Govt, Maoists agree six-point talks agenda

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NEPALGUNJ, Aug 18 : The government and the Maoists today agreed on a six-point agenda to move forward with the ongoing third round of talks and decided to start discussions on the political agenda from Tuesday.

The six points mutually agreed upon today include political issues, overall socio-economic reforms, procedures of the reforms, settlement of the armed forces and weapons, rehabilitation of the affected people and reconstruction of Maoist-hit development infrastructure, and miscellany.

The agreement was made during a two-hour-long meeting between the talk teams from both sides in a remote village in Dang district, 250 miles south-west from Kathmandu.

"We have agreed on the subject matter of the talks to move ahead," said Kamal Thapa, the member-secretary of the official talk team, immediately after returning from Dang to Nepalgunj, where the talks began yesterday. "The rebels have agreed to begin discussions on the main agenda from Tuesday," Thapa said.

According to Thapa, the government strongly urged the Maoists to stop extortion, abduction and all sorts of intimidating activities and handed over a list of 233 missing security personnel, political activists and civilians supposedly abducted by the Maoists.

The list consists of 215 civilians and political activists, 10 policemen and four each from the Royal Nepal Army and Armed Police Force.

The government wants all of them released or at least have their whereabouts made public.

Because of lack of time, discussion on the agenda set today could not take place. Thapa and Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani, the chief government negotiator, flew to Dang at around 3:55 p.m., eight hours behind schedule, as their flight was delayed due to bad weather.

Despite the Maoists’ strong criticism of the government’s political agenda, both parties have agreed to go ahead with the peace process.

Thapa said that despite differences, the government was still optimistic about a positive outcome from the talks. Reports from Dang, however, said that the Maoists’ chief negotiator Dr. Baburam Bhattarai expressed doubts over the success of the peace talks unless the government came up with a revised proposal. The rebels have criticised the government’s "forward-looking proposal" as having failed to address the core national issues, including the procedure of drafting a new constitution.

Commenting on Dr. Bhattarai’s statement, Thapa to The Kathmandu Post late evening Monday that there was no immediate possibility of the government revising its proposal. "We have made it public and will revise it only after we receive feedback from the political parties and civil society."

All the four facilitators of the talks said the talk process has arrived at a critical point, as no progress was made today. "But we are still hopeful," they collectively said. " The talks have just begun."

Floods, landslides damage highways

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KATHMANDU, Aug 18 : Vehicular movements on major highways of the country came to a standstill after landslides and floods triggered by heavy downpour in the past few days damaged the roads at several places, according to reports.

The Narayangadh-Mugling road, Narayangadh-Butwal section of the Mahendra Highway and Tribhuvan Rajpath, the three major highways of the country, were damaged at several places, bringing all vehicular movement to a standstill.

A report from Chitwan has it that the busiest Narayangadh-Mugling road has been damaged due to heavy mudslides at about a dozen places. The road was opened for a two-way traffic only week ago when the road division cleared landslides at several places including at Krishna Bhir. Bharatpur Division Road Office said that the road has been blocked at Kerabari, Jalbire and Simaltal since yesterday. Birendra Mahaseth, engineer at the division office, said that hundreds of people have been stranded at several places waiting for the road to clear soon.

Another report from Nawalparasi stated that the Narayangadh-Butwal section of the Mahendra Highway has been damaged after a heavy flood in the monsoon-fed Jharahi Khola near Kawasoti changed its course and washed away about 100-metre of the road. Police in Kawasoti said that a large numbers of vehicles have been stranded on the highway due to the blockade of the road. Division Road Office in Nawalparasi said the river changed its normal course to west of the bridge built over the river. Officials said it would take a few days to reconstruct the damaged road.

In Hetauda said that the Tribhuvan Rajpath, the oldest highway of the country, has been damaged at several places because of heavy rains and landslides. Hetauda division road office said that a diversion at Bulbule has been heavily damaged.

Likewise, the Prithvi highway has come to a standstill due to a heavy landslide near Anbukhireni and Ghansikuwa. Officials said it would take at least two days to remove the landslide that occurred near Anbukhaireni.

Meanwhile, heavy floods in Gwar Khola in Dang district washed away five vehicles that were plying on the Ghorahi-Tulsipur road. Six women were also injured in the flood, according to police. Officials said thousands of people to the southern part of the Deukhuri Valley have been cut off from the rest of the district due to heavy flood in the Rapti River.

