Amnesty condemns indiscriminate bombings
Int’l organisations flay journo’s murder

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KATHMANDU, Sept 9 : Amnesty International (AI), in a statement, today condemned the indiscriminate bombings at several locations in Kathmandu Valley on Monday in which one 12-year-old schoolboy was killed and several other people injured.

"We question whether sufficient measures had been taken to prevent such casualties," the AI statement said.

The AI also condemned the murder of a journalist and teacher, Gyanendra Khadka, in Sindhupalchowk district last Sunday and the killing of four other civilians, allegedly by the Maoists, in eastern Nepal over the past week. Two other organisations – New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) – have also condemned the killing. Khadka, 35, was working for Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS), a government news agency.

The AI has also appealed for the release of several people believed to have been abducted by the Maoists during the last 10 days. Meanwhile, RSF today expressed shock at the "gruesome murder by Maoist rebels" of Khadka who they tied to a post and publicly cut his throat.

Khadka was dragged from a village school by the rebels last Sunday. Khadka is the first journalist to be killed in Nepal since the rebels pulled out of a cease-fire agreement with the government on August 27.

Nepal urges Govt, Maoists to hold fire during festivals

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KATHMANDU, Sep 9 : Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) today urged both the government and the Maoists to suspend violence during Dashain and Tihar, the festivals celebrated by Hindus.

Speaking at a gathering of party cadres and leaders in the party office at Balkhu, Nepal said, "The Maoists and the government should declare cease-fire during Dashain and Tihar and respect the festive mood of the innocent people."

Nepal also hinted that the agitating political parties too would consider suspending their movement against the king’s October 4 ‘regressive’ move during the revered festivals.

He said that people should not be made to suffer during the festivals. "How can people celebrate festivals under such terror," Nepal said.

Demanding an immediate resignation of the Surya Bahadur Thapa government, Nepal said that there was no any alternative to formation of an all-party government. "Our movement will continue until our destination is reached," Nepal said.

He said that the agitating political parties would bring both the Maoists and the king to a compromise.

He also informed that the parties pre-poned the time of tomorrow’s joint civil disobedience against the government’s prohibitory order to avoid obstruction during the king’s arrival from London.

According to him, tomorrow’s programme would begin from 2:00 PM and continue till 3:30 PM as the king was supposed to reach here at 4: PM.

Meanwhile, leaders of all five agitating political parties speaking at the Reporters’ Club, today, had contradictory views regarding postponement of the agitation during the upcoming Dashain and Tihar festivals.

While Nepali Congress (NC) Spokesman Arjun Narsingh KC said that the top leaders of the agitating parties would sit down to discuss the future course of the movement, UML leader Jhala Nath Khanal expressed the view that the agitation has been put on hold until Tihar.

The leader of People’s Front Nepal Lilamani Pokharel said that the solution of the crisis caused by the Maoist insurgency lied in paving way for election to the constituent assembly.

He also accused king and the major political parties for derailing the talks by not looking into the demand for the election to the constituent assembly in a positive light.

King will not accept parties’ demand: Deuba

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JANAKPUR, Sept 9 : President of the Nepali Congress (Democratic) and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today claimed that the king, who was not ready to rectify the October 4 ‘mistake’, would in no way accept the 18-point demand of the five political parties and the Maoist demand for a constituent assembly.

Addressing a press meet organised by the Federation of Nepalese Journalists, district committee Dhanusha, Deuba said, "The question of the king accepting the 18-point demand of the five political parties does not arise when he refused even to revive my government."

When asked about the constitutional provision for House revival, Deuba said the king could invoke the same article of the constitution to reinstate his government, which the monarch used to dismiss. He reiterated that the only way out of the present impasse could be the status quo ante of the October 4.

"In case my government is revived, I will form an all-party government in consultation with the king, political parties, security wings and foreign diplomats and resolve the Maoist problem," Deuba said.

Crown Prince graces Indra Jatra

BY SHRISTI SHRESTHA & ARCHANA PARAJULI

KATHMANDU, Sept. 9 : The Kathmandu Durbar Square was thronged by hundreds of people to have a glimpse of the Living Goddess or Kumari at the Kumari Ghar.

The chariot procession of the Kumari is the most significant feature of the eight-day-long Indra Jatra festival. Called the Kumari Jatra, the procession commences on the third day of the festival. The Living Goddess is accompanied by Lord Ganesh and Lord Bhairav and is taken around the Kathmandu Valley. As in the case of the Kumari, Ganesh and Bhairav are also selected from the Shakyas, a Newar Buddhist clan.

A virgin girl with Raj Yog, meaning ruling signs in her birth calendar, is subjected to special bravery tests for her selection as the Kumari who, upon being appointed, remains in the Kumari Ghar until she enters puberty.

The annual function, traditionally graced by the King, was attended this year by Crown Prince Paras in the absence of King Gyanendra and Queen Komal from the Kingdom. The Crown Prince offered votive coins to the Kumari and the deities. High-level dignitaries, including ministers, diplomats, government officials, were present on the occasion. The dual worship, a special phenomenon of Nepalese culture, is to be found in this festivity too. Hindu and Buddhist devotees alike were found enjoying the festival in equal measures.

