Lower House
Two major bills approved with changes as NC, UML join hands

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Aug. 12: In a unique co-operative move, the ruling Nepali Congress and the main opposition party in the Parliament joined hands to pass two important Bills related to the formation of the armed police force and local administration.

The House of Representatives today passed with some amendments the Bills to replace the ordinances related to the formation of Armed Police Force (2058) and the Local Governance (fourth amendment) 2058. The Bills were passed with concurrence of the ruling Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), the largest opposition party in the Parliament despite oppositions from other smaller parties - Rastriya Prajatantra Party, United People’s Front, National People’s Front, Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party and Nepal Sadhvabana Party. However, some amendment proposals put forward by Nepal Sadhvabana Party’s Mrigendra Kumar Singh have been incorporated in the passed Bills.

The two ordinances were proclaimed before the 19th session of the Parliament. But they could not be discussed in the Parliament because of the disruption of the parliamentary session and were re-issued before the 20th session of the Parliament. The Constitution has a provision that an ordinance should be approved by the Parliament within 60 days of its issuance, otherwise, it gets nullified.

Only last week, the Parliament had rejected a proposal seeking no discussion on the ordinances in the House and the ordinances got the status of Bills.

The Bills were passed by the Parliament with thumping majority after the ruling Nepali Congress consented to the amendment proposals put forward by the UML lawmaker Subash Nemwang and others.

In the Local Administration Bill, the House has approved an amendment proposed by Ramesh Lekhak of the Nepali Congress.

Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka had tabled the Bills separately in the House for clause-wise discussion and with the permission of Speaker Taranath Ranabhat, had furnished replies raised regarding them.

In his reply, Minister Khadka said the Bills aimed at controlling organised crime and clarified that the Bill for Armed Police Force was brought as an alternative to the civilian police.

In his reply regarding the Local Administration Bill, he said it would be easier and effective to execute the functions in a coordinated way from the regions itself. He said the logical amendments and proposals made by the oppositions were included in the Bill.

The ordinances on the Armed Police Force and the Local Administration have been brought into operation by the previous Nepali Congress government.

The new Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba after assuming the office had said that the new government would give continuity to the mechanisms set up by the previous government and had appealed the Opposition to pass the Bills related to the ordinances. The Prime Minister had also given his words that the Bills would encompass the feelings of the oppositions.

In this respect, there are almost one and half a dozen amendments included in the Bills, and majority of those amendments were proposed by the main opposition CPN-UML, which had boycotted the previous session in opposition to the efforts to pass the ordinances from the Parliament.

However, in the process of approval, the smaller opposition parties - RPP, United People’s Front, National People’s Front and Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party - had reached up to the well and shouted slogans against the Bills. The MPs of these parties accused the government and the UML, of trying to impose anti-people and anti-constitutional laws.

After the Armed Police Force Bill was passed despite their protests, they walked out of the Chamber as the Parliament was about to pass the Local Administration Bill.

Before they exited, RPP’s Pashupati Shumsher Rana, Chitra Bahadur K.C. of National People’s Front, Narayan Man Bijukchhe of NWPP and Lila Mani Pokharel of United People’s Front had argued that these Bills should not be passed by the House considering the country’s present situation.

"These Bills could disrupt the atmosphere of talks between the government and Maoists," they said and demanded that the Bills should be scrapped.

The amendment proposal for the Armed Police Force Bill made by RPP’s Netra Lal Shrestha was rejected by the House.

UML’s Subash Nemwang had put forth the amendments on both the Bills on behalf of his party. He said that the ordinances would otherwise be passed by the House because the ruling party enjoyed a majority. "By proposing amendments, the UML has corrected the discrepancies in the ordinances."

Earlier, Bharat Kumar Shah of NC, Dilaram Acharya of National People’s Front, and Mrigendra Kumar Singh of Nepal Sadhvabana Party had put forth their views on the Bills.

What the bills contain

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Aug. 12: The House of Representatives today passed the Bills related to the formation of Armed Police Force and the Local Administration with some specific purposes.

Under the approved Bills, the Armed Police Force Bill shall be used to quell any kind of armed struggle in any part of the country, to contain any kind of armed rebellion or secessionist movement or acts of terrorism, and to control religious or communal conflicts, to provide security in the border areas and to cooperate and assist the Royal Nepalese Army in case of external attacks.

The other objectives of the Force to be constituted under the Bill is to provide assistance during natural calamities, protect places, buildings and structures of public importance and to help the security arrangements during parliamentary and local level elections.

The Armed Police Force, with its headquarters in Kathmandu, will be headed by an Inspector General of Police appointed for a four-year term.

The Bill has a provision for a Central Security Committee headed by Home Minister or Minister looking after Home portfolio to assist and suggest His Majesty’s Government for the operation of the Force.

