Political parties turn down PM’s invitation to discuss peace talks

By Yuvraj Acharya

KATHMANDU, Feb 14 : The first ever all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand to discuss the peace process is being boycotted by the major political parties. The decision not to attend the Monday meeting was taken by major political parties in their joint sitting today.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), to which the Prime Minister belongs, was the lone dissenter to the boycott decision.

Nepali Congress didn’t attend the all-party meeting called by Nepali Congress (Democratic), but it has also decided not to attend the meeting called by the Prime Minister.

"Since the government is illegitimate and unconstitutional, and has failed to make the dialogue with the Maoists transparent, we have decided to boycott the meeting," said Hridayesh Tripathi, leader of Nepal Sadbhavana Party talking to the reporters after the meeting.

A press statement issued by Nepali Congress (Democratic) after the meeting also confirmed the boycott. The statement said that an agreement was reached to form a national government as per the spirit of the present constitution with a view to address all the problems though a legitimate government.

Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said that the parties have converged to a demand of all-party government. "We are not demanding reinstatement of my government," Deuba said. " We gave up that demand considering that the differences among the political parties encouraged the king to take regressive steps."

The representative of the Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party and People’s Front Nepal, however, refuted the claim that the meeting agreed to call for the formation of an all-party government.

Talking to The Kathmandu Post, Sunil Prajapati, a NWPP participant at the meeting said, "We argued that the reinstatement of the dissolved House of Representatives is the only way to restore a legitimate government," adding that the future government, if formed on the similar line with Chand government, is not a solution to the present problem.

Govinda Singh Thapa, an NPF participant at the meeting, also argued that appointment of an all-party government by the king would not be a right solution.

Out of six parties attending the meeting, the Communist Party of Nepal, Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML), Rastriya Prajatantra Party, NC ((D), and Nepal Sadbhavana Party representatives had strongly favoured an all-party government while People’s Front Nepal (PFN) and Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (NWPP) stuck to their demand for the revival of the dissolved House of Representatives.

Though NWPP and NPF leaders suggested for a peaceful movement to pave way for the formation of the legitimate government, other leaders didn’t buy their suggestion. NSP leader Tripathi told reporters that the meeting could not agree on the need for the movement since "many of us thought that we would be blamed for disturbing the peace talks if we started the movement immediately."

The meeting also urged the Maoists and the government to clear their stance on the achievements of 1990 movement and the present constitution.

Despite opposition to the king and the government’s moves, the meeting made commitments for bringing the peace talks to a positive conclusion but collectively agreed to resist all sorts of regressive steps.

Nepali banks’ incompetence cause for flourishing hundi

Post Report

KATHMANDU 14 : The Royal Nepalese Ambassador to Qatar has strongly attacked Nepali commercial banks for failing to assist migrant Nepali workers in transferring remittances back home.

In a strongly worded letter sent recently to Finance Minister Dr Badri Prasad Shrestha, Ambassador to Qatar Shyama Nanda Suman said the country has not been able to grab the valuable foreign currency along with the legal bank commissions due to inability of the banking system to tap the opportunities. This, he said, was fuelling the illegal and opaque hundi system.

"The illegal hundi trade is flourishing mainly due to the continued incompetence of the domestic banking system," Ambassador Suman said in the letter. And it is hitting where it hurts the most: in national earnings. Around 70,000 Nepalis are currently working in Qatar and since their average savings are US$ 200 a month, Nepal can earn millions of dollars as remittance in foreign currency, and banking commissions. But due to the hundi trade, Nepal gets only Nepali rupees in exchange for the foreign currency deposited in Qatar with hundi traders.

In his letter, Ambassador Suman backed up his assertion with a recent experiment done by the embassy as well as several complaints lodged to the embassy by Qatari banking officials.

"When the embassy, through its staff, sent money to Nepal through the official banking channel as an experiment, it took a very long time for the money to reach its final destination and the banking process was also unnecessarily lengthy and complicated," states the letter.

Ambassador Suman, in his letter, has clearly blamed the weak money transfer system within the banking system of Nepal as one of the major causes for unwanted growth of hundi trade. The weak money transfer mechanism even in the main cities of the country like Birgunj, Biratnagar, Rajbiraj, Pokhara, Bhirahawa and Nepalgunj is unacceptable, he said.

Most of the hundi money are routed to Nepal through third countries and territories like India, Hong Kong and Singapore. Agents in these places get to keep the foreign currency deposited by Nepali workers in Qatar. Nepal gets its equivalent in local currency.

The ambassador’s charges are backed up by several studies done by the Nepal Rastra Bank. The central bank’s statistics reveal that the country has not been able to tap remittance worth of billions of rupees through the banking channel. As per an unofficial estimation, the annual inflow of remittance into the country is around Rs 72 billion whereas the official inflow of remittance is just Rs 12 billion, which means that only 20 per cent of the total remittance is coming through the official channel.

The issue is also causing problems for Qatari bankers who have complained to the embassy. Ambassador Suman said in the letter that not only the Quatrain officials but also the Quatrain banks have also been irritated due to the poor banking system of Nepal.

