students shut them down demanding the resumption of peace talks with the government.

Spokesperson for the Private and Boarding School Organisations, Nepal (PABSON) said all the schools will open from Wednesday but said they might be closed anytime in the future even with a trivial threat.

Friday’s grisly attack on two educational institutions in the capital has scared the school and college authorities to open their institutions. The Maoists’ call for the general strike has left most of the schools in the capital completely shut down for two days irrespective of the assurances from the government to provide security measures.

PABSON officials alarmed by what they call a "national loss" from the frequent closure of school said it held a close-door meeting of its members to decide the future course of action.

"We might be compelled to resist if necessary in the future," said Rajesh Khadka, President of PABSON, but said it will closely monitor the situation before taking up such a step.

Dr Triratna Manandhar, Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tribhuvan University, said the bandh has affected the newly introduced post-graduate course in Rural Development.

Educators and parents similarly voiced their concern saying that the days ahead are more turbulent if a decisive step is not taken to free schools from becoming a bargaining ground for power-hungry elements. They also said that the Maoists are doing a great disservice to the nation by frequently closing down the educational institutions in order to attain their political objective.

Meanwhile, reports from Pyuthan and Dang districts stated that the bandh called by the Maoist students has adversely affected the lives in the district. "The bandh has paralysed the public transportation beside completely closing down the educational institutions in the district," our correspondent from Pyuthan quoted the government official in the district as saying.

All the night buses operating to and fro from Kathmandu to Pyuthan and from Dang to Kathmandu have been brought to a standstill for two days after the Maoists called the bandh, the report further stated.

Maoists kill man mourning his father

KATHMANDU, March 5: In one of the most barbaric acts, Maoist terrorists on Monday night killed a man who was mourning his father’s death at his home in Purandhara village of Shrigaon VDC of Dang district, police said.

Our Dang reporter said that the armed-rebels shot Taranath Yogi, 45, dead, dragging him from his home where he, along with his four brothers, was mourning the death of his father, Karnanath Yogi.

The rebels dragged the mourner about 100 metres away from his home and shot him dead, said Police Inspector Sudeep Yadav at the area police station in Tulsipur.

Yogi’s badly mangled body was handed over to the bereaved family members after carrying out the post-mortem at a local hospital. Yogi was the member of the management committee of a higher secondary school at the VDC. He is the fifth civilian to be killed by the rebels in the district within a week.

Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry today said that security forces gunned down three rebels in separate incidents of encounter in three districts on Monday.

The Ministry said in a statement that one rebel each was shot dead in Srinagar of Baglung and Masina Danda of Rolpa district. Both the rebels were earlier involved in attacking two police posts at Lunkhu Deurali and Karkineta of Syangja district, the Ministry claimed.

In another encounter with the police, a rebel identified as Durgananda Ram Mochi was killed in Nahararigol VDC of Siraha district on Tuesday. The security forces also seized five guns and other explosives from the encounter sites.

The Ministry added that people of Kaski and Salyan districts handed over 14 guns to the security forces on their own.

MPs accuse Home Minister of protecting Agrawal’s kidnapper

KATHMANDU, March 5: Lawmakers of the main opposition CPN-UML on Tuesday accused Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka of providing protections to the suspected kidnapper of a Biratnagar industrialist, and demanded his resignation.

And one of the lawmakers went on to allege that Minister Khadka has been providing shelter to Umesh Giri, the suspected kidnapper, while speaking during the Zero Hour in the House of Representatives.

"The kidnapper is living peacefully at the Home Minister’s residence," UML lawmaker of Morang, Lal Babu Pandit claimed. "Such a minister should not continue clinging to power; he should step down."

The development came a day after the Nepal Police requested the INTERPOL (International Police) to help arrest Giri, who it suspects is behind the kidnap of the Biratnagar industrialist, Tulasi Ram Agrawal.

According to information culled by the police, Giri, a former active member of the ruling Nepal Congress party, from the eastern Terai town on January 26, kidnapped Agrawal. The industrialist was then whisked towards India on a vehicle with Indian registration number plate.

The main opposition lawmakers asserted that the Home Minister, who is supposed to maintain law and order situation in the country, should not protect such criminals, and that he should resign.

