Terrorists vandalise vahicle exchange centre in capital

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept. 1: Twenty two vehicles were damaged when a band of terrorists vandalised Tej and Karan Enterprises at Teku early this morning.

About 15 terrorists - one of them wearing a mask and carrying a gun - entered the complex at about 6 A.M. and began smashing the windshields of the cars parked in the garage, while setting fire to some of them.

Out of the 40 cars put up for sale and for reconditioning, seven have been badly burnt, while 15 have had their windshields broken. No one was hurt in the incident.

Only two hours earlier, a time bomb placed on an ambulance in nearby Kalimati had been defused by the army. While defusing the bomb, the windshield of the Mahindra Jeep was shattered.

Police put total damage at Tej and Karan at about Rs. 3.5 million, but Tej Karan Jain, proprietor of the enterprises told The Rising Nepal it could be much higher. He said much of the damage was repairable. Tej and Karan deals with the purchase and sale of used vehicles.

An eyewitness said that the terrorists suddenly barged into the premises and began vandalising the vehicles. Some of them poured petrol onto the vehicles and others, carrying iron rods, began smashing the glasses.

Another eyewitness Krishna Magar, also an employee with the enterprises, said," As I was entering the gate to begin work, I saw them running out of the garage. One of them who was wearing a mask pointed a gun at me. The attackers then dispersed in different directions."

Magar said that although the police was informed immediately after the culprits fled, they arrived almost an hour later. The workers put the fire out with the help of fire extinguishers.

The terrorists had also placed a small time bomb on the bonnet of Jain's car before fleeing. A staff member took the bomb outside and hurled it onto the street. The bomb exploded seven minutes later at about 6:50 A.M., shattering the windowpanes of nearby houses.

Proprietor Jain was not present when the incident took place. Jain said there was no warning of the attack. "It was unexpected."

Police at the Kalimati Ward Police Office said that they had arrested 15 people on suspicion but released them after interrogation.

This is the fourth explosion in the capital in a week. An armyman lost his life while defusing a bomb placed in a residential area in Patan on Thursday, while two people were injured when a pressure cooker bomb went off at Bishal Bazaar a day earlier. Last Sunday, two Maoist terrorists were killed while assembling time bombs in a rented house.

Party leaders say Maoists worry threat to democracy

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept 1: In letters written to different political parties, the Maoist terrorists are said to have expressed concern over threats to the achievements of the Popular Movement of 1990.

This was revealed by leaders of political parties at a face-to-face programme organised here today by the Reporters' Club.

If the Maoists believe in what they say, they should not be an obstacle to the November polls, said intellectuals and political leaders at the programme.

"We demand that they announce a cease-fire and lay down their arms so that the mid-term polls can be held in a free and fair manner."

Rishikesh Gautam, Minister without portfolio, said that the government was ready to hold talks with the Maoists. "But they should commit in written that they will give up arms and not deceive the government again."

Last year, after three rounds of talks with the government, the Maoists had unilaterally had broken off the talks and attacked an army barrack in west Nepal. Subsequently, the government labelled the Maoists terrorists and announced a state of emergency to bring the six-year-old insurgency under control.

Minister Gautam also reiterated the government's commitment to hold the general elections impartially, and said the government was undecided on whether to reimpose the state of emergency. If the law and order situation improves, there is no need of it," he added.

CPN-UML Standing Committee member Jhalanath Khanal said that the security forces could be mobilised against the Maoists even in the absence of the emergency. "If the mid-term polls are not held within the stipulated timeframe, the constitution will lose its significance. Therefore, both the government and the Maoists should immediately initiate talks," he added.

Kamal Thapa, spokesman of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, expressed doubt if the polls could be held in a free manner in the current security situation. "Emergency and elections will not go side by side," said Thapa.

Former ambassador Keshav Narayan Jha said that the civil society had now come up as a felicitator of talks between the government and the Maoists. "The Maoists must now commit to surrender their weapons."

Economist Himalaya Shumser JBR had a different view on how to resolve the problem. "We must try to bring foreign mediators to resolve the insurgency."

Regardless of whether the Maoists allow the polls to take place peacefully or not, the Nepali Congress party led by Girija Prasad Koirala will not contest the election if it does not get the tree symbol," said Arjun Narsingh K.C., its spokesman.

The Election Commission has yet to decide which of the Nepali Congress factions - the other led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba - is legitimate and deserves the tree symbol.

Govt firm to provide full security to polls

RSS

NAWALPARASI, Sept. 1: Minister of State for Home Devendra Raj Kandel has said that the government is steadfast in its resolve of providing full security for the election scheduled for November 13.

Addressing separate regional gatherings at Semari and Paklihawa village development committees in constituency No. 3 of Nawalparasi district today, Minister of State Kandel said under how many phases the election would be held is up to the Election Commission.

The coming election is a referendum on peace and development and violence and destruction.

Former MP Khem Narayan Faujdar urged the party workers to shore their energy for the elections, expressing the view that differences within the party was gradually being bridged.

Nepali Congress regional president Gyanendra G.C. said that he has backed the Nepali Congress led by the Prime Minister Deuba because he had stood for a change in the party's leadership and a majority of the party workers also did the same.

