Maoists apologise for Baglung incident

BAGLUNG, Feb 20 (PR) - Maoists have today apologised to the parents of two students killed and one seriously injured in a shooting incident at Prabha Secondary School here on Tuesday.

According to local witnesses, the two students died and one was injured while the Maoists were instructing them on how to use guns. The Maoists however claim that the deaths were the result of an accident, caused by the faulty trigger of a gun, which was being placed on the ground.

Reports indicate that a group of armed Maoists said to be campaigning for constituent assembly, entered the school premises at 10 am on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, security personnel have been deployed in the area to investigate the incident and track down those responsible for the deaths.

Talks inconclusive, next round in New Delhi

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KATHMANDU, Feb 20 : Five-day bilateral talks at the joint-secretary level between Nepal and India on extradition today ended without any consensus being arrived at. The next round of talks will be held in New Delhi "soon". However, the Indian side claimed it was successful.

With both sides holding on to their respective positions throughout the discussions (originally scheduled for four days), the dialogue held at Shital Niwas failed to produce any results.

"The discussions on the drafts remain incomplete," Madan Kumar Bhattarai, leader of the Nepali delegation on updating the 1953 treaty on extradition told the reporters after the talks. "The talks will take place soon in New Delhi after the two sides agree on mutually convenient dates."

Bhattarai, also the spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attributed the delay to word by word discussion on the revised drafts that Nepal presented on the Indian proposals some 18 months ago. "We are discussing it for the first time, so it is taking time. In any case, updating an existing treaty under changed contexts will take time." He revealed that Nepal had revised the draft as per the UN Model Treaty on Extradition of 1990.

The two countries’ positions on handing over citizens of third countries proved to be a stumbling block in reaching an agreement on the extradition treaty that is being updated from its 1953 version.

While India wants citizens of third countries included, Nepal is not too comfortable with the idea. Also, while India is insisting on extraditing someone who has been sentenced at least a year for a criminal offence, Nepal wants the ceiling be minimum two years.

Sushil Jung Rana, joint secretary at Home Ministry and leader of the team on treaty on mutual legal assistance on criminal matters too, said many new crimes and their nature entailed that the discussions be thorough.

"We have to include trans-boundary crimes under the treaty too." The treaty will cover helping each other in gathering evidences against individuals/groups whose extradition will be sought.

The update of the 1953 treaty was necessitated since it does not include cyber crimes and terrorism that has assumed global proportions now. Nepali officials said that provisions of the SAARC convention on terrorism will also be taken into account before the final agreement on extradition treaty is clinched.

BA Roy of India who led the discussions on extradition treaty, however, claimed the talks were "successful". "We discussed everything in the draft," said Roy, adding that the draft was confidential and declined to reveal any further. The Indian team left for New Delhi today.

Maoist leaders vow transparency

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KATHMANDU, Feb 20 : Krishna Bahadur Mahara, a member of the Maoist negotiation team and Dinanath Sharma, a politburo member of the Maoist party, today committed to make all pre-cease-fire developments transparent to the political parties and the civic society, during a meeting with the CPN-ML leader CP Mainali and by telephone with the CPN-UML leader Bamdev Gautam.

Mahara and Sharma in different telephonic talks with Gautam accused the government of delay in the creation of an atmosphere for talks.

"Except for stopping the killings of the people, the government has not changed its policies even after the declaration of cease-fire," Mahara is reported to have told Gautam.

Maoist leader Sharma told Gautam that the Maoist negotiation team was ready to come to the capital provided the government creates the atmosphere.

The Maoist leaders also expressed concerns regarding their security while coming into the open. They requested Gautam for his personal and the CPN-UML’s cooperation to bring the talks to a positive end.

Meanwhile, the rebel leaders also held a meeting with Mainali Thursday. Mainali told The Kathmandu Post Thursday evening that the rebel leaders stressed the need for exploring a progressive way out of the present problems, through negotiations involving, the Maoists, representative political parties and the monarch.

"The CPN-Maoist wants joint efforts with the political parties and the civic society to bring the peace talks to a positive end," the rebel leaders are reported to have said. They also informed that the code of conduct, which was agreed upon by both sides, was almost ready and it would be published soon.

Mainali suggested the Maoist leaders to set up an office in the capital and systematically initiate dialogues with political parties, intellectuals and civic society. He also urged the Maoists to accommodate views of political parties, which had participated in the 1990 movement.

Army cobbler killed in S Leone accorded full military honour

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KATHMANDU, Feb 20 : Last rites of Krishna Bahadur Sharki, a non-combatant camp follower of the Royal Nepal Army who died in an accident in Freetown, Sierra Leon recently, was performed at Pashupati Aryaghat yesterday evening.

He was accorded full military honour by a contingent of the army at the Aryaghat, according to Colonel Deepak Gurung, the RNA spokesman. Lieutenant General Sandip Bahadur Shah of the Barda Bahadur Battalion, of which Sharki was a member, and other senior military officials were present there.

Sharki, 36, was part of the RNA’s Barda Bahadur Third Company, which was deployed recently to Sierra Leon for UN peacekeeping operation. He was killed in a car accident near Freetown on February 11, and died while receiving treatment at a hospital there.

He had joined the army as a cobbler 20 years ago. He hails from Katunje village, Bhaktapur.

UML to launch nation wide people’s campaign

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KATHMANDU, Feb 20 : The second meeting of the newly elected central committee of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist & Leninist (CPN-UML) today decided to launch a nation-wide peoples’ campaign "to preserve the achievements of the 1990 people’s movement".

The meeting also reiterated the party’s stand for the formation of an all-party government in accordance with the letter and spirit of Article 128 of the Constitution.

Ishwor Pokharel, a member of the UML standing committee and the chief of the party organisation department, said, "The king must form an all-party government with executive powers to resolve all the impending crises."

He also said that the party would hold all-party meetings, inter-party interactions across the nation to put pressure on the government for the formation of an all-party government. The UML would invite even the Maoists in the all-party meetings.

The meeting also asked the Maoists to clarify about their demands of constituent assembly, round-table meeting and formation of an interim government.

Pokharel said that the Maoist demands were only the means but the Maoists should speak on the objectives they want to achieve through these means.

The meeting also unanimously endorsed the political paper presented by the party general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal.

Similarly, the meeting formed various departments of the party. The party’s powerful leader KP Sharma Oli has been appointed as the chief of the parliamentary and monitoring departments whereas Bam Dev Gautam, another influential leader, has been given the responsibility of agriculture department.

Verdict soon on writs to regain territory

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KATHMANDU, Feb 20 : The Supreme Court is to hand down its verdict on a controversial case seeking the return to Nepal of territory ‘lost’ to the British rulers of India in 1815.

The case concerns two writs filed in the Court, which questions the validity of Nepal’s present-day boundary. The writs argue that much of Nepali territory lies across the border in India and the Court should direct the government to recover those.

Today, after the final hearing on the case, a joint bench of Justices Hari Prasad Sharma, Dilip Kumar Poudel and Khil Raj Regmi, announced that a verdict would be handed down on March 11.

Yogi Narharinath and Panindra Nepal filed the two separate writs in 1998 and 2000. Arguing for the plaintiffs are advocates Balkrishna Neupane, Ramji Bista, Meghraj Pokharel and Ram Bahadur Thapa.

The writs argue that with the signing of the 1950 Peace and Friendship Treaty with India, all previous treaties such as the Sugauli Treaty with British India are null and void as per clause 8 of the 1950 treaty. The 1815 Sugauli Treaty limited Nepal’s borders to it’s present day boundary, and gave a large chunk of its territories to the then British government in India.