Maoists have freed Joshi, informs Khadka

Kathmandu, Oct. 1 (RSS): Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka informed Parliament today that the death of Malechhiya Devi, wife of Lalchan Yadav of Dandabela VDC in Mahottari district, is being investigated and those behind the incident are being searched for to subject them to legal action.

Home Minister Khadka, who was making statements of public importance separately at both Houses of Parliament, said Malechhiya Devi, 57, who was accused of witchcraft and implicated in the death of a local child, was given a clean chit by a local dhami or faith healer against the accusations.

However, Bijo Yadav, father of the deceased child, was not satisfied with the dhami’s conclusion and therefore dragged Malechhya Devi out of her house, took her quite far from her house, forced her to eat human excreta and urine and then just left her there, Mr Khadka said adding, other local people did not come to her rescue as they thought that it was a "police case" and they did not want to get involved.

Local police somehow came to learn about the incident the next day and the victim was taken to Jaleshwor hospital by bullock cart. She succumbed to her injuries on the way to the hospital, Minister Khadka said.

He also informed Parliament that ex-MP Dev Raj Joshi, who had been abducted by the Maoists, had reached home after his recent release. But he said he had no information whether other citizens and policemen abducted by the rebels have also been released or not.

The Home Minister expressed hope that all others abducted including police personnel would be released by the Maoists soon, if they had not done so already.

He also urged the Maoists to put a full stop to their violent activity.

‘NSP stands against disparity’

Kathmandu, Oct. 1 (RSS): At the outset of the House of Representatives meeting today, leader of the Parliamentary Party of Nepal Sadbhavana Party Badri Prasad Mandal, taking special time from the Speaker, said that his party had been demanding the banishing of poverty, unemployment and social and economic disparity through a ceiling on land holdings as well as other assets.

He said that his party did not subscribe to the programme of land reforms introduced solely to derive political mileage and therefore the party was staying away from the proceedings of the house but it would continue to participate in the discussions from tomorrow.

Then, seeking time, Shiva Bahadur Deuja of the CPN-UML said that the process of releasing persons held captive had begun from both sides after the initiation of dialogue between the government and the Maoists.

Shankar Panday of the Nepali Congress said that the Maoists had directly interfered with the religious and cultural sentiments of the people by slaughtering cows, making people eat beef and cutting off tufts of hair on the head, and if the Maoists truly pursue a political ideology, they should stop this kind of terrorist activity once and for all.

Police open fire, curfew imposed in Tulsipur

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Dang, Oct. 1: Nine people were injured, some of them critically when police resorted to firing to calm an adamant mob heading to set about one hundred buses on fire following Saturday’s road accident in which two students were killed by a Tulsipur-Nepalganj bound passenger bus with registration No. Ra 1 Kha 224.

The students who died in the accident were Narendra Oli and Gokarna Thapa.

The local administration has imposed curfew after 8 P.M. in Tulsipur after the incident.

The town of Tulsipur, which has been tense from yesterday, became more tense after some angry people went to the Tulsipur Bus park and "without heeding the police cordon there, proceeded to torch about one hundred buses forcing police to open fire, which injured nine of them severely", said Regional Police Office Deputy Superintendent of Police Ram Bahadur Basnet.

Those injured were taken to Nepalganj Regional hospital by a helicopter while some people with minor injury returned home after treatment at the local Tulsipur Hospital. Those injured in the incident are: Rajan Puri, Narmada Bhandari, Tribiraj Bhandari, Ramesh Kumar Rokka, Jahiruddin, Bed Bahadur Dangi, Khageshwor Pokhrel and Bheg Bahadur Bhandari.

Following today’s incident Tulsipur remained closed the whole day and no vehicles took to Tulsipur-Gorahi road. Most of the buses in Dang have been vandalised after the Saturday’s accident. It was alleged that after the accident, the cleaner of the bus involved in the accident pulled one of the injured students and put him right under the wheel to ensure that he would not survive the accident. The other student had died on the spot.

The chance to bring Tulsipur to normalcy has been disrupted by today’s incident, said DSP Basnet. The transport entrepreneurs in the district have declared that they would observe indefinite transport strike from tomorrow protesting today’s incident.

Special Hour
MPs raise issues of public importance

Kathmandu, Oct 1 (RSS): Dr. Banshidhar Mishra of the CPN-UML, speaking during special hour of the House of Representatives today, informed the House that a team of policemen under alcoholic influence led by Sub Inspector of Piriya Police Post, Rautahat district had shot four persons and injured them over an issue of stealing electricity on September 22.

Stating that one of the injured Prabhu Saha, who was shot in the back, is in serious condition, Dr. Mishra demanded that His Majesty’s Government take stern action against the Sub Inspector and other policemen and make arrangements for treatment of the injured persons.

Stressing the need to repair and improve the telephone line in Rautahat district, Dr. Mishra said that the Agricultural Development Bank located at Kathahariya Bazaar should not be shifted to another place because of security reasons.

The CPN-UML legislator stressed the need to remove the misconception of the Nepal Sadbhava Party that the whole Terai region is in favour of their party and other political parties cannot do anything there.

Sabitri Bogati of the NC said that the government should give serious attetion to the Maoist activities of closing down public school, collecting donations and threatening the teachers to resign from their posts.

Stressing the need to end politicisation in the education sector, the NC legislator demanded that the results of the examination taken for teachers service in 2052 be published, the employees and peon of the schools provided facilities, the Chepang community of four districts provided education facilities and the anti corruption bill be passed soon.

Hari Acharya of the Rastriya Janamorcha said that the government should give serious attention to the amendment proposals presented by the opposition and pass the bill relating to women’s rights on paternal property in the current session of the Parliament.

Lalbabu Pandit of the CPN-UML said that as the NC activists and the local people had tortured the Headmaster of Saraswoti Secondary School of Morang district by locking him up in the toilet for about three hours on September 11, the academic atmosphere has deteriorated and classes are not being run at the school to date.

He demanded that the Home Minister take action against the persons involved in this incident.

The MPs should be serious about the Supreme Court’s decision concerning the MP’s fund, he said, adding that the Supreme justices should not make comments on the bills under consideration of the Parliament as well as committees.

Nepal Day in Berlin

Kathmandu, Oct 1 (RSS): The Nepal Day held under the joint aegis of Royal Nepalese Embassy, Nepal Tourism Board and Nepal-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce under the Asia-Pacific Forum and Himalaya Road show concluded in Berlin.

The Nepal day was organised with the objective of promoting foreign investment, trade and tourism in Nepal.

At the Nepal Day programme initiated with prayers of the Lamas and Nepalese folk dances, Royal Nepalese Ambassador Balaram Singh Malla said there is a lot of possibilities for foreign investment as well as in trade and tourism sectors of Nepal.

Honorary Royal Nepalese Consul General and Representative of the Nepal-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce Mrs Ann-Katrin Bauknecht and Honorary Royal Nepalese Consul General Bodo Kruger threw light on the possibilities of investment in Nepal.