Amendment of constitution must: Nepal

Charikot, Dec. 26 (RSS): CPN-UML standing committee member Pradeep Nepal, speaking at a meet the press organised by the Press Chautari, Dolakha unit the other day pointed out that amendment to the constitution of the Kingdom is a must for doing away with aberrations that have surfaced in elections, ending the stalemate seen in the country and strengthening the local bodies as well as for wiping out corruption.

In reply to a question, he said what the maoists have been resorting to is totally wrong and their activities do not help to distinguish them from the police.

On being asked about the solution to the Maoist insurgency, he observed that the formation of a CPN-UML's government is the only solution to this problem.

Show cause notice issued

Kathmandu, Dec. 26 (RSS): A single bench of the Supreme Court Justice Rajendra Raj Nakhwa has issued a show cause notice to the respondents in connection with the writ petition filed by president of free thoughts forum Bharat Jangam challenging the legality of the parliamentarian fund and issued orders to summon all the respondents including the Cabinet Secretariat and all the political parties to the court within seven days to discuss whether to issue an interim order or not.

Petitioner Bharat Jangam and advocate Pushkar Gajurel presented arguments on the rationale, need and importance of the writ petition during the course of hearings.

HMG Cabinet Secretariat, the Ministries of Finance, Law, Justice and Parliamenary Affairs, and Local Development, Office of the Comptroller General, Department of the Auditor General, Public Accounts Committee and all the political parties have been made respondents in the writ petition.

Two die, scores hurt as crowd clashes with cops

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, December 26:Two persons were killed and scores injured today in clashes between police and Left-wing student demonstrators protesting against comments made by an Indian cine-actor against Nepal and the Nepalese. During a talk show on Star Plus channel on December 14, actor Hritik Roshan had allegedly said that he did not like Nepal and the Nepalese. The remark has provoked angry protests here.

Some parts of Kathmandu were tense today as Left-wing students took out demonstrations blocking the streets and damaging vehicles. They also clashed with the police and vandalized a cinema hall. The main streets outside two major campuses at Thamel were littered with stones as mobs, which also included students, fought with the police. Also tense were Baneshwor and Chabahil, where a film hall had recently screened a picture called Mission Kashmir starred by Rohan.

Police resorted to firing in two places to bring the tense situation under control where students were obstructing the traffic, vandalising vehicles and exchanging brick-bats with the police.

As the situation grew more tense, the Ministry of Information and Communications instructed all theatres around the country not to screen films of Indian cine-actor Hritik Roshan until he publicly apologizes for his comments.

Similarly, the Nepal Motion Picture Association and Cine Artists' Association of Nepal have expressed their deep regret over Roshan's comment.

According to a Home Ministry statement, 30 policemen were also injured in the clashes with the protestors. The statement says when the situation did not come under control even after baton charging and lobbing of tear gas shells police was forced to open fire. One of those killed was Barsha Koirala, a 13-year-old girl, who was hit by a stray bullet.

At the Gopi Krishna cinema hall in Chabahil protestors also vandalized a fire engine injuring three fire fighters that had gone to douse the fire set to the reels of an Indian film and to prevent any untoward incident.

According to the owner of Gopi Krishna Hall, about 200 students had come to the hall this morning and gave him a letter not to screen Roshan's picture again. He said he readily agreed to their demand. They, then, demanded a reel of Rohan's picture and when they did not find any they burned the reel of another Indian film and also badly damaged 18 air conditioners.

There are also reports of protests in several parts of the country against Roshan's comment.

Meanwhile, according to agency reports, Roshan has denied that he has made any derogatory remarks about Nepal and its people. "I have never given a TV interview to any channel, stating that I dislike Nepal and its people," says an AP report. He is also reported to have said that he loved Nepal as he loved India and have tremendous respect for the Nepalese people.

Refugee verification modalities drafted

BY NAVIN SINGH KHADKA

Kathmandu, Dec.26:As a promising beam of hope for the protracted Bhutanese refugee crisis, Nepal and Bhutan today began drafting modalities of Bhutanese refugees' verification agreed between the two Himalayan Kingdoms' foreign ministers this morning.

"We have provided guidelines and our officers are drafting what we had agreed in the morning," Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Banstola told reporters after the second day of the 10th round of Nepal-Bhutan talks on the refugee issue today. "We have agreed in ideas (of the modality of verifications) and that has to be worded."

If the ideas and wordings match, Banstola said, there would be an agreement on the verification of refugees.

Visiting Bhutanese Foreign Minister Jigme Y. Thinley complimented Banstola's saying. "We are heading toward positive result on verification," he said, further adding, "I think it's enough. By the end of tomorrow we will be shaking hands and smile"

The details of the modalities of the verification, however, could not be known. "The details cannot be shared," both the foreign ministers said.

Thinley, however, continued to be more assuring: The 10th round will be yielding substantive result.

That already looks like happening as the two sides are drafting the "agreement" between their leaders today.

Given Bhutan's dilly-dallying for the last two years over the issue, the drafting of the verification modality could be a quantum leap.

More so, when Nepal and Bhutan, until yesterday, had two notwithstanding ideas of verifying refugees. While Nepal maintained that the refugees should be verified on the basis of family units, Bhutan insisted on identifying each and every refugee.

"During the ongoing 10th round of talks, if we can get into verification, that is the beginning of the end," said Thinley.

Perhaps, but if only one more hitch -- Bhutan's position on the four categories of refugees -- is overcome. And, that is something both Nepal and Bhutan have chosen to sweep under the carpet for now.

"I cannot comment on our position of refugees for now," said Thinley today.

Even Minister Banstola said that the position was not yet clear. "We are first going for identification and then only issues related to categorisation will follow."

The two nation's position on the four categories of refugees remained on the back-burner after Bhutan some three years ago did not budge from its stand of taking back only Bonafide Bhutanese.

Which meant Nepal would have to assimilate the rest of the three categories -- Bhutanese who have emigrated, Bhutanese who have committed crimes and Non-Bhutanese.

With Nepal out-rightly denying to do so, the talks had remained stonewalled for almost two years. When the dialogue resumed last year, Bhutan reiterated its stand and thus the focus of the talks shifted to the verification issue.

One year down the line, both the sides are now talking about verifying the refugees under two labels: Bhutanese or Non-Bhutanese.

Since previous researches by non-government agencies have shown that 99 per cent of the refugees hold one or the other documentary evidences of being Bhutanese, the verification move could score Nepal a strong point.

Once the refugees are verified as Bhutanese, Bhutan, despite its trump card of the four categories of refugees, would fall foul of the established fact.

The scoreboard will be in favour of Nepal for having hosted the around 100,000 Bhutanese refugees for the last 10 years.

Whether these Bhutanese were criminals or they emigrated (as Bhutan claims) is not something Nepal should bother about.

If Bhutan's law has no place for the criminal Bhutanese or what the Dragon Kingdom calls emigrants, Nepal does not have either.

In that case, the left-out-in-the-cold Bhutanese would be stateless people.

And, the world will have a reason to blame the Dragon Kingdom for their plight.