Another lawmaker of Morang, Harka Man Tamang, and lawmaker Raghuji Panta demanded clarifications from the Home Minister and alleged that Minister Khadka, the one who is supposed to play a lead role in enforcing law, violated the same.

Aside this, the UML lawmakers demanded that the government give clear terms of reference describing the duties, responsibilities and rights to the judicial probe commission announced by the government Monday that seeks to thoroughly probe the property of the post-1990 leaders and senior bureaucrats.

The probe commission will submit its report within six months after its formation. His Majesty the King is expected to form it soon.

The lawmakers, meanwhile, came down heavily on the government security forces for victimising innocent civilians in the name of hunting down Maoist rebels. They also demanded investigations into the recent kidnapping of Gopal Budathoki, the Editor of Sanghu vernacular weekly by unidentified persons.

Lawmaker Bal Dev Sharma narrated a recent incident in Dang, which he claimed saw the government security forces "brutally" hacking four innocent civilians to death. He demanded that the government ensure security to the general public.

Parliamentarian Ananda Prasad Pokharel attempted to draw the government’s attention on another incident in Dolakha district, which saw security persons opening fire at the District Development Committee (DDC) President. The government should inform the House about the incident, and such incidents should not recur, he said.

Lawmaker of Bajhang Suresh Malla and lawmaker of Achham Ram Bahadur Bista demanded measures to protect and rehabilitate the district headquarters and make arrangements for the accommodations and examinations of the students appearing in the upcoming SLC (School Leaving Certificate) examinations.

Malla also called on the government to make necessary security arrangement in Chainpur, the Bajhang district headquarters, amid swirling rumors that "Chainpur could be the next target of the Maoist rebels".

Meanwhile, the National Assembly, today approved the Kathmandu Valley Urban Development Bill, 2002 and Guthi (Third amendment) Bill 2002, presented by Minister for Works and Physical Planning, Chiranjibi Wagle and Minister of State for Land Reforms and Management, Ramjanam Chaudhari, respectively.

Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supply Purna Bahadur Khadka informed that the recent agreement between Nepal and India to renew the Trade Treaty is in the interest of Nepal’s economic development. Earlier, Urwa Dutta Panta of UML drew the government’s attention on the reports that claim the involvement of the government ministers in the recent timber smuggling incident in Kanchanpur district. Timber worth more than Rs 210 million was reportedly smuggled from the district in the aftermath of emergency.

3000 trees cut down in a single night

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SARLAHI, March 5 : Timber smugglers cut down and took away around 3,000 trees planted along the Hirapur Barrage here on Monday night.

This Hirapur Barrage is the first phase of Manusmara Irrigation System.

"All the trees planted on the two sides of the 8-km long canal were logged and taken away in a single night," said Surendra Prasad Singh, the chairman of the users committee.

Police has arrested 23 individuals and has confiscated most of the trees, Singh said. "More than 40,000 trees were planted here 12 years ago but only about 1000 trees remain now due to the illegal logging." There are eight saw mill and six kilns near the plantation area, according to Singh. "Most of them will be closed soon after the trees finish."

Nepal-India inundation meet inconclusive

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KATHMANDU, March 5 : A week-long meeting between Nepali and Indian officials to resolve inundation problems in the bordering areas concluded inconclusively Tuesday, with the officials disagreeing to buy each other’s versions on ways to address the inundation problem mainly in the Rassiyal-Khurda-Lautan area, south of Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha.

So fruitless the week-long 12th Nepal-India Standing Committee on Inundation Problem turned out that the officials from the two countries did not even sign the minute book at the end of the meet here Tuesday, according to Sarada Prasad Sharma, the Director General of the Department of Irrigation, an official present in the meet.

The bone of contention, according to Sharma, was the issue of Rassiyal-Khurda-Lautan bund structure that was built by India last year. Nepali officials say that the southern neighbor did not even consult the neighbor in the upstream before going ahead with construction work. Result: hundreds of hectares of land in Lumbini, Nepal, faced serious inundation problem during the last monsoon season.

According to Sharma, though the two sides agreed to find an amicable solution to address the inundation problem in southern Banke district, the officials refused to buy each other’s statements that recommended ways to resolve the inundation problem near Lumbini.