Qatari banking officials argue that it generally takes just a single day for the money to arrive in Nepal through the official channel, but it takes months to reach the money to concerned individuals due mainly to poor banking system of the country, states the letter.

Despite high-level talks with government officials including the Governor, Suman has expressed his dissatisfaction over the failure of the government to take stringent measures and had presented six-point recommendation to make the banking system more effective. Establishment of a separate cell in the central bank to look after remittances and introduction of a new mechanism ensuring the delivery of the amount within three days are some of the major recommendations.

US intervention sought in Bhutanese refugee issue

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KATHMANDU, Feb 14 : Bhutanese Refugees Aiding the Victims of Violence (BRAVVE) has appealed to the US President to put pressure on both Nepal and Bhutan to resolve the Bhutanese refugee issue, during the upcoming round table meeting of the donors of Bhutan. The meeting is to begin from February 18 in Geneva.

Pointing out that the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal wish to return to their homeland, a statement issued by BRAVVE today expressed optimism that the US government would extend support to the refugees for their repatriation.

The statement has cautioned donor countries helping Bhutan, that the recent meeting between the Nepalese and Bhutanese governments was "nothing but an exercise to escape from the donors clutches for the next two years".

The governments of the two countries held the 12th round of talks on the refugee issue after two years, early February this year. The outcome of the talks was the decision to put the refugees in the verified camp into four categories.

British Gurkhas recalled as war clouds loom over Iraq

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KATHMANDU, Feb 14 : British Gurkha soldiers on leave in Nepal, have left in a rush to report at their respective bases in the United Kingdom, as the UK prepares for war in Iraq.

According to Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen’s Association (GAESO) officials, privy to the development, dozens of soldiers left the country in recent weeks, cutting short their annual leave, after they received calls from the British Defence Ministry.

"We can’t say how many had come home on leave, and how many cut short their leave and returned to UK," said Krishna Kumar Rai, acting president of GAESO told newsmen here Friday. "But all the Gurkha soldiers who had come on leave, have returned."

The most convincing - and obvious - reason why Britain’s Defence Ministry called them suddenly could be that the British government could be contemplating deploying Gurkha soldiers in the frontlines in Iraq, where hundreds of thousands of US and allied nations’ troops have been deployed.

Over 3,500 Gurkhas from Nepal are serving with the British army, down from over 10,000 prior to 1998. In the past wars, too - such as the Falkland and Kosovo wars - the British government had deployed Gurkha soldiers in the frontlines.

"It has always been the case," said Rag Prasad Purja, an ex-Gurkha soldier, who retired in 2001. "Whenever and wherever a war breaks out, it is the British Gurkhas who are made to face the first bullets, not the British soldiers. And yet they continue to discriminate against us (Gurkhas)."

The press conference was organized to highlight the cases that the ex-British Gurkhas have filed against the British Defence Ministry at the London High Court, seeking, among other things, compensation to hundreds of prisoners of war and World War II veterans; equal treatment and pay, and pension parity.

Hearings on the cases filed by the GAESO are scheduled to begin from February 18, and the GAESO team - comprising legal advisor Gopal Siwakoti Chintan, and three other just-retired Gurkha soldiers - is leaving for London on Sunday, according to Chintan.

"Following its November 2002 verdict relating to Gurkha prisoners of war - that the British government should duly compensate them, the High Court has upheld equality and human rights as the main highlights of the British judicial system, we are very much confident that we will win again," he told journalists.

One of the cases relates to the Nepali ex-Gurkha prisoners of war. While the exact number of ex-Gurkhas who were made prisoners-of-war by the Japanese during World War II is not known, the GAESO has already collected applications from over 1,000 former PoWs. The hearings are to take place on February 21. "And it might take some time before the High Court announces its verdict," Chintan added.

What makes the cases filed by the ex-British Gurkhas all the more headline-grabbing - not just in U.K. but everywhere - is the fact that British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife, Cherrie Booth, herself is advocating for the ex-Gurkhas’ rights. Her other assistants are Kate Cook and Alien McColgal.

Manahara waters bring some respite to metropolis

By Surendra Phuyal

KATHMANDU, Feb 14 : It’s been years since taps in Kathmandu metropolis stopped running every morning and evening. The crippling shortage of drinking water has been forcing the city residents - especially house wives and maids - to remain alert so that they can fill up the tank as and when the tap starts running.

Water does drop from the tap, but only for less than three hours. And that too in every 48 hours. That’s hardly sufficient for a metro, whose population is fast going up. And the vast majority of the people living in the slum areas do not have access to piped drinking water.

But there is some respite in sight for the water-scarce metropolis. A multi-million dollar water supply scheme that plans to add 20 MLD (million litres daily) into the valley’s water supply system before next dry season has started making supplies. At least to the towns and villages of Bhaktapur and Madhyapur.

Nearly half of the works of the Manahara Water Supply Scheme, being constructed with the US Dollars 16 million Japanese grant, has been completed, say officials at the Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC), the state-owned monopoly.

