Deuba to seek India’s support to fight Maoists

By Kosmos Biswokarma

KATHMANDU, March 16 The bloody Maoist insurgency, which has plagued Nepal since 1996, will feature prominently during Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s official visit to neighbouring India.

In his first foreign trip after taking power in July last year, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is leading a 40 plus member delegation to India on March 20. Senior members of his cabinet, industrialists, parliamentarians and other high-ranking government officials will also accompany the Prime Minister during the visit, which will take Deuba to New Delhi, and Kolkata, the Foreign Ministry announced here Saturday. Deuba is scheduled to return home on March 25.

During his visit, Prime Minister Deuba would seek the support from the Indian government in its fight against Maoist insurgency, which has claimed almost 3,000 lives till date. About 1,000 people, mostly Maoists and security personnel, have been killed in the security operation since November last year when the government declared the Maoists terrorists and imposed the state of emergency.

As several of the outlawed Maoists are suspected to have received shelter in various parts of India, PM Deuba is set to ask the Indian government to discourage these "terrorists" from mobilising their cadres from India.

Nepal has been abiding by the Indian request not to allow the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, to work in her soil against India, a highly placed source at the Prime Minister’s Office told The Kathmandu Post. "So, Nepal too hopes that India should reciprocate in the same vein by not allowing the terrorists to operate from the Indian soil."

This is why Prime Minister Deuba is also visiting Kolkata and holding discussion with the government of West Bengal, claimed the source. As the State has been a breeding ground for the hard-line Naxalites for a long time, the Nepalese government here believes that the Maoist leaders are operating their movement from this State.

The warring Maoists had publicly accepted few months ago that they have contacts and working relations with various Indian extremist forces like Maoist Co-ordination Council of West Bengal and People’s War Group of Andhra Pradesh.

Nepal is also expected to seek financial and logistics support from the Indian government, which had earlier provided two choppers and some other equipment to fight the Maoists.

PM Deuba is also expected to raise the issue of Achham incident where some Indian guerillas were suspected to have involved in attacking Mangalsen and Sanfebagar, one of the cabinet members told The Kathmandu Post. The biggest ever Maoists’ attack in Achham on February 17 had claimed about 150 lives, mostly security personnel.

Besides the insurgency, whole gamut of Indo-Nepal relations will be discussed during Deuba’s visit, officials at the PMO said.

Possible co-operation in developing hydropower projects for the benefits of both nations and solving the existing problems in more than 1,800 kilometres long open border between the two countries would feature during the visit, according to the officials. The officials also said that PM Deuba would try to solve the practical problems existing in the bilateral Trade Treaty, which the two countries renewed on March 2 in New Delhi.

PM Deuba is also expected to ask the Indian government to finalise the DPR (Detailed Project Report) of Pancheswor Hydropower Project in west Nepal, adjoining the Indian State of Uttaranchal, which would bring a drastic change in the lives of poor citizens of west Nepal and newly-created Uttaranchal.

The Indian government is known to have expressed its sincere desire to develop the 366-megawatt Upper Karnali Project, which is one of the cheapest power projects. But the Nepal government has requested its Indian counterpart to invest in more expensive Budhi Gandaki Power Project also which has a capacity to produce 700 to 900 megawatt of electricity.

Buddha Air beechcraft suffers major bird-hit

Post Report

BHAIRAHAWA, March 16 A Buddha Air beechcraft on its regular flight to Bhairahawa from Kathmandu suffered a major bird-hit just before landing at Bhairahawa airport. A pilot sustained minor injuries in the accident, but all the others onboard the aircraft are safe.

According to the airline office here, an eagle hit the right-side cockpit of aircraft roughly 11 kilometers east of Bhairahawa airport this afternoon. The aircraft was carrying about 20 people.

The plane suffered only windshield damage, said a press release issued in the capital by the airline.

"There was no time to avoid it," a visibly relieved R.K. Sharma, the captain of the plane, told The Kathmandu Post. "But still we managed to safeland." Officials of the airport said that though there had been many incidents of bird-hits at the airport in the past, Saturday’s was the "biggest".

NC gives authority to govt on constitution amendment

By Yuvraj Acharya

KATHMANDU, March 16 In a major decision, Central Working Committee of the ruling Nepali Congress today gave full authority to the government to take necessary decision on the proposed amendment on the present Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal.

The CWC meeting left the government to take decision independently to amend the constitution but warned not to go against the spirit of the constitution and issues mentioned in the preamble.

