Nepal, Bhutan agree to form verification team

BY NAVIN SINGH KHADKA

Kathmandu, Dec.27: In a major breakthrough today, Nepal and Bhutan agreed to verify the Bhutanese refugees on the basis of family units, to begin with, in one of the seven refugee camps in eastern Nepal within January 2001, next month.

"We have decided to go on verification," said Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Banstola at a joint press meet immediately after the end of the 10th round of Nepal-Bhutan talks on the refugee crisis today. "This is the end of a big impasse and the beginning of a new phase in the resolution of the Bhutanese refugee issue."

Bhutanese Foreign Minster Jigme Y. Thinley said, "We have indeed achieved what we had set out to do in the 10th Joint Ministerial Level Meeting. This could be done because of the atmosphere of trust and co-operation."

For now with only one camp being picked up for refugee verification, Thinley said the rest of the refugees "will be verified at the soonest."

In their three-day meeting of the 10th round of talks, the two Himalayan Kingdoms agreed to establish a Joint Verification Team (JFT) with five members from each side for the verification of the around 100,000 Bhutanese refugees in eastern Nepal.

They also agreed to nominate the members of the JVT within a week. "The names and designations of the members of the JVT will be exchanged through diplomatic channels," stated a Joint press release of the Ministerial Joint Committee (MJC) – headed by Banstola and Thinley.

"The MJC also directed the leaders of the two teams to visit eastern Nepal within January 2001 for logistic, security and other arrangements to ensure smooth functioning of the JVT."

The JVT will have no third party participation. "The verification will be done bilaterally," said Banstola.

On the modality of the verification, Bhutanese Foreign Minister Thinley said that both the sides have agreed on a common definition of a family unit. "The verification modality will be based on the idea of maintaining family integrity. This has been written in the Terms of Reference."

And that’s not all the good news is about. The Bhutanese side even said that all the valid documents with the refugees will be looked up by the verification team. "There is no set conditions for documentary evidences," said Thinley. "All valid documents will be looked up."

If the Bhutanese side really mean what it says, it’s a drastic change in its posture. Till recently, the Dragon Kingdom had been insisting on verifying each and every refugee – case by case. While Nepal had been stressing on family as a unit for refugee verification.

It was for the two notwithstanding ideas, the verification issue underwent an impasse for almost two years.

Now that it has been agreed upon, there is one more hurdle before Nepal actually sees the Bhutanese refugees packing their luggage. And that is the issue of Bhutan’s position on the four agreed categories of the refugees – Bonafide Bhutanese citizens, Bhutanese who have emigrated, Bhutanese who have committed crimes and Non-Bhutanese.

Until shifting the focus on refugee verification last year, Bhutan had been adamant on its position to take back only the first category refugees – Bonafide citizens.

With the Druk Yul flatly denying to take back the refugees of the other three categories after their identification, the talks were stonewalled in 1996.

Four years down the line, the Bhutanese have agreed to verify the refugees under the agreed categories. So, what is their position now? "There will be no difficulty to reach on a common point even on this issue," said Thinley.

That remains to be seen. But right now, even the agreement to verify them already has many refugees smiling. "If they verify the refugees and consider their valid documents, the crisis will begin to see its end," said Rakesh Chhetri, a noted Bhutanese political analyst, who himself is a Bhutanese refugee here.

The Lhotsampa refugees from Bhutan believe that if the verification team considers their valid document issued by the Bhutanese government, 99 per cent of them would go back home.

The home they had to desert as Bhutanese authorities intensified their ethnic cleansing campaign in the late Eighties. Under the revoked Bhutanese Citizenship Act 1958 and at Bhutanese authorities’ gunpoint the Nepali speaking southern Bhutanese had no choice but to flee their homelands and enter Nepal — where they have been in exile for the last one decade.

Gautam extends condolences

Kathmandu, Dec. 27 (RSS): CPN-ML general secretary Bamdev Gautam issued a press release here today paying tributes to those killed in the incidents that took place in Kathmandu Tuesday and extending condolences to the bereaved families.