The other members of the committee include a Brigadier General of the Royal Nepalese Army, Secretaries at the Home and Defence Ministries, police IGP, IGP of the Armed Police Force and Chief of the National Investigation Department with Joint Secretary of the Home Ministry as member-secretary.

There will be a separate 5-member Service Commission for recruitment of the personnel for Armed Police Force headed by HMG’s special class or equivalent official who may be serving or retired. The recruitment will be made through open competition.

The Bill has also elaborately specified the duties and responsibilities of the Armed Police Force personnel, including the terms and conditions for their punishment for the breach of duty and responsibilities. The punishments range from three years to life imprisonment.

The Bill also has a provision for separate Central Special Armed Police Force Court and Regional Courts.

The government has already spent Rs. 496.2 million for 7,052 recruits of the Armed Police Force since February till now.

The overall cost of establishment is about Rs. 1.81 billion, which include Rs. 471 million worth of arms purchase.

Similarly, according to the Local Administration Bill, there will be five regional administration offices in the five development regions headed by regional administrators.

The main responsibilities enshrined upon the regional administrators are to maintain law and order in their respective regions, monitor and coordinate the works of the district administration offices, look into corruption and other irregularities to make the administration more smooth, austere and service-oriented.

There will be a regional security committee headed by the regional administrator and consisting of the local chief of the Royal Nepalese Army, chief of the regional police office, regional chief of the Armed Police Force and the regional official of the National Investigation Committee as member-secretary.

Colombo meet adopts SAARC budget, reports

Kathmandu, Aug 12 (RSS): The third special session of the SAARC standing committee concluded its meeting in Colombo, on August 10, 2001, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The meeting was inaugurated by Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka Lakshman Kadirgamar.

He paid tribute to His late Majesty King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah as one of the pioneers of regional cooperation and founding fathers of SAARC.

In his inaugural address, he also stated that the third special session provided an important opportunity for the SAARC delegations to exchange views, to take stock of developments, and to chart the path of SAARC for the coming years and emphasised the need for a reinvigorated SAARC.

As a mark of respect to His late Majesty the King and other late members of the Royal Family, a minute of silence was also observed.

At the meeting, all the delegations stressed the need for convening the eleventh SAARC summit in Kathmandu as early as possible. It was also agreed that consultations to finalise the summit dates would continue.

The committee adopted the budget of the SAARC secretariat for the year 2002 and approved the reports and recommendations of the four technical committees.

The committee also recommended to hold the first and second meeting under the third round of trade negotiations under SAPTA in Kathmandu from 6 to 7 September and 14 to 15 October, 2001, respectively.

The report of the first meeting of the Committe of Experts (COE) on the drafting of a SAFTA treaty framework was also adopted.

To expedite work in this area, the committee recommended to hold the second, third and fourth meetings of COE in Kathmandu on the 8th and 9th of September, the 13th and 14th of October and the 2nd and 3rd of November, 2001 respectively.

Similarly the meetings of the Commerce Secretaries and Commerce Ministers would be held in New Delhi on 22nd and 23rd of August 2001 repectively to coordinate positions of SAARC countries at the Third Ministerial Meeting of the WTO to be held in Doha, Qatar in November 2001.

The third special session of the standing committee was able not only to clear the many outstanding issues but also succeeded in fully resuming SAARC activities, it is stated.

His Majesty’s Government is confident that it will lead towards the consolidation of regional cooperation within the framework of SAARC in the days ahead, the press release added.

Foreign Secretary Narayan Shumshere Thapa also held bilateral talks with his counterparts, on the sidelines of the meeting.

‘Use technology in probe of crimes’

Kathmandu, Aug 12 (RSS): Participants of an interaction programme on "Use of scientific technology in investigation of crimes: Problems and solutions" organised by the Nepal Forsenics Society (NEFOS) here today expressed the view that impartial justice could be provided if the units involved in investigation of crimes freed themselves from the traditional approach of investigation and investigated crimes on the basis of proof rather than mere statements.

Inaugurating the interaction programme, Supreme Court Justice Laxman Prasad Aryal said that the persons involved in the judicial sector should accomplish their responsibilities by utilising scientific equipment as the network of crimes had spread throughout the world.

It is the fundamental right of the people to receive justice and the state should make appropriate arrangements for this purpose, Mr Aryal said, adding that fair justice can be provided to the people by gathering proof through scientific investigation.

Presenting a working paper, NEFOS general secretary Dr. Harihar Wosti said that scientific method of investigation has not been possible because of the shortage of skilled manpower and scientific equipments and lack of some legal provisions in a few cases.

In the working paper, Dr. Wosti stressed the need to allocate a portion of the budget being spent by the units involved in investigation of crimes for gathering tangible evidence and scientific examination of such evidences and to set up a medico legal centre at the national level.