"They refused to agree with our proposal to find an amicable solution only after maintaining status quo (dismantling) in the Rassiyal area," Sharma told

The Kathmandu Post, Tuesday night, "and so did we to their final statement that blamed a newly constructed Nepali road for the inundation problem."

In Banke district, the India-built Laxmanpur barrage and its supporting bund has blocked at least two natural rivulets flowing down to the Rapti river. Thousands of villagers live in perpetual fear of submersion during monsoon there.

If the Indian Embassy here does not take initiatives, Sharma said, the issue would mostly likely be taken up by the water resources secretaries of the two countries. They are scheduled to meet in May

Release of Budhathoki sought

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KATHMANDU, March 5 : Different organisations of the journalists have demanded for immediate release of editor Gopal Budhathoki of Sanghu weekly, who was kidnapped by unidentified persons Sunday night.

Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) has condemned the kidnap of Budhathoki saying that it was an apex of crime if the state side made it. " There are adequate provisions to take necessary action after publication of objectionable materials but it has been ignored by the kidnappers and taken disgusting action", the press release stated.

" Government’s indifferent attitude to release Budhathoki has put question over the government’s move and ridiculed the government’s commitment not to victimise the people other than terrorists.

Nepal Press Union (NPU) has demanded for immediate release of Budhathoki whether he was kidnapped by the state or criminal gangs. It has also flayed the government’s indifferent attitude to release the journo saying it has left adequate grounds to suspect over the government’s move."

Education Journalists’ Group (EJG) has also flayed the government for not paying attention for the release of Budhathoki. " It is a serious matter for the journalists to remain unknown about whereabouts of Budhathoki even after three days of his kidnap", the press release of the Group stated.

Heaviest snowfall in Dolpa affects DDC meet

By Bishnu Lal Budha

DUNAI, Dolpa, March 5 : The heaviest snowfall in the last 12 years is likely to affect the 9th Council meeting of the Dolpa District Development Committee (DDC).

Members of the Dolpa DDC, representing the Upper Dolpa region, have not been able to arrive here for the Council meet which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday as a result of the heavy snowstorms in many passes and trails in the region, according to Shivananda Budha, DDC chairman.

The heaviest ever snowfall has cut off contacts with the northern VDCs of district such as Dho, Chharka, Tinje, Bhijer, Mukot and Saldang, located in the Upper Dolpa. This region used to be a restricted area to the foreigners till a few years ago but the government recently decided to open the region for group trekking only.

"The condition in the Upper Dolpa is unknown to the district authorities," said Thinley Lundup Lama, a Dolpa DDC member and the protagonist of the widely acclaimed movie Caravan, featuring the trans-Himalayan salt trade.

Budha said that small peaks like Numla, Bagala, Cyangla, Khyungla and Sipsumba have been covered with thick snow, and movement of the people to-and-from the peaks would be impossible until the end of the first week of April.

The unprecedented snowfall has brought life in this mountain district to a standstill due to continued snowfall in the highland areas over the last one-and-half-months. The six VDCs located in the northern part of the district have been completely cut off with its district headquarters, Dunai, district authorities here said.

Another DDC member Tenzing Namgyal Ghale said that 12 yaks were washed away by avalanches at Saldang VDC-5.

"This, I think, is the heaviest snowfall we have experienced over the last 12 years," said Tashi Dewang Gurung, chairman of Chhabda VDC. Gurung suspect that a large number of cattle might have died in the Upper Dolpa region as a result of severe cold. People in the northern Dolpa rely largely on livestock rearing, and excessive snowfall is not suitable to them.

But the farmers in the lowland areas of the district are enjoying the snowfall, as their crops would improve. "The more snowfall we have, the more yield of mushroom and Yarsagumba," said Gurung. Yarsagumba is a jungle plant having an aphrodisiac value, which fetches thousands of rupees in the market abroad.

Gurung said that people are waiting for the snow to melt so that they can venture in the highland areas to collect the mushrooms and Yarsagumba.

Besides, snowfall is also highly useful for the cereal crops like wheat and barley, the principal crops of the mountain areas.