He has demanded that the government immediately halt suppression and terror and fulfil the demands of the demonstrators.

Foodgrain shortage in Humla

Humla, Dec. 27 (RSS): The people here have not been able to celebrate Bhailo and Lhoshar, the festivals of the Hindus and the Buddhists, enthusiastically due to a shortage of foodgrain.

Government employees and the public have also been hit hard as there is no foodgrain even at the Nepal Food Corporation branch here.

Attempts have been made at foodgrain supply but the problem has appeared on account of irregularity in transportation.

Killed in clash

Gorkha, Dec. 27 (RSS): A woman Maoist worker was killed in a clash between the Maoists and a police patrol at Harra Bisauni of Ashrang VDC, Gorkha yesterday.

The police opened fire, leaving l9 year old Matrika Dhital dead, when the Maoists tried to escape a police cordon.

Another Maoist worker was injured in the incident.

Order issued for remand

Dhading, Dec. 27 (RSS):  The district court, Dhading has ordered to imprisonved Kumari Shahi and her son Krishna Bahadur Shahi on the charge of murder pending investigation.

A bench of district judge Shiva Kumar Thapa issued the order in response to a petition lodged in connection with the killing of 28-year old Sudam Bhandari of Kalleri ward No. 9 on November 25.

Surprise checks at Ilam offices

Ilam, Dec. 27 (RSS):  Forty-three employees including one officer were found absent from their offices when Ilam District Administration made surprise checks at five government offices at the district headquarters.

According to assistant chief district officer Ramji Prasad Koirala, the district animal health service office, survey office, district co-operatives office, electricity authority office and eastern regional road division were the five offices covered during the surprise attendance checks.

Three-year old girl kidnapped

Pokhara, Dec. 27 (RSS): Rajani Acharya, 3-year old daughter of Dr Mukunda Acharya of the western regional hospital, is reported to have been kidnapped by some unidentified persons from the hospital premises tuesday evening.

In this connection the ward police office says that it has found a letter in which the kidnappers have demanded a ransom of Rs. 700,000 for the release of the girl child.

Police are on the look out for the kidnappers, it is learnt.

Bhaktapur raises entry fee for foreigners

Bhaktapur, Dec. 27 (RSS): Bhaktapur Municipality is to make, from the new year 2001, one hundred percent increase in the entry fee being collected from the foreign tourists entering the town over the last two years.

The recent meeting of the Municipality fixed the trourism service fee at US dollar 10 per head for the tourists of non-SAARC countries and at Rs 50 per head for the tourists of SAARC countries.

Earlier, the service fee for the tourists of non-SAARC countries was US dollar 5 per head and Rs 30 for the tourist of SAARC countries.

The local level tourism and hotel sector professionals have been protesting against the 7th Bhaktapur Town Council’s decision to increase the fee as its chief source of income.

If the tourist entering the town won’t spend any more on their purchases or at eating places, the increase in the service fee alone would neither improve the economic condition of the municipality nor benefit the local businessmen and people, they argue.

Chairman of Bhaktapur Chamber of Commerce and Industry Krishna Prasad Tamrakar is of the view that the municipality should be able to provide additional services to the tourists upon the increment of the service fee or present them with such gifts as woodcrafts, metalcrafts or handicrafts of Bhaktapur.

Arrangement should also be made for night halt facility for tourists at Bhaktapur, they should be allowed to go shopping or walk around freely in the local bazaar. Besides, the municipality should arrange for traditional dances at various lanes and courtyards of Bhaktapur to attract tourists and to give continuity to its cultural heritage, he adds.

Mayor of Bhaktapur Prem Suwal, meanwhile, pledged additional services to the tourists in return for the service fee increase and said necessary process was already underway in that connection.

It may be noted that the municipality has collected service fees to the tune of Rs 174.739 million over the last seven years.