The Lakhe Dance, Pulu Kisi, Mahakal Dance and Bhairav Dance were presented on the occasion, and the accompaniment by traditional Newar music enchanted the environment before the chariots commenced.

Today, the chariots were pulled through Maru, Chikamugal, Jaisidewal, Lagan, Brahma Tole, Hyumat, Kohiti, Bhimsensthan and back to the Durbar Square.

As tradition has it, Newar Buddhist families lit oil-fed lamps along the routes through which the chariot passed to commemorate family members who passed away during the year.

The chariots will be pulled through other parts of the city for two more days. On these days, the Das Avatar is on view till after the Kumari returns from the grand city tour.

NFPJ decries manhandling of photojournos

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KATHMANDU, Sept. 9 : The National Forum of Photojournalists (NFPJ) has expressed regret over the manhandling of two photojournalists by the security forces.

According to a press statement issued by the NFPJ, photojournalist Rajendra Chitrakar of Gorkhapatra was manhandled while taking pictures at Baluwatar on Monday. Similarly, photojournalist Rojan Rai of Himalaya Times was abused on his way home from work, according to the statement.

The NFPJ has requested the concerned authority not to mistreat but rather to protect the professionals.

Death passes by as bomb explodes

By Suvecha Pant

KATHMANDU, Sept 9 : Working as a journalist often means visiting scenes of devastation and mayhem, interviewing the hurt and the wounded, the bystanders and the eyewitnesses. And then finally piecing together what happened for the pages of our newspaper.

After the initial adrenaline rush that comes with such assignments, the work gets routine and mundane over time. In nearly two years as a journalist in Kathmandu, I had covered my fair share of such stories in as dispassionate manner as possible. Little did I know that one day, I would be a subject of just such a story.

Last Monday, after finishing my morning classes at a software-training institute in Baneshwar, I got on my motorbike and headed towards Lazimpat for a reporting assignment. The assignment was an easy one - to cover a programme about the virtues of electric vehicles. Breezing along the road that connects New Baneshwar to the Old Baneshwar, I approached the pipal bot next to Ratna Rajya School in the middle of the route, passed it, and was still going along when a deafening explosion shook the morning air.

The blast was followed by a hail of shattered glass which hit me and other bystanders. It was at 9:20 am. Before I knew what was happening, my bike slid on the road from the shock wave of the blast. I found myself on the ground, underneath shards of glass. For a split second, I thought I had met my end.

As I opened my eyes, I could not put together what was happening around me. People were shouting all around me, and a thick white smoke was bellowing nearby. The street was covered with a fine layer of black glass. I heard cries but somehow I kept thinking I needed to get out of here.

Before anyone could come near me, I somehow managed to pick myself up. I got on the bike and without looking back, I made my way back to the institute. At the time, that was the only place where I could think of going. It was only when I reached the institute that it hit me. I had just kissed death.

Even when I reached my home after about an hour or so, I still didn’t realise how close it had been. I guess I was still in shock. My ears were still ringing from the noise and each time I closed my eyes and my mind kept wondering back to the morning.

My body began to ache. I had bruised my hand and had some minor cuts in my neck, hip and legs from the flying glass. After getting some medical attention, my mom told me to take some rest.

But, I just could not calm down. I was badly shaken and when I heard that there were five other explosions at various places that morning, I prayed hoping that no one would be hurt.

Later I found out that the bomb that missed me had been planted in the toilet of the Employment Promotion and Labour Department in Baneshwore. I also came to know that a 12-year-old boy had been killed in Baluwatar and dozens more injured in separate blasts in the Valley.

When I read the newspapers this morning, I kept thinking about Deepak Gurung, the boy who was killed.

He lost the most precious gift of life at such a tender age. And that was the moment I realised, I was lucky. He wasn’t. Life is fragile, that is for sure.

But it also made me angry. I think, I speak for all of those who are alive and for those who are dead when I question those who planted the bombs yesterday: Why ? Why your own people?

Govt buckles under protests by conservationists and CFUGs

By KIRAN CHAPAGAIN

KATHMANDU, Sept 9 : Hardly two months have gone by since the government announced its economic ordinance in July. Now the government has amended its clauses in the budget concerning community forestry. It demonstrates that the government has buckled to the protracted protests from the community forest user groups (CFUG) and conservationists over the controversial budget policy that proposed to enforce the CFUGs to divvy up 40 per cent of the incomes from the sales of their forest products for the state reserve fund.

According to sources at the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, the cabinet recently reviewed the policy. As per the amended policy, CFUGs across the country will have to allocate the said percentage of their income only from what they collect from the sale of timber to the buyers other than their members.

Earlier, in its economic ordinance announced on July 17 this year, the government had announced that community forest user groups would have to "earmark 40 per cent of their income from the sale of all forests products as forest products fee for the state reserve fund."

