Major parties, including RPP, boycott PM’s meet

By Yuvraj Acharya

KATHMANDU, Feb 17 : The all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand today to discuss Maoist problem ended in a fiasco as all major political parties, including the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), boycotted it.

Only six parties without representatives in the dissolved Parliament attended the meeting, which lasted for less than an hour. This was the first ever all-party meeting called by the Prime Minister after he was appointed to the post on October 11.

The meeting ended in a bitter note with the Prime Minister flaying political parties for what he called their ‘non-cooperative attitude towards a major national problem.’

"I have been urging them from the beginning to co-operate with the government for peace," Prime Minister Chand said. " I have personally requested them to attend the meeting and make a common strategy among us to deal with the Maoist problem."

"It is a time for all the political parties and the citizens to do the needful from their side for a permanent peace," said Prime Minister Chand.

The Prime Minister had to face a humiliating moment when the RPP decided, during an emergency central committee meeting, that it would not be attending the all-party meeting called by the Prime Minister in the manner it was going to take place.

While the RPP meet assured that it would remain positive towards the peace process with the Maoists, it would participate the meeting called by the Prime Minister to discuss the issue if it was to be attended only by the parties which had their representatives in the dissolved House.

A press statement issued by Khem Raj Pandit, a central committee member of RPP, said the party decided not to attend the meeting as it was for those which had no representation in the dissolved parliament.

The press statement of the party said that RPP chairman Pashupati Shumser Rana separately met with the Prime Minister for nearly an hour before the start of all-party meeting.

"Chairman Rana put the party’s views during the meeting," the statement said. "All the political parties represented in the parliament should be included in the peace process."

Chairman Rana did not like to comment on why he went to PM’s office and left prior to the commencement of the meeting. A source who attended the meeting said as there would be no significance of holding discussions with these small parties, no intensive discussions were taken place during nearly 45 minutes of meeting.

"All the parties, which attended the meeting vowed to extend full co-operation to the government in its endeavours for restoration of peace," said Ramesh Nath Pandey, Minister for Information and Communications.

Refuting the political parties’ allegations that the process of peace talks was not transparent, Minister Pandey said, "How can we inform them about the process if they don’t come to us for discussions?"

Nepal-India talks ‘progressive’

KATHMANDU, Feb 17 (PR) - Nepal and India discussed each other’s drafts on criminal matters and the extradition treaty on the second day of the joint secretary-level talks today. Both sides said the talks were "progressive".

The updated version of the 1953 extradition treaty and the agreement on mutual legal assistance were taken up today and were moving ahead , Madan Kumar Bhattarai, the leader of the Nepali delegation told the reporters at the end of the two rounds at Shital Niwas today.

Bhattarai also said the talks were held in a positive atmosphere, a sentiment echoed by his counterpart B A Roy, joint secretary at India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

The talks are scheduled to continue tomorrow and conclude on Wednesday.

Minister confers with Maoist leader

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 17 : Minister of Physical Planning and Construction, Narayan Singh Pun and Maoist leader Dinanath Sharma are said to have held consultation on Monday, sources said. The consultation is believed to have taken place on the issue of creating conducive atmosphere for the peace talks. Status of the Maoist detainees and their possible release also figured in the discussions.

Sources close to Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand also conceded that both sides were trying to make conditions amenable for talks, which involves releasing prisoners of conscience on the part of the government, and ruling out instances of extortion and intimidation on the part of the Maoist rebels. The rebel outfit is also being pressured to publicise the fate of a number of people abducted and held incommunicado.

Pun, designated as the convenor of government talk team, is said to have flown in from an undisclosed destination with Sharma on board on Monday, although the report could not be independently confirmed. Claims are however in place that the current peace process would lead to positive results by February 24.

Sources also claimed that the government might release prisoners who are under detention for less serious crimes, to meet rebel demands, before the talks get underway. It is claimed that the Maoist outfit has also demanded the assistance of International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) for the movement of its leaders, something which Minister Pun has assured them from the government side, sources claimed.

EU keen to revive trolley bus service

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 17 : The European Union (EU) has shown keen interest in recommencing the trolley bus service in the capital. This was conveyed to PL Singh, former mayor of Kathmandu metropolis, who approached the EU to explore resuming the trolley bus service.

EU is looking for a private party, which would run the service on behalf of all the municipalities of the Kathmandu Valley. The issue was discussed at an EU meeting in January.