Machhedevi-Champadevi Road People’s participation Crucial

Kirtipur, Dec. 27 (RSS): Hem Krishna Adhikari, an engineer at the Drinking Water Corporation volunteers to break stones or to do digging work on public holidays, while advocate Raju Basnet from Basnet law firm, Dillibazaar, and his neighbours are also busy helping, one way or the other, in the construction. The residents of Machhegaon lay out a track linking Bhatkepati with Puspalal park with renewed vigour since the month of Kartik, 2056 Bikram Era. this is how the Machhedevi-Champadevi road is being constructed at Machhegaon.

Kathmandu DDC has set aside Rs. 600,000/- for the first phase of construction work for the road and later, awarded additional fund of Rs. 675,000/- after it found the remarkable progress in this task, Kathmandu DDC member Bal Krishna Basnet says.

The earlier 10-foot wide road has now been widened up to 25 feet, facilitating the two way vehicular movement.

The owners of the land on the road side has generously donated some of their land to widen the road.

The residents of this village have showed no hesitation to provide the land for the purpose.

"Our ancestors used to construct roadside shelters in the past. I followed the foot steps of my ancestors. After all, this will also be useful for my family forever," local Krishna Kumar Budhathoki says.

Retaining walls have been erected on both sides of the road, stones shelved with gabion wire, and hume pipes laid for drainage system.

Though the cost of the road is estimated Rs. 10 million, only Rs. 600,000 has, so far, been spent, ward No. 8 chairman Raju Basnet said.

In addition to grants received from Kathmandu DDC, Kritipur Municipality has provided financial aid of Rs. 50,000/- and district irrigation office about 2 tonnes of wire for the construction of the road.

Local people are contributing voluntary labour on breaking the stones, loading and un-loading and soil work with great enthusiasm.

Members of local user’s group and villagers have been offering snacks to the volunteers.

Upon completion of the road, "Masur" peak, Bagh Bhairav temple and a place at where Prithvi Narayan Shah the Great has formed a battalion for evading the Kirtipur during the course of integration of the country lying here will definitely enhanced its importance with the tourist viewpoint.

Chandra Sekhar lauds contributions of late KrishnaPrasad Koirala

Biratnagar, Dec. 27 (RSS):  Former Indian prime minister Chandra Sekhar today inspected the martyr Krishna Prasad Koirala Services Trust at Shishbani Jahada VDC ward No. 3 of Morang district constituencey No. 7 and acquired first hand information on the construction work and activities of the Trust.

Addressing a function organised by the Trust before the inspection, Mr Chandra Sekhar said that martyr Krishna Prasad Koirala had to struggle hard to set up democracy in Nepal and emphasised the need for the people here (Nepal) to shape their destiny.

He noted that in the changing modern world, it is only through science that the agricultural sector can be developed and women empowered so that they can make a significant contribution towards building a prosperous community.

The former Indian prime minister said that in the present context social services should be rendered not only to engage in politics and acquire power but also to meet the basic requirements of the people and raise their living standard.

Speaking from the chair, Trust president and former deputy prime minister Shailaja Acharya said that the Trust established with a purely service motive had been conducting income generation programmes for the people living in the rural areas and making the womenfolk skilled and empowered.

Central member of the Nepali Congress and head of the NC women’s department Nona Koirala and NC Morang district committee president Ashok Koirala were also present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, in Itahari, former Indian prime minister Chandra Sekhar today visited the B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS).

On the occasion, the former Indian prime minister said that as desired by the late B. P. Koirala, BPKIHS should move further ahead in providing accessible health services to the impoverished Nepali people.

He said that unless treatment services could be provided to the poor, the objective of building the institute would not be fulfilled.

BPKIHS vice-chancellor Dr. Shekhar Koirala said that BPKIHS had been utilising its means and resources for the treatment of over l00,000 people and working with dedication to render health services in the rural areas.