But the policy was sharply criticised by conservationists and user groups. The latter had in fact threatened the government of launching mass agitation against the policy in case their plea for withdrawal of the policy - calling it an "anti-conservation move of the government" - was ignored. They had concluded that the policy would break the spirit of community forestry in the long run.

Though it was the first time the government wanted 40 per cent of the income of the CFUGs dispersed in the hills and mid-hills, the government has had been collecting the amount for the last three years from the user groups of commercial forests in the Terai and inner Terai regions. "We’ll soon write letters to our district level offices to clarify the confusion relating to the 40 per cent clause," Jamuna Krishna Tamrakar, the director general of the Department of Forests, told The Kathmandu Post.

Reacting to the amendment, the community forests user groups said that even this amendment was not acceptable to them. "Our demand is that the government do not force us to divert our hard-earned income," said Bhim Shrestha, chairman of the Federation of Community Forest Users’ Group, Nepal. "We’ve had a hard time pacifying the hurt feelings of the CFUGs caused by the official policy decision that has led to their intention of announcing severe protests against the government."

The controversy of 40 per cent levy has already reached the Supreme Court. The government has also lost its legal battle over the clause imposed on the user groups in the Terai and inner Terai belts. The state has filed an application for review of the case at the apex court and the latter is yet to deliver its verdict on the government’s plea for review.

Community forest is one of the most successful indigenous conservation efforts in Nepal, and worth replication all over the world where applicable. Over 13,000 CFUGs, comprising about 1.4 million households, are conserving and sustaining their forests covering more than one million hectares of land for over 25 years.

Rebels attack police post, kill 3 cops, two civilians

BY PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE

CHITWAN, Sept 9 : Hundreds of armed-Maoists today evening raided an area police station in Khaireni Parsa, leaving three policemen and two civilians dead and four policemen wounded.

The rebels made a surprise attack at the police station at around 5:30 p.m. and fled the scene within 15 minutes. The shootout took place about 20 kilometres east of Bharatpur, the district headquarters.

Police officials said that Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police Anil Adhikari and two policemen - Pitambar Mishra and Lal Bahadur Thakur - were killed in the shootout. Two civilians who were playing football in a school playground located near the police station were also killed by bullets fired from the rebels, according to security officials.

The rebels had blocked all path leading to the police station at Lothar bazaar in the east and Tikauli in the west before raiding the post.

Meanwhile, in Baitadi, one Maoist was killed in a security action yesterday when the rebel stabbed a security man on duty at Dehimandau, while people were observing the famous Gaura festival. The army suspended the festival for security reasons.

In Dhading, the rebels today brutally killed a Nepali Congress cadre, Motiram Silwal of Nalang VDC-9, four days after his abduction. He was mourning the death of his mother when the rebels abducted him. Former Nepali Congress lawmaker Ramnath Adhikari condemned the Maoists for the cowardly act.

Another hydel plant generates cheap electricity

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KATHMANDU, Sept 9 : The 3 MW Piluwa khola hydroelectric plant has started generating power and successfully connected its electricity to the national grid on August 26, the power developer Arun Valley Hydropower Development Company, said in its press statement today.

Built on the border between Chainpur and Siddhakali VDCs of Sankhuwasabha district, some 125 km to the north of Dharan, a major commercial centre in the east, it is one of the cheapest plants in the country. The small-scale run-of-the-river type power plant will produce 195 million units of electricity annually.

The project’s production cost stands at US$ 1,400 per kilowatt, which is at par with the 20 MW Chilime hydroelectric project, which began its production from August.

According to a high level official of the company, electricity generated from the plant was fed into the national grid through Tirtire sub-station which lies about 550 metres away from the powerhouse. The commercial distribution would begin shortly.

The company had signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with NEA in January 2000 and begun construction works in September that year upon obtaining a license from the Ministry of Water Resources. The project was initially estimated to cost about Rs 275 million and expected to start its production in April with the production cost coming as low as US$ 1, 200 per kilowatt.

However, it was delayed because of the security situation. Additional works and the total cost of the project climbed up to Rs 326.4 million. Yet, with the production cost standing at US$ 1,400 per kilowatt, it is one of the projects producing cheapest electricity in the country.

After Chilime, it is the second power plant to be built through indigenous manpower and capital. There are 50 equity holders with seven Nepali banks and financial institutions providing loan for the construction of the project.

The plant is equipped with two German-built turbines, which can be operated in both automatic and manual mode. Besides, a 3,487-meter long penstock pipe – the longest pipe its kind used so far – is another important feature of the project. The company also claims that utmost cared had been taken to minimise effect on the environment; no explosives was used throughout the construction works.

The entire civil works of the project were carried out by Everest Construction Company, the representative of Japanese contractor Marusin Shita Construction Company Inc in Nepal. Machhapuchhre Metal and Machinery Works was the contractor for the project’s metal works.

The power plant is expected to cater reliable electricity to people of Sankhuwasabha, Tehrathun and Dhankuta districts in Koshi zone.