NC, UML adamant on their stances

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KATHMANDU, March 10:His Majesty King Gyanendra today reiterated the commitment to the present constitution in separate audiences granted to Nepali Congress (NC) president Girija Prasad Koirala and CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, but remained non-committal on the demands raised by both the leaders.

While Koirala reiterated his demand of the reinstatement of the House of Representatives to usher
the country out of the current constitutional and political limbo, Nepal put forth the demand for the
formation of an all-party government under the spirit of the constitution.

"Our party president has reiterated the demand to restore the parliament. I think interaction must
be considered fruitful if it culminates in good results," said Govind Raj Joshi, NC joint general
secretary.

The king had granted audience to Koirala between 4-4:30 p.m. while the audience granted to
Nepal followed soon after for about two hours.

The NC had been demanding reinstatement of the House whereas the CPN-UML has been
insisting for an all-party government ever since the dissolution of the House of Representatives on
May 22. During the audience, Koirala insisted to know the royal stance on the current
constitution and spirit of the 1990’s people’s movement.

However, although the king indicated at a joint audience to the leaders of four political parties as
demanded by Nepal and Koirala, nothing was forthcoming on the political demands raised by the
two leaders.

Talking to The Kathmandu Post UML chief Nepal said, "The king said he would grant a joint
audience to the leaders of four political parties immediately after returning from India visit." The
king is scheduled to embark on a private visit to India on March 18.

Referring to the content of the audience, Nepal added, "I told him (king) that as of now there was
guided democracy in vogue even in the multi-party system." Moreover, he also reiterated the need
of a national government led by major political parties.

Both the leaders have claimed that the king has expressed commitment to the current constitution and spirit of the movement for the restoration of democracy in 1990.

"I am the preserver of the constitution. There will not be any violation of the constitution from me,"
Nepal attributed the king to have reassured him in the course of the audience. Nepal also urged
the monarch to get all the constitutional forces united in order to resolve the current political
impasse.

Coming around the Maoist issues, the king made it clear that neither had he reached any secret
deal with the Maoists nor has any Maoist leader met him yet.

Significantly, Nepal had also demanded the immediate dismissal of the incumbent Lokendra
Bahadur Chand-government, saying it was merely trying to extend its tenure under the excuses of
cease-fire and peace negotiation with the Maoists.

Earlier in the day, the leaders of the UML, Nepal Workers and Peasants’ Party, the NC and the
People’s Front-Nepal had conferred and came to a conclusion that joint audience could go a long
way in resolving the outstanding issues.

Entire village gutted in Saptari
190 people left homeless

By Harsha Subba

BIRATNAGAR, March 10 : A blazing fire yesterday burned down an entire village in Madhavpur village of Kabilas Village Development Committee in Saptari district, according to police. About 190 people of the 46 families have been rendered homeless after their thatched houses caught on the fire.

However, nobody was hurt on the fire. The policemen from the Pato area police station who
rushed to the village had helped rescue all the cattle. Police estimated that property worth Rs. 1.3
million was gutted on the fire.

All the houses were reduced to a cinder because a fire fighter could not reach there on time from
Rajbiraj, Saptari’s district headquarters, due to poor road condition. The site of the incident is
located about 15 kilometres south-west of the district headquarters. Police said the fire fighter
could not move ahead of Amarlati Chowk that lies about one kilometre away from Madhavpur
village.

The fire reportedly started from one of the houses at about 11 a.m. and it could not be brought
under control till 2 p.m. The villagers had tried their best to put out the fire, but to no avail.

Sub-Inspector of Police Jayandra Sangraula said that there were only women and children in the
village when the fire engulfed the entire village.

None of the government and Red Cross officials has so far reached the village even 24 hours after
the incident took place.

The fire victims said they spent the first night in open field without food and clothes. Police said
they could provide only a few kilograms of rice and some oil collected in Pato bazar. The victims
said they could not take foodstuffs and belongings out of the burning houses.

Police suspect that the fire erupted from Bintilal Chaudhary’s house where children were playing
with the fire in the absence of their parents.