Students’ elections put off indefinitely

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 17 : Tribhuvan University (TU) today postponed the elections of the Free Students’ Union indefinitely.

The decision of the University comes hours after the Maoist students locked the Vice-Chancellor’s office demanding the postponement of the elections and information of the whereabouts of the missing Maoist students.

They also demanded the re-admission of the Maoist students who had missed their classes during the state of emergency. Students’ elections in TU campuses were previously scheduled for February 26.

The deadline for filing nominations ended on Monday, but no nominations were filed owing to the pressure from the ANNISU-R, according to Ram Prasad Adhikari, office secretary of Nepal Students’ Union (NSU).

A government source today said that a meeting of the National Defence Council earlier suggested the postponement of the elections. Major students’ organisations have flayed the postponement of the elections.

Issuing a press statement, Nepal Students’ Union demanded to retract TU’s decision and resumption of the elections as scheduled. Similarly, a press statement issued here by the Nepal Revolutionary Students’ Union expressed outrage at the postponement of the elections and blamed TU administration for its hasty decision.

Rights activists fear rule of law notion disappearing

By Suvecha Pant

KATHMANDU, Feb 17 : Since the end of emergency rule last August, hundreds of cases have been filed in the Supreme Court seeking the release of detainees held under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Punishment and Control) Act. Accordingly, the apex court has issued orders in several cases to release those arrested.

But in many of such instances, instead of releasing the person, authorities have either brazenly ignored the Supreme Court’s order or re-arrested the person as soon as he/she is released.

Such cases are mounting day by day, and human rights and civil society groups fear that the government’s contempt of court orders would not only chip away the rule of law but also delay justice to the hundreds of people detained under TADA.

"The recent trend of the government defying SC orders is very dangerous," Krishna Pahadi, chairman, Human Rights and Peace Society (HURPES) told The Kathmandu Post. "Contempt of the court’s orders has brought about serious concern among the public."

Now with the peace process underway between the government and the Maoists, rights activists fear that the crucial issue could be sidelined further. Rights activists like Pahadi feel the issue here more troubling because it encompasses both contempt of court as well as trampling of human rights. Therefore the SC should be concerned and press the Prime Minister to address the problem, they add.

However, Chief Justice Kedar Nath Upadhyay told The Kathmandu Post that it was the responsibility of the human rights organisations to bring to light the issues of contempt of court to the Supreme Court’s notice. In other words, civil society organs should file such cases in the court to draw the court’s attention.

"The issues of contempt of court should come through human rights organisations. These organisations need to submit reports about the government defying court’s orders and then the court will be able to take action," said Chief Justice Upadhyay. He added that the SC alone cannot take account of instances of contempt of court.

Ek Raj Bhandari, who has been following the cases of detainees, claims that there have been more than a dozen cases where the government has continuously defied the SC’s orders to release the detainees.

But the government denies any such accusations. "The jail authorities, Chief District Office, and other governmental bodies must respect and follow the order of the Supreme Court," Gopendra Pandey, Spokesperson, Home Ministry told The Kathmandu Post.

However, when asked why the government was not complying with these orders, he refused to comment.

Satish Krishna Kharel, secretary, Nepal Bar Association, which had staged a rally to pressure the government to release these detainees a few weeks ago, said that the SC needs to take action on the issue of the detainees. "We can file ‘contempt of court’ cases in the SC at any time, but wouldn’t it be best if the SC takes on this issue itself?," asked Kharel.

Responding to habeas corpus writs, the apex court has issued several orders to the government to furnish a number of detainees. But concerned authorities in jails and the CDO offices have mostly issued letters to the Supreme Court, stating that the detainees had already been released. In spite of such denials by authorities, five detainees were found to be held at Nakkhu Jail recently.

The issue has attracted widespread condemnation from civil society both here and abroad. International rights groups such as Amnesty International have also expressed concerns. Citing the case of Janak Prasad Adhikari, who was arrested by security personnel soon after the SC issued for his release, Amnesty has said that there were growing incidents of human rights violations in Nepal and that the concerned authorities were not doing enough to check these abuses.

But both domestic and international pressure has had little impact on the executive branch of the government.

Kantipur staff donate blood to mark 10th anniversary

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Feb 17 : Kantipur Publications Pvt. Ltd organised a blood donation programme at its premises to mark its 10th anniversary today.