The meeting was the first one after the party president and Prime Minister made separate commitments to bring the issue of constitution amendment to a conclusion.

Party president Koirala on February 23 had vowed before the parliament to direct the government to take initiatives for the amendment while Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had pledged to forward the process in the ongoing session of the parliament.

NC spokesperson Arjun Narsingh KC said that the party has fully authorized the government to take decisions in all the issues concerned with constitutional amendment with a view that no one can point finger at the party motive later. "Party has no intention to create obstacles on the issue of constitution amendment," KC said.

A committee headed by Mahanta Thakur was formed two weeks ago to identify the articles that require amendment to meet the present challenge. "But the government is not obliged to follow the line that the committee suggested," said KC, adding that the government can seek a broader approach while amending the constitution.

It may be noted that the Committee had suggested the government to be confined to empowering the Prime Minister, strengthening the parliamentary system, restructuring the Security Council and rendering Prime Minister a crucial role in it. It has also felt necessary to add a new chapter defining the authority of local bodies and uplifting the backward caste, class and communities.

NC CWC member Ramchandra Poudel said, "The party has virtually accepted the need for the amendment in the present constitution but the suggestions given by committee of Mahanta Thakur are not enough."

Shailaja Acharya, another CWC member stressed the need for a mass debate on the issue and not to decide hastily.

Deuba had earlier reassured his commitment to amend the constitution as per the challenges seen at present. "Consultation with other parties is required to forward the process of constitution amendment," one of the members quoted Deuba as saying.

Meanwhile, despite a row over the legitimacy of newly formed Parliamentary Committee and Central Work Performance Committee, the CWC meeting today endorsed the formation of these committees.

Unsatisfied with the process of the formation of these committees, five elected members of the CWC wrote a note of dissent on the decision, which they claim was against the party statute.

Those writing the note of dissent were Ramchandra Poudel, Chiranjibi Wagle, Prakash Man Singh, Bimalendra Nidhi and Pradip Giri. They claimed that the party president has no right to appoint the members without the consent of the CWC.

Pradip Giri, a vocal critic of president Koirala, alleged Koirala of misusing his power on the basis of having a majority in the party. "The party statute has provided for a rule of law but not a rule of majority," Giri said. "Party president was not rigid but there were other "shadow presidents" who were still justifying the president’s move as correct," said Giri.

But party spokesperson Arjun Narshingh KC overtly ruled out the allegations from the members who wrote their note of dissent. "The party had just followed the long-held tradition of the party," he said, adding that the previous committees were also formed on the same line.

‘Amendment essential to crush insurrection’

Post Report

KATHMANDU, March 16 President of the ruling Nepali Congress, Girija Prasad Koirala, today said the constitutional amendment is needed to immediately crush the Maoist insurrection.

"The immediate aim of the constitutional amendment for which the mainstream political parties of the country including the ruling party and main opposition CPN-UML are working is to redress the Maoist problem," said NC leader Koirala while speaking during a programme organised in the capital.

Speaking during the programme, former Prime Minister Koirala said the first-ever amendment was going to be made in the Constitution that was framed after the restoration of democracy 12 years ago, also to address a host of other problems faced by the country. "The amendment also aims at addressing other contemporary national problems among which the problems of the Madheshis (people living in the southern belt of the country) are incorporated," Koirala said.

"I am sure the spirit and sentiment of the Terai people will be incorporated into the amendment," said Koirala.

The programme on "Madheshi Problems, Constitutional Amendment and Roles of the Elected Representatives and Intellectuals" was organised by the Society of Terai Intellectuals (STI).

Koirala also urged to immediately solve the citizenship problem of the Terai people. He also said the recently proposed constitutional amendment would incorporate this issue. "The citizenship problem should be resolved through the constitutional amendment," he said.

Addressing the function, Koirala urged for the separate policy for the Terai people. "Our central policy itself is faulty," he said. "There should be separate socio-economic and cultural policy for the people of the hills, mountains and the Terai."

Addressing the same function, General-Secretary of the main opposition CPN-UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal, said the constitutional amendment was essential to salvage the country from the existing violence and terror. "Though the amendment tries to incorporate many issues, the basic of them is to salvage the country from the violence and terror," Nepal said.

"We want to give momentum to the country. And, for a people-welfare state, massive reforms and constitutional amendment are needed," he said.

Nepal also said the major problem of the Terai people waiting to be immediately redressed is the problem of citizenship.