Dr. Wosti said that experts involved in preparing statements of the crimes should not be treated by the courts as witnesses of the plaintiff or defendant while being presented before the court. They should be treated as an aide of the court, he added.

President of the Nepal Bar Association Sindhunath Pyakurel said that a judicial system based on viscera and fingerprint technology should be developed within the country.

Additional Inspector General of Police Tirtha Kumar Pradhan said that a separate department is being set up for investigation of crimes and training programmes are being organised for investigation of crimes as the nature of crimes are becoming very complicated these days.

Joint Attorney General Narendra Pathak said that the facts relating to crimes collected by the experts plays a crucial part in investigation of the crimes.

The interaction programme was chaired by NEFOS president Dr. Pramod Kumar Shrestha.

UML, ML may soon unite

BY RITU RAJ SUBEDI

Kathmandu, Aug. 12: It will not be surprising if CPN-UML and ML, in a dramatic move, declare the unification of their parties in the near future, after they parted ways three and a-half-years back.

The recent Central Committee meetings of both the parties have made important decisions that have formally paved the way for their possible unification.

The reasons for this urge are many: the sudden and unexpected rise of the Maoists; their ultra views seemingly has attracted many cadres of both the parties; to inject new life into the lethargic and split communist groups
that believe in parliamentary democracy; and the local elections are just round the corner.

First, the UML sent a green signal to the breakaway ML by sending a letter of intent for party unity talks. The UML even formed a three-member committee consisting of Bharat Mohan Adhikari, Amrit Kumar Bohara and Keshav Badal to forward dialogue with the ML.

The UML has also said it would initiate unification talks with the Left parties that share the same ideology and are willing to forge functional alliance with others that hold different views.

"We have broken the narrow-mindedness and paved the way for unity with ML," said Bohara. He said, "We are for party unity not only with the ML but also with other groups. A united Left Front is the need of the hour in the country."

The Committee has already initiated the study of the documents of different communist parties, he informed.

For the ML, which is much worried about its dwindling size, the UML’s proposal must have come as a big relief. It promptly welcomed the UML decision. The ML, too, has made similar decisions at its ongoing Central Committee meeting to go ahead with unity talks.

It must be a matter of deep satisfaction for the ML to be recognised as a political party by its once archrival, more so as it was the UML which first extended a hand for unity.

Interestingly, both parties follow the same principle of People’s Multi-party Democracy propounded by late Madan Bhandari and adopted by the party’s 5th National Convention. They also have similar attitude towards the present political system and the Constitution.

They had, however, sharply contradicted on the Mahakali Treaty, the difference that ultimately led to the split of the largest communist party of the country. After that both parties went in for mudslinging and
name-calling against each other for years.

The hangover of the bitterness created by the Mahakali Treaty still persists among several ML strongmen and may be the stumbling block.

In a recent report, Devi Ojha, a ML central member insisted if UML is ready for rectifying its decision on the controversial Treaty, the ML would also make self-criticism on its past move to split the party. However, the UML leaders do not want to comment on this moot point.

"Now we are moving ahead with sense of camaraderie and a spirit for unity, so I don’t want to comment on this point," said Bohara, who is also the chief of the party’s organisation department. We shall discuss on this and other points when we sit together, he added.

When asked whether the UML was ready the concede to ML’s contention, one of UML’s strongmen Subash Nemwang said it would be pre-mature to say whether the UML would admit its mistake. But, he said, it is ill-timed to raise the issue of Mahakali Treaty now, echoed Nemwang.

Meanwhile, both the parties may have to cross rough terrain as there are still some in the UML, who think unity with the ML would not be as beneficial to the party as is projected.

For creating a conducive atmosphere in this direction, the UML in its recent weeklong meeting made some changes in the party ranks. Most remarkable is the sidelining of its powerful leader K.P. Oli, who was one of the most vociferous critics of ML. He has been removed from the chief of election department of the party just ahead of local elections. But many link Oli’s ouster to his role in the Public Accounts Committee that alleged Bhim Rawal, a party man, in a controversial lease deal of a China Southwest Airline plane.

But, whatever tussle there may be inside the party, it is true that the changing political scenario has impelled the split away comrades in the direction of integration. Some have even gone to the extent of saying that the UML, the largest opposition in the parliament, may suffer a serious setback if the Maoists come out from the murky forest to open politics by accepting multi-party democracy with some possible amendments in the Constitution.

‘Help victimof landslide in Okhaldhunga’

Kathmandu, Aug 12 (RSS): Homnath Dahal of the Nepali Congress, taking permission from the Speaker at the meeting of the House of Representatives today, demanded a search for 17 persons who went missing in a landslide triggered by heavy downpour at Prapcha and Shreechaur village development committees of Okhaldhunga district, relief for the victims’ families and the repair of irrigation canals.