Former deputy prime minister Shailaja Acharya and NC central member and head of the women’s department Nona Koirala were also present on the occasion.

SEDP programme of NPC reviewed

Kathmandu, Dec. 27 (RSS):  A tripartite review meeting of the Sustainable Community Development Programme (SCDP) executed by the National Planning Commission (NPC) with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) concluded at Singh Durbar yesterday.

The participants reviewed the programme achievements of the year 2000 and discussed the work plan for 2001. The meeting focussed on developing appropriate strategies for programme sustainability after phasing out the programme from the districts.

From the chair, NPC member Hari Shankar Tripathi underlined the role of local governments in making the development programmes more effective and thanked all programme stakeholders for the generous support received in the past.

Deputy resident representative of UNDP Ms. Alessandra Tisot said that UNDP is looking at SCDP with a lot of interest in terms of poverty alleviation and sustainable development that has integrated environment management issues.

SCDP has been successful because of the approaches it made, she said adding, the outcomes of discussions on ensuring sustainability would be reflected in the future work plan of the programme.

Participating in the discussion, under secretary at the Ministry of Finance Hari Regmi said that people’s ownership helped make development programmes sustainable.

He mentioned the example of SCDP’s partnership with local NGOs that has helped in bridging the gap between government and the non-government sectors.

Chairperson of Humla DDC Jiban Bahadur Shahi expressed happiness over the launching of SCDP in the remotest districts like Humla.

The DDC chairperson of Okhaldhunga emphasised the need of technical inputs like training people for effective sustainable development programme implementation.

Assistant resident representative of UNDP Dr. Bhesh Dhamala and joint secretary to the NPC Mrs. Laxmi Maskey also expressed their views.

SCDP, known as Nepal capacity 21, was initiated in 1996 in Nepal so that the principles of the Earth Summit held in Rio De Janeiro in 1992 would materialise. It covers the six poverty stricken districts of Surkhet, Kailali, Dang, Humla, Myagdi and Okhaldhunga.

RPP holds regional meet in Mahottari

Mahottari, Dec. 27 (RSS):  Joint-general secretary of Rastriya Prajatantra Party Bhojraj Ghimire, speaking at a regional gathering at Gaushala in RPP constituency No. 4 recently, said that party workers should go hand in hand to safeguard party’s norms and values.

He also alleged that the government failed to stem widespread corruption, control price hike and seek an amicable solution to the Maoists problem.

During the gathering held under the RPP constituency No. 4 regional chairman Durga Prasad Upadhyaya, a host of other speakers including ex-minister Ram Bilash Yadav, Janakpur zone in-charge Navaraj Subedi and RPP Mahottari district chairman Ganesh Prasad Yadav also spoke about the different aspects of the party.

Desh Darshan programme

Lalitpur, Dec. 27 (RSS):  The monasteries management and development committee is to organise the 26th "Desh Darshan" (country familiarisation) programme for Lama Gurus to mark the 56th auspicious birthday of His Majesty the King.

Chairman of the committee the reincarnate Neshyang Gyalpo Rimpochhe inaugurated the programme here today.

Under the programme beginning here tomorrow, 41 Lama Gurus from 20 districts will visit Chitwan, Lumbini, Palpa and Pokhara before the programme ends in Kathmandu on Jan. 8, 2001.

Post-graduate studies in Nepalgunj Campus

Nepalgunj, Dec. 27 (RSS): Mahendra Multiple Campus, Nepalgunj is to start post-graduate courses on political science under the Humanity and Social Science Faculty.

According to assistant campus chief Sitaram Bista, the Campus which plans to start the post-graduate course from January 30, 2001 has received approval from the TU to that effect and completed all necessary preparation in this regard.

Prior to this, post-graduate courses on economics were run under the same faculty at the campus.

About 100 students will be enrolled and 7 university teachers added for the study.

Currently, over 3,800 students are undertaking their studies in various streams including management, law, political science and economics.