Addressing the function, Co-ordinator of STI, Amrit Singh, said though the Terai population encompasses 45 per cent of the total population and pay the highest amount of revenue, there are only 3.2 per cent of them in the administrative organs. "Our problems have been the ever-green political agenda in every elections," Singh said.

Senior journalist, CK Lal, said the proposed constitutional amendment was not justifiable, blaming it to have been influenced by "the jungle". Enough debate has not been carried out yet, Lal said.

Speaking on the occasion, various intellectuals including Lal urged for the provincial system in Nepal. "There should be provincial provision to address the problems of the Terai people," Lal said. "The system should not only be in the geographical aspect but also in the cultural aspect."

Another speaker, Prof Shyam Kishor Singh, also urged for the introduction of the provincial patterns in the country.

Airlines industry sees unprecedented rescue

By Satyendra Timilsina

KATHMANDU, March 16 The September 11 terror strikes in the United States pushed the global tourism into a new crisis, hitting hard especially the airlines industry with many of them struggling to survive even today. But interestingly, for Nepali airlines, which too did have to face the brunt of the 9/11 incident, the worse days now seem to be over.

Many entrepreneurs claim that the domestic airlines industry might have collapsed had the government not raised the fares, which ranged from 20 to 40 per cent. And added to it, the government’s declaration of the airlines industry as a sick one lately has boosted the confidence of the airlines operators significantly.

But it is not the government’s announcement, though heartily welcomed, that has encouraged the airliners most. It is rather an unanticipated rise in the number of domestic passengers travelling through air. "The increased airfare and the declaration of the airlines industry as sick alone would not have done the trick. Without passengers, both measures would have had no meaning," say airlines operators.

And the force that is somehow complementing the government’s efforts to revive the fledging airlines industry, many say, though preferring to remain unquoted, is the Maoist activities and the state of emergency in the nation. An unprecedented rescue quite unexpected by the airliners.

Travel entrepreneurs say that the heightened security checks along the national highways is causing a significant shift in middle-class families from buses to aeroplanes. And what actually came as a windfall incident for the airliners was the recent Maoist attack on a night bus that claimed five innocent lives, which included a five-year old child. And all these, they say, has injected new life to the fledging domestic airliners.

Increased insecurity in the buses coupled with frequent security checks has created a lot of inconvenience to the people inducing a ‘road to air’ diversion. Says Madhavi Sharma, a resident of Bhairahawa who had come to the capital for health check up, "With an increasing number of mishaps taking place on the highways, I prefer not to take risk by travelling by bus."

And as a testimony to the shift from road to air, travel entrepreneurs assert that there has been a significant rise in the airlines business lately. "The number of domestic passengers travelling through air these days are on the rise," says Kishor Silwal, Vice President of the Airlines Operators Association, Nepal (AOAN).

Though the compiled actual figures of domestic air passengers are not available, Silwal claims that the number of the domestic air travellers has gone up by an average of 25 per cent as compared to the earlier months. And so do many of the airlines, entrepreneurs say.

Buddha Air claims a 25 per cent increment in its passengers during the last three weeks while Necon Air admits that some increment has been seen in the number of lady passengers since the bus incident. Shangrila Air says the number of passengers to the trunk routes (Biratnagar, Bhairawaha, Nepalgunj, Bhadrapur and Simara) has gone up.

But what came as a boon to the airlines operators are proving a bane to the bus operators, who are now facing the direct brunt of the escalated Maoist activities and the intense security checks. The worsening law and order condition has directly affected the number of buses plying the national highways, they claim.

"There has been a huge decline in the number of buses," says Sarad Upreti, a transport entrepreneur. He further says the attack on the night bus last month has had a bad impact on the business. "The number of passengers travelling by night has declined by almost 50 per cent during this season," he adds.

And even the rival day-bus operators testify the fact that night passengers have declined. "While the impact of the security condition over the day-bus services is nominal, it has significantly affected the night service," says Nirmal Rayamajhi, Managing Director of Agni Yatayat.

He further adds, "Though some of the lost passengers have diverted to air services, a major chunk of them are not willing to travel under the prevailing condition. Only under pressing circumstances do they travel. And when they do, they do it through air."

What about the hundreds of women jailed for abortion-related crimes?

By Tashi Dolma Thinley

KATHMANDU, March 16 After a hiatus of six years of so, the country’s parliament has finally passed a crucial Bill that, among others, guarantees Nepali women equal rights to parental property and conditional abortion. Once the Bill gets a Royal assent, it becomes an Act.