Govind Bikram Shah of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party urged the government to provide relief to the victims of floods and landslides, repair telephone and electricity poles and withdraw the ISDP launched in 11 districts.

Mrigendra Kumar Singh of the NSP called on the government to pay serious attention towards containing the epidemic of Kala-azar in different districts of the Terai including Saptari by making medicines available.

Chitra Bahadur KC of Rastriya Jana Morcha spoke of the need for the government to help in the treatment of passengers who have been admitted to B & B Hospital after being injured in a jeep accident.

Lilamani Pokhrel of the Samyukta Jana Morcha demanded that the government provide relief to flood and landslides victims and wondered why his proposal for amending the Armed Police Force Bill was rejected.

Dilliram Acharya of the RJM questioned why his amendment proposals for the Armed Police Bill-2058 and the Local Administration (fourth amendment) Bill were rejected though he had presented the proposals on time.

Thereafter, Speaker Ranabhat duly informed the meeting that the amendment proposals registered by Pokhrel and Acharya stood rejected.

CPN-UML’s Gorakh Bahadur Bogati demanded that the government provide relief materials to the victims of landslides and floods in Humla district.

Balanced solution to solve citizenship problem stressed

Kathmandu, Aug. 12 (RSS): Main Opposition Party CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal has said that it is the prime duty of the state to find a balanced solution to the citizenship problem.

Main Opposition leader Nepal, who was inaugurating a one-day colloquium on "The present constitution and citizenship problem" organised by the Madhesi Youth and Students Front, Nepal here today, said that in view of the citizenship problem getting all the more complex with the passage of time this problem should be solved without delay to protect and promote the country’s national unity, integrity and sovereignty, and the rights of the people.

The citizenship distribution procedures should be simplified even if it require a constitutional amendment and the CPN-UML is ever ready to play an effective role towards this end, he said adding, resolution of the citizenship problem would help in regulating the border and keeping a record of migrants and immigrants.

Brijesh Kumar Gupta of RPP called for a national consensus among all political parties for the resolution of the problem and stressed the need for the government to resolve the problem with full commitment.

Mrigendra Kumar Singh of Nepal Sadbhavana Party called for a constitutional amendment and unity among Madhesi youth to resolve the citizenship problem.

Human rights activist Padma Ratna Tuladhar attributed all major problems including the citizenship issue to political discrimination and said that the people of the Terai need to unite so as to protect their own rights.

CPN-UML’s Jitendra Dev described political discrimination and citizenship problems as the major problems facing the Terai people and said that a constitutional amendment alone would help resolve the problem.

Ex-minister Rameshwor Raya Yadav claimed that about four million Nepali people are deprived of citizenship and they have been compelled to become stateless.

Convenor of Madhesi People’s Rights Protection Forum, Nepal Upendra Yadav presenting a working paper on the constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal and citizenship problem said that as people deprived of citizenship face adverse effects on their political, economic and social life, the government should resolve the problem for good.

Commenting on the working paper Prof. K.N. Jaisawal and Prof. Krishna Kumar Bhattachan called on all political parties to rise above party politics and demonstrate political commitment for the resolution of the citizenship problem.

A host of other speakers shed light on the citizenship problem and demanded that the constitution be amended to resolve the problem.

Forum president Jitendra Prasad Sonal presided.

Temple inaugurated

Kathmandu, Aug. 12 (RSS): Member of the Rajparishad Standing Committee Dr. Swami Prapannacharya inaugurated the Lila Bihareshwar Mahadev Temple at Dhumbarahi and consecrated the idols of Radhakrishna, Ganesh and Saraswati within the temple today on the occasion of Srikrishna Janmastami, the birthday of Lord Krishna.

On the occasion, Swami Prapannacharya said it is inevitable that all the Nepalese should unite in strengthening their religion and culture and thereby prevent any threats to national honour.

Patron of the Srikrishna Jyoti Sanjivani Sewa Samiti Mrs Padma Kumari Karki had the temple constructed in memory of the late Lila Bahadur Karki at the total cost of Rs 107,000.

At the programme presided over by senior social worker Shyam Prasad Chapagain, chairman of the management committee Tilak Raj Poudel said that the Srikrishna Sanjivani Tulasi Sewa Samiti has been entrusted to look after the temple.

A host of speakers including Srikrishna Prasad Gautam, Bishwaprem Bhattarai, Mrs. Hari Pradhan, Sarita Shrestha, Sangita Lamsal, Krishna Rijal, Madhav Neupane underlined the need for generating the sense of devotion and compassion among the people for safeguarding Nepalese religion and culture.