"The first phase of the scheme will be completed by March-end," says Narendra Man Pradhan, the Deputy General Manager at the NWSC. "Thereafter, we can supply up to 5 MLD water to Bhaktapur and Madhyapur areas."

The scheme is the largest among all drinking water schemes that are planned before the multi-million dollar Melamchi, which is expected to supply 170 MLD when its first phase completes in 2009, comes on line.

Under the scheme, Japanese and Nepali technicians have dug some shallow wells on the banks of the Manahara at Nilbarahi, Bhaktapur. The water thus collected are channelled into the nearby treatment plant before supplying it.

Residents of Kaushaltar, Bhaktapur, the actual beneficiaries, meanwhile, complain that the quality of the water being supplied from Manahara is not up to the mark, although they say they are happy about the development.

"Water is aplenty in our area these days," says a visibly happy Shambhu Shrestha, a Kaushaltar resident. "But the worst part is that we also get sand with it."

The remaining job of the Manahara scheme will be completed before the dry season of 2004. "After which people living mainly in the eastern part of the city - such as Koteshwor, Baneshwor, Thapathali - can heave a sigh of relief," he adds.

Also being completed ahead of the chronic water shortage season of 2003, are three 1-MLD capacity deep tube wells in the city’s Tripureshwor, Baniyatar and Tahachal localities.

But, with the population continually going up, drinking water requirement of the valley of over 1.5 million has gone up from 180 MLD until last year to 190 MLD, according to a recent assessment done by the Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC).

Although the valley’s population is said to be going up by approximately 10 percent annually, the trend seems to be surpassing the official figure, considering the increasing lack of opportunities and worsening security situation in the far-flung areas.

Nevertheless, the NWSC has been able to distribute less than half the actual demand; that is 90 MLD at present and 130 MLD during the wet and rainy seasons.

The capital valley largely depends on the traditional sources of drinking water - such as Shivapuri (Sundarijal), Nagarjun, Khodku - and some deep groundwater tube-wells. But, with the Melamchi project likely to be delayed further, say water rights activists, the scenario looks even more bleaker.

Mandal claims no differences within NSP

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RAJBIRAJ, Feb 14 : The National Working Committee meeting of Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) has challenged the legitimacy of a meeting conducted by dissident members, held in Kathmandu a couple of weeks ago, which decided to withdraw the party’s support to the government.

The meeting of the newly reshuffled party’s 31-member highest body held here today, under the chairmanship of acting chairman Badri Prasad Mandal, said the ‘so-called meeting’ of the dissident members was just an expression of opposition within the party.

"It is only at the party general convention that all differences can be debated and concrete decisions taken," said Mandal, adding that the general convention of the party will be held shortly. "There is no such difference inside the party as reported," said Mandal.

Ten members, including former general secretaries, Rajendra Mahato and Hriyadesh Tripathi, both known as vocal critics of Mandal, were absent at today’s meeting. Mandal made no negative comments on their absence, saying, "I have no idea why they did not attend the meeting".

However, the dissident members, led by Tripathi and Mahato in Kathmandu have been preparing to oust Mandal from the party within a day or two ‘for violating party discipline’.

"Action will be taken immediately," said Mahato adding, "Mandal has no right to remain an ordinary member of the party as he advocated revival of the autocratic Panchayat regime."

Minister flays NGOs for whipping up kamaiya issue

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KATHMANDU, Feb 14 : Badri Narayan Basnet, Minister of Land Reform and Management, today claimed that the government has rehabilitated all genuine kamaiyas. Talking to journalists after a visit to the mid-west where kamaiyas had threatened to launch an agitation if they were not rehabilitated, the minister said all the genuine kamaiyas have been resettled with no one left.

He said those who were raking up the issue alleging that the government is yet rehabilitate 20,000 kamaiyas are playing politics to further their own vested interests.

"The NGOs are keen to keep the issue alive. If they (Kamaiyas) are all rehabilitated, the NGOs will lose their bases to work in the non-governmental sector," Basnet added, accusing the donor agencies of funnelling millions of rupees which has failed to bring any results.

He claimed that money to the tune of Rs.3 billion, which came from donors, has failed to make any positive impact on the lives of the people for whom the donations were intended.

Basnet announced that the government was keen to regularise funds coming from international aid and charity organisations, under one umbrella organisation. He referred to the need to form a fund, directly supervised by an incumbent Prime Minister as part of the "one-window" policy.

"Work on this is going ahead on a priority basis. We will announce something concrete very soon," Basnet said at a function organised to publicise the status on the rehabilitation of the Kamaiyas, who have been freed from bondage.

Minister Basnet also accused the International Non-governmental Organisations (INGOs) of working in a concerted manner so that each and every Village Development Committee (VDC) of the country has a church in the future.

Flaying the hidden agenda of certain organisations, Basnet said that they were taking advantages of the poor socio-economic status of the society, while talking to reporters on the issue of Kamaiya rehabilitation and role being played out by certain organisations. "They are catching the sentiments of people who are suffering in abject poverty," Basnet said, without singling out any organisation.