In yet report from Pokhara, flooding Madi River on Friday last week washed away over two dozen houses from Namarjun, Sildujure, Dudhpokhari, Majhthana and Mijar VDCs of Kaski district. Five members of Padam Singh Gurung are missing in the flood according to sources. Reports from Rasuwa said that due to inimical climatic conditions the government is unable to provide relief materials to the families displaced by a massive landslide in Ramche area last Friday night. The landslides have displaced at least 60 families.

Of sound heartbeats and clear vision

By Suvecha Pant

KATHMANDU, Aug 18 : In the fields of eye and heart care, the services provided by governmental institutions in Nepal in the past 10 years have developed tremendously, and the number of patients going abroad for medical care has been minimised considerably.

"In the past several years, many patients who could afford to travel to India or Bangkok for their operations have been keen to have themselves treated here in the governmental hospitals," said Dr Damodar Pokharel, Chief Cardiac Surgeon at Bir Hospital.

The Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery Division at Bir Hospital is just one of those sectors where many Nepalese now find the services competent with international standards. "This is because the government institutions are providing quality service to the people," added Dr Pokharel. Only recently, 45-year-old Pampha Subba of Jhapa had the tumour in her lungs removed at Bir Hospital. Subba, who went for a check-up in Silguri, India, was not cured.

"They just gave me medicines," she said. After coming back from Silguri, she continued to grow thin and weak. "Then, from recommendations of friends, I went to Dharan where I was referred to Bir Hospital." According to Dr Pokharel, a 10 percent of the total patients visiting Bir Hospital have some kind of heart problems, and around 25 percent Indians in the category use its cardiac facilities each year.

Similarly, the Shahid Gangalal Heart Centre, the only one of its kind in Nepal, established only two years ago, is being known widely as an address for quality and affordable services ranging from major heart surgeries to outpatient care and consultation. In the past year, it conducted over 400 surgeries.

More importantly, both the above healthcare institutions are run and managed by the government. "The cost of heart care in Nepal is much cheaper than, say, in India," said Dr Deepak Koushal, chief cardiologist at the private sector B&B Hospital.

"There are two notable surgeons in Nepal, namely Dr Bhagwan Koirala of Gangalal and Dr Damodar Pokharel who are doing excellent works for the Nepali people." Dr Koushal added that it was necessary to encourage these surgeons in continuously providing quality services to the people.

According to Dr Koushal, a heart bypass costs around 250,000 Indian rupees in an Indian private hospital whereas it costs around 250,000 Nepali rupees in a Nepali private hospital and only 110,000 in a government hospital.

Similarly, in the field of eye care, the Tilganga Eye Centre takes the lead. Not only does the centre provide quality eye care services, but it also manufactures intra-ocular lenses - used in cataract surgery - for use in Nepal as well as for export.

In the last year alone, of the 5,000 cataract surgical operations carried out at Tilganga in Kathmandu, only 1,600 were Nepali patients and the rest were Indians. "More Indians than Nepalese benefit from our services in the Nepal-India border areas," said Dr Sandruk Ruit, Medical Director, Tilganga. In the past 15 years, Tilganga and other eye hospitals in Nepal have been able to discourage patients from going abroad because of the same facilities available here, and at much cheaper rates and devoid of hassles involved in going to foreign countries.

"I first had my eyes checked in Delhi where I was given drops," Mohammand Sherajul, from Motihari, India said. At a time when his eyes were failing to improve, he happened to hear about Tilganga from a friend. Recently, he underwent a cataract surgery and is satisfied with the treatment he received at Tilganga.

"We promote the use of intra-ocular lenses manufactured in Nepal as they are of high quality and relatively cheaper," said Dr Rajesh Kishore Shrestha, an eye surgeon at Om Hospital and Research Centre.

But there is still a long way to go. "Until we can attract all the paying patients in the captive market, we’ll not be able to provide quality services to the poor," says Dr Ruit.

Int’l community lauds Govt proposal

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KATHMANDU, Aug 18 : The international community has welcomed the government proposal placed during the third round of negotiations with the Maoists as a positive step forward towards finding peaceful resolution of the seven-year old conflict.

Different missions today expressed the hope that the government would form the basis for peaceful resolution of the problem and have asked the Maoists to reciprocate. "Now there is a document which could form the basis for future understanding between the two sides," India’s Ambassador to Nepal Shyam Saran said, adding this could help in removing the uncertainty of the past.