Fifty staff from different departments of the publications including Kantipur FM and Kantipur Television donated blood on the occasion. Six people not affiliated with the publications also participated in the programme.

Yubaraj Ghimire, editor of The Kathmandu Post and Kantipur daily, Kailash Sirohiya, Managing Director of the Publications, and Ram Krishna Nirala, legal advisor, also participated in the programme.

Nimesh Basnet, Prem Dhakal and Kiran Chapagain from The Kathmandu Post donated blood on the occasion.

Likewise, Ganesh Rai, Bikash Thapa, Manish Gautum, Khim Ghale, Ujir Magar, Bal Krishna Basnet and Sharad Adhikari donated blood from Kantipur daily.

Kantipur FM staff participating in the blood donation programme included Sudhir Mahat, Parmananda Khanal, Prithvi Ballam Paki, Gopal Khadka and Raju Chaudhary. Sudhir Sharma of Nepal fortnightly, Bhola Dhankaul of Saptahik, Somesh Guha from press department, Bikash Rauniyar of photography and Asurari Gyawali of the marketing also donated blood.

Likewise, those donating blood today from the circulation department were Pradhumna Pokhrel, Kishor Basnet, Usha Adhikari, Kumar Neupane, Narayan Budathoki, Bal Ram Lamichhane, Dhruba Parajuli, Jayan Dhoj Joshi, Chandra Dewan, Rajendra Thapa and Mangal Chaudhary.

Binod Bhakta Shrestha, Suraj Paudel, Pradeep Kumar Yadav, Suresh Gupta, Bidur Aryal and Mohan Dahal from the accounts department also participated in the programme.

Similarly, Bijay Ghimire, Rabindra Maharjan, Nayan Rijal, Sanjay Luitel, Malvika Subba, Rajesh Mali and Ram Kumar Lamichhane of Kantipur Television Network also donated blood today.

Those non-Kantipur staffers donating blood today were Niroj Pandey, Praksah Khatiwada, Deependra Shrestha, Saroj Karmacharya, Deepesh Shrestha and Sushila Pradhan.

Return to unrest could invite food crisis in remote areas

By Damaru Lal Bhandari

KATHMANDU, Feb 17 : Any violation of cease-fire or disruption of peace process is likely to further rule out food supply to the vulnerable parts of the country, officials at the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) said.

Although nearly 30 districts in the mid-west ought to have access to nearly 15,000 tonnes of rice as part of food for work programme by this time of the year, but unrest prevailing in those parts had ruled out the commencement of the programme.

"We are left behind by at least two months in commencing annual programme in food deficit districts," said Basanta Raj Gautam, chief of the monitoring cell at the MoLD.

The MoLD, through its Rural Community Infrastructure Works (RCIW) programme, has been making available around 15,000 tonnes of rice in the selected districts under grant assistance from World Food Programme (WFP). The programme usually spreads over 100 days and is aimed at ensuring minimal quantity of food supply.

Although the programme receives technical assistance from GTZ, French and Norwegian governments, too, have been extending support. In fact, Norwegian agency, which was solely involved in food cooperation, is expected to move into non-food items too.

The fact that the authorities are behind schedule becomes evident from the fact that out of nearly Rs 5.67 billion budget earmarked for local development projects, the ministry has so far spent only 15 percent.

"Compare this with nearly 40 percent of the budget which ought to have been spent by this trimester," Gautam further said, adding that current cease-fire has brightened up the prospects of commencing the task.

The reason why the food for work programme could not get underway this year has been attributed to near absence of technical staff in the concerned districts. The programme is implemented on the basis of vulnerability analysis mapping conducted by MoLD. Other districts, where the donor-assisted programme is implemented are Mugu, Jumla, Humla, Dolpa, Kalikot and Bajura. However, MoLD has so far got hold of only 4,000 tonnes of rice from WFP, owing to unpreparedness to conduct the programme which involves building village roads, irrigation canals and flood control projects in the villages.

Although representatives of the people have made representation to get the scheme extended into additional ten districts in view of its efficacy elsewhere, Gautam has expressed doubts whether the same could be done "since the ministry has to convince the donors that the new areas fall under vulnerable group."

The districts, which may be added to the vulnerable list, include Okhaldhunga, Sindhuli, Rukum and Tehrathum, among others.