Pun formally invites rebel students for dialogue

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KATHAMNDU, March 10 : Co-ordinator of the government negotiation team and Minister for Physical Planning and Works Narayan Singh Pun formally called on All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union (Revolutionary), ANNISU-R, a student wing of the CPN (Maoist) for a dialogue, a statement by his office said today.

The statement comes two days after the ANNISU-R had padlocked over a half-a-dozen campuses
across the capital pressing for its five-point demands, including the release of its general
secretary Purna Poudel and seeking the whereabouts of its other cadres missing since the state
of emergency.

"The government wants to know why the students union has launched its struggle," says the
statement addressed to the ANNISU-R’s president Devendra Parajuli.

"As a government negotiator to the talks with Maoists, my attention is drawn to this students
union action, which has locked the campuses’ gates the other day," Minister Pun said in the
statement.

"I want to hold comprehensive discussions with them and reach a conclusion," he said calling
upon the ANNISU-R’s representatives officially to sit for a dialogue with him.

Meanwhile, campus premises across the Capital wore a deserted look today, the second day of
the strikes. The ANNISU-R had locked the gates of Patan Multiple Campus, Pulchowk
Engineering Campus and a number of other campuses in the Capital.

It also put on a number of posters on walls demanding the release of its cadres and re-admission
of those students who have missed their classes during the state of emergency.

It also demand that the police and the army be banned from the campus premises and a peaceful
environment be created for them to be inside the campuses.

Cabinet yet to finalise code of conduct
Don’t snub parties: RPP to PM

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KATHMANDU, March 10 : Following the conclusion of the "all-party" meeting today called by the government, Ramesh Nath Pandey, the government’s spokesperson, said that it would take some more time before the code of conduct for the peace talk was made public.

Pandey didn’t specify the time frame but said, "Let’s hope it will be made public soon."

Narayan Singh Pun, the government negotiator for peace talks and Physical Planning Minister,
had earlier claimed that today’s cabinet meeting would approve the code of conduct and would be
subsequently made public on Tuesday.

Pandey informed that today’s cabinet meeting discussed the code of conduct but "could not
finalise it."

He also informed that Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand requested Rastriya Prajatantra
Party (RPP) and Nepal Sadbhavana Party-the only two parties that attended today’s all party
meeting— to suggest necessary changes, if any, on the code of conduct exchanged between the
government and the Maoists. Other parties boycotted the meeting.

During the meeting, the RPP of which the Prime Minister is a prominent leader handed over a
memorandum to him, urging him to take all the political parties in confidence before making any
decision of national importance.

The memorandum also flayed the "government intention" to limit the role of the political parties to
the witness to the important decisions taken by the government and not a part of the decision
making process. "This would further deteriorate the crises and dampen the possibility of
consensus building among the political parties," said the memorandum.

RPP also reiterated its plea to adopt an effective measure to maintain a meaningful and positive
consensus among the political parties in order to ensure lasting peace in the country. It also
urged the government to address the issues surrounding extortion and display of weapons by the
Maoists.

The party also set the constitutional monarchy, multiparty democracy and people as the
repository of sovereignty as the bottom lines for the talks with the Maoists. "Any agreements
made against these fundamentals of the constitution would not be acceptable to the party," the
memorandum said.

Devendra Mishra, General Secretary of NSP, said that his party urged the government to include
the issue of easy return of the victims to their homes and their rehabilitation in the code of
conduct.

CIAA raids houses of 8 police officers

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KATHMANDU, March 10:The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) today raided the houses of eight police officers on charges of amassing wealth beyond their capacity.

Police officers who faced the first-ever CIAA action are senior superintendents of police (SSP)
Kalyan Timilsina, Kiran Gautam and Basanta Kunwar. Others are superintendent of police (SP)
Tapendra Dhoj Hamal and inspector Basanta Rana.

A CIAA source told The Kathmandu Post that three other police officials’ houses have also been
raided.

However, their name could not be verified.

The source added that the CIAA raid started late Monday and continued till late night. All the
papers and materials found during the raid have been sealed off, the officials said.

The commissioners of the CIAA are leading the raid, which is said to be a four to six people
team.

"We took action against the police officials after having received complaints with proofs," the
source said. On Monday afternoon, prior to the raid the police officials had been interrogated.