But the question uppermost in the capital’s reproductive health circle is this: What does the landmark parliamentary endorsement of the pro-abortion Bill mean to hundreds of poor Nepali women who are languishing in various prisons around the country? Their crime: they exercised their basic rights and aborted their foetuses. And, more important, will they be released from the dingy jails after the Bill becomes law?

Legal experts in the capital say that the endorsement has opened up possibilities of them being released. "But we need to do a lot of work for that," says advocate Sapana Pradhan Malla.

Malla adds that women rights activists are preparing to get them released, and "knock the doors" to ensure their release. "There is an urgent need to take necessary steps to rehabilitate the women in the prison," Malla says, "The government has to take steps to bring an end to the sheer injustice meted out to them."

There is no official data as to how many women have been imprisoned for undergoing abortion operations. But, according to records at the District Police Office, Kathmandu, "generally 25 percent of the total women inmates are sent to jail for counts of abortion".

"About 120 cases of women are jailed annually for abortion related cases throughout the country," says SP Parvati Thapa, at the DPO’s Women Cell. "These women serving the jail term should be dealt with conditionally. Quite often, we find it very difficult to decide, whom to jail and whom to free."

Countless studies have shown that one in 10 women die of regnancy-related causes - approximately half from unsafe abortion illegal abortion, which is a major cause of maternal death in Nepal. The medical complications of improperly performed illegal abortions have reached epidemic proportions, they say.

According to the latest record at the Maternity Hospital of Kathmandu, there were 1,507 cases of abortion complications registered in the country’s only government run maternity hospital. In Nepal, maternal mortality rate (MMR) of 539 deaths per 100,000 live births is considered among the highest in the world. Experts say half of these are caused by illegally performed "back-street" abortions.

Dr Bimala Lakhey, the direcotor at the Indra Rajya Laxmi Maternity Hospital, Thapathali, said that though the government has not yet given permission to carry out abortions at the particular maternity hospital, she welcomes the Bill that allows abortion at any circumstances.

She believes firmly that legalisation of abortion would substantially reduce MMR and abortion related complications.

However, the most important thing is "counselling the patient" whether abortion is done in a government or a private hospital, she says. "Strong emphasis should be given to counselling (for post abortion trauma) and literacy, " she added.

And then in a developing country like Nepal, merely the fact that abortion law is liberal does not and cannot guarantee that women have access to legal abortion facilities. There are too many constraints, including the lack of human resources such as doctors and nurses in many parts of Nepal, lack of confidence of women and financial obstacles.

With the security situation deteriorating, the district hospitals mostly in Maoist affected remote areas are without doctors and nurses.

But Dr Benu Bahadur Karki, the Chief of Policy and Planning Division at the Ministry of Health says it’s time the government felt more responsib. "It has the responsibility to ensure safe abortion facilities to the needy women population," he said.

And there are those who argue that the post-abortion legalisation era might witness a sharp rise in teenage pregnancy cases. Said Dr Dr Lakhey: "The legalisation could increase the cases of teenage pregnancy, especially in a society like Nepal where literacy is low. It could very well send wrong signals to the teenagers".

Man indicted in US for 1989 stabbing of a Nepali man

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KATHMANDU, March 16 A U.S. grand jury has indicted a convicted killer on murder charges in a 13-year-old stabbing case, involving a Nepali citizen.

An Associated Press news report filed from Boston said Carl Odware, 31, was indicted Friday by a Suffolk County grand jury in the Feb. 19, 1989 stabbing to death of Naveen Giri outside the Mrs. Field’s Cookies shop in the city’s Beacon Hill neighbourhood.

Giri, a clerk at the shop, was stabbed six times in the chest and back at about 8:30 p.m, the report said, adding: "Investigators think Odware killed Giri during an attempted robbery."

Giri and his wife had moved to America from Nepal about a year before his death.

According to the office of Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, the report said, the indictment resulted from the development of evidence over the past two years.

Conley was an assistant Suffolk prosecutor in 1989 and was part of the homicide response team that first investigated the slaying. Odware is currently serving a life sentence in an unrelated case, according to the report.

"He was convicted of first degree murder, armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in the Feb. 14, 1994 shooting of two men, one fatally, outside a Lynn pizzeria," the news agency said. "An arraignment has not yet been scheduled."