Meanwhile, the strongest endorsement of the government stand came from the United States of America which has expressed full "agreement" with the three main points placed forth by the government. Speaking to The Kathmandu Post, Constance Colding Jones, Public Affairs Officer of the US Embassy in Kathmandu, said, "We are in full agreement with the three main points - sovereignty of the people, multi-party democracy and constitutional monarchy - on which the government has reiterated its commitment."

Similarly, the British government has "warmly welcomed both the new round of negotiations and the presentation of a comprehensive position by the Nepalese government".

"The UK government has long believed that, if these negotiations are to secure a lasting peace in Nepal, then they must address a wide range of socio-economic problem, in addition to tackling the constitutional and security issues," said a statement issued here today by the British Embassy.

It called upon all sides to sign, without further delay, the human rights accord, adding that this initiative, proposed by the National Human Rights Commission, enjoyed the wide support of the political parties, lawyers, journalists, human rights and civil society in Nepal.

Army questions rebels’ attack

KATHMANDU, Aug 18 (PR) - Security officials are questioning why the Maoist rebels are attacking the security personnel when the peace talks have already got underway since yesterday.

"Why are they attacking us is the question which is baffling us," said Colonel Deepak Gurung of the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) on Monday.

He said this while referring to an incident reported from Ramechhap on Sunday when 17 Maoist rebels were killed in two separate encounters with the army in Doramba Village Development Committee (VDC), located about 30-km east of Manthali, the district headquarters.

The report said that the rebels first opened fire on the army contingent while it was passing through a hospital in Doramba area. The report also said that the rebels had regrouped for yet another onslaught on the army, which resulted in further deaths on rebel side.

Army had opened fire on the rebels after the latter tried to obstruct their movement in the area east of the Doramba Bazaar. While the first clash saw army killing down 5 rebels, while 12 rebels were killed in the second encounter. None of the rebels has been identified while there has been no loss of live on the security side.

The security personnel recovered one 303 rifle, two country made pistols and some socket bombs from the site. However, the details of the incident are still sketchy, as the security personnel have not returned to the district headquarters.

Agitation would uproot regressive forces: Nepal

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KATHMANDU, Aug 18 : Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the CPN-UML said that the political agenda presented by the government during the third round of government-Maoist peace negotiation would in no way resolve the current political stalemate.

Addressing a gathering of the Bagmati Zone-level party cadres today in the party office, Balkhu, Nepal said, "The political agenda does neither address the issues raised by the agitating political parties nor the Maoists’."

He stressed that the agenda did not speak anything about the ‘regression’ which, he said, was the most contentious issue today. He also claimed that the Maoists would have to compromise in a negotiation with the government. "If the Maoists are for fundamental change, whether it is to establish republican state, they should join our joint movement against regression," Nepal said.

Commenting on the government’s appeal to the political parties for their participation in the peace negotiation with the Maoists, Nepal said that the opposition party never sits in the negotiation.

He asserted that the political parties would continue with their joint agitation against regression until the regressive forces would be completely uprooted. Coming heavily down against the king’s October 4 royal proclamation, Nepal said that the people would not accept the monarchy provided the king went on in his regressive path. "King has not yet realised the changing political situation. He can never remain as the king of feudalistic society," Nepal said.

He also accused both the king and the Maoists of trying to destroy democracy.

Commanding the party cadres to be firm for the potential decisive movement of the political parties in the next month, Nepal said that the next month’s movement would halt everything across the nation. "Get ready for the movement, which will decide the future of the political parties," Nepal said.

Similarly, United Left Front, Nepal (ULF) today commented that the government’s political paper would not resolve the impending political problems.

A statement issued by the ULF after its central committee meeting said that the government was trying to prolong its tenure in the name of the peace talks.

However, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), which is leading the current government took the government’s political paper positively.

A statement issued by the party said that the paper would be able to resolve many of the issues emerged at the current political imbroglio.

Special Court seeks Lauda audit report

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KATHMANDU, Aug 18 : The Special Court today issued an order to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to furnish the auditing report concerning the Lauda Air lease deal.

The joint bench of the chairman Tap Bahadur Magar and members Bhup Dhoj Adhikari and Govinda Prasad Parajuli following the defendant attorneys’ demand issued the order.

The hearing on the two-year-old case on Lauda Air deal filed by the CIAA is underway since last week.

Advocates Balaram KC, Shusil Panta and Shambhu Thapa pleaded today on behalf of Tarani Datta Chataut, the then civil aviation minister, Hari Bhakta Shrestha, former executive chairman of the Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) and other former RNAC officials.