SSP Timilsina, who has been charged of being involved in a foreign currency scandal two years
ago while serving at the Tribhuvan International Airport, is currently the chief of Bagmati police
office

Similarly, SSP Kunwar, SP Hamal and Inspector Rana have been taken action for their
involvement in gold loot from a gold processing centre at Watu, Kathmandu a few months ago.
Kunwar is currently serving at the Police Academy.

Five policemen taken into custody

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MAHENDRANAGAR, March 10 : Entire police administration of Kanchanpur district became upset after a dozen Maoists managed to escape from the highly secured police custody taking on security guard by surprise on Saturday evening.

Police sources said that five security guards, including a commanding head constable, were
taken into police custody for preliminary investigation.

"We are investigating how the rebels managed to break the custody," a high-ranking police official
told The Kathmandu Post.

Twelve of the 16 rebels, arrested along with sophisticated arms from Pipladi Village Development
Committee about three weeks ago, had escaped from the custody taking on the security
personnel soon after they were taken out of the custody for dinner.

A preliminary investigation, according to the source, revealed that the rebels managed to escape
from the custody due to the carelessness of the commander of security guards while taking them
out for dinner.

"The door of the lock up was kept open for a long time and they took on the guards and fled," the
source said.

Kanchanpur Chief District Officer Jaya Mukunda Khanal said that the detainees first took the
guard commander under control then, attacked a sentry standing about 10 feet away from the
lock up. Khanal claimed that the rebels had, in fact, attacked the policemen when the dinner was
being served inside the lock up.

Police officials said it was the "most unfortunate incident" for the entire police department and
conceded that they managed to escape due to the carelessness of the security guards. A police
official said that the rebels, who were arrested with evidence, should have been sent to jail
followed by legal procedure. "It was not necessary to keep them in the custody for such a long
time," said the official.

Parties had to attend all-party meet: Shailaja

KATHMANDU, March 10 (PR)- Nepali Congress (NC) Central Working Committee (CWC)
member Shailaja Acharya today said political parties ought to have joined the all-party meeting
called by Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand.

Speaking with journalists at the Reporters’ Club in the capital, Acharya said, "It would have made
sense had the parties participated in the all-party meeting."

She insisted that the only alternative to reinstatement of the House of Representatives was the
formation of a national government comprising Maoists, which could conduct elections and initiate
necessary constitutional amendments. She flayed the demand of constituent assembly which
could cause many crises including "polarisation between pro-monarchists and protagonists of a
republican set up."

Nepal bag cricket title

KATHMANDU, March 10 (PR) - Nepal registered a comfortable 10-wicket win over Maldives to
bag the Emerging Nations Cricket Tournament’s title on Monday.

In the match played at the Tribhuvan University cricket ground, Maldives won the toss and elected
to bat first. The accuracy maintained by Nepali pace trio Binod Das, Mehaboob Alam and Raju
Khadka was too enough for Maldives as they could just score lowly 32 runs in 22.1 overs. Das
scalped career-best five wickets in his 6.4 over-spell as Alam walked away with two and Khadka
claimed a wicket. In reply, Alam brisk innings of 20-ball 24 runs and Lohani unbeaten 11 runs
helped Nepal to score a thumping win in just 7.1 overs.

In war-ravaged Achham, poor people are praying for lasting peace

By Nitya Nanda Timsina

MANGALSEN, Achham, March 10 : Nankali Kumari Jaisi, a local resident of Achham, stands on the rubbles of the historic Accham palace that was destroyed in a Maoist attack last year. With half-a-dozen kids around her, she stares at the ruins of the palace in the heart of Mangalsen, the headquarters of Achham.

The fierce rebel attack came on the night of February 15, 2002. One year on, the ghost of that
‘horrible night’ continues to haunt the locals - and visitors: the blown-apart buildings, piles of
rubble and broken beams of the palace, built by King Gajendra Bahadur Shah, are for all to see
even today.

They are as intact, and seem to be awaiting a fresh reconstruction drive.

The middle-aged lady journeyed through the rugged terrain to buy salt. If the cease-fire weren’t
there, probably she would not have taken the pain. "People told me there is no cease-fire," she
says, smiling. "That’s why I dared to come here. Otherwise, I would not."

Up until January 29, the situation was different. Most women like Jaishi were confined to their
houses during the state of emergency. Like many others remote areas of the country, this hill
district in the Far West witnessed large-scale damage to lives and public property.

But all that seems to have come to a grinding halt. At least for now. More and more people can
be seen walking down the war-ravaged streets of Mangalsen. And their faces are gleaming with
smile.

For the poor and underprivileged people of Accham, the news of cease-fire is just too good to be
true.

"During the emergency, we slept at 6 in the evening and the market used to be deserted even
before 5 p.m.," says Durga Saud, who hails from Achham’s Baral VDC -1. "But now the conflict
isn’t there so we can roam around freely. We can move around until 8 at night."

"Let this cease-fire culminate in lasting peace; and let no people suffer from war anymore," he
prays, his hands joined together on his chest for Namaskar.

Chet Raj Dhamala, a social worker of Dhamala VDC is no less happy. "It used to be very difficult
for me to work in the field even as a social worker," he says. "But now I am doing it without cold
feet."

The scenes around are better: teachers are back to schools, displaced people are returning to
their homes, tailors have resumed their work and the carpenters can be seen chiselling this and
that; at the market place, men and women can be seen busy constructing the road signalling the
return of peace.

"One positive signal after the cease-fire is that people are slowly returning to their homes. But we
are still in a wait-and-watch situation," says Narendra Bahadur Thapa, the Local Development
Officer (LDO).

Exact data is not available here - nowhere - as to how many villagers migrated elsewhere. But
according to a count, about 800 young people have left their villages post emergency. And an
estimated 400 young men and women have joined the Maoists army, while others have migrated
to India, to big cities like Delhi and Mumbai in their quest for seasonal job.

But no body can say for sure, how many of them are returning. The police officials say several of
them have started visiting their families after the cease-fire. "But obviously without arms," says a
police official.

Of the 75 VDCs in Achham, only five are under the control of the government and are safe, while
the rest are under the Maoist control, say officials. The latter has also issued internal visas to the
people to travel to their stronghold areas.

And the task of the resettlement of the displaced population, allowing them to return home, and
resumption of trade and commerce in this district looks all the more difficult as the authorities are
still uncertain about the peace.

Recently, the District Development Committee (DDC) halted the distribution of ‘special relief
package’ to the people in the villages. The regular programme, which was mentioned in the
budget, has not been implemented due to the restriction on free movement, according to district
officials.

As if all this were not enough, the distribution of pension, security allowances to senior citizens
and widows, nutrition food to children has also been stalled after the Maoists demanded 60
percent of the relief funds to fund their rebellion.

Against such backdrop, government officials, development workers and local villagers seem to
longing for peace more than ever before. "If only the cease-fire ushered in an era of lasting peace,
that would be so good for all of us here," prays Jaishi, the lady who came to buy salt.

Plea to call off proposed APF barrack in Attariya

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KATHMANDU, March 10 : A delegation of Attariya Concern Forum has appealed the Prime Minister, Physical Planning and Works Minister, Forest Minister and Home Minister not to set up Armed Police Force barrack in the middle of Attariya bazar in Kailali district.

The delegates claimed that setting up of the APF barrack in the middle of the urbanising Attariya
bazar would deteriorate the development process of the bazar as the barrack would block its main
entrance.

They have urged the government to set up the APF barrack to nearby barren fields located in the
middle of jungle. They claimed that setting up of the barrack in the mid-town does not have
strategic importance, as there are large army and police stations in all four directions within a
distance of 10 kilometres.

After meeting with all the high level government officials during last week, the delegates today
complained that the decision of the local forest office and APF office to evacuate the local people
were made without the proper decision of the government.

"Forest Minister told us that the government has not asked the local forest office to evacuate the
residential area," said Nanda Raj Bhatta, chairman of the concern forum. "Home Minister also
had the same statement to make."

More than 151 families residing over there since 1963 will be made homeless if the plan to set up
the barrack were implemented. All of them don’t have their land ownership certificates so far but
they have been part of Attariya Urban Development Plan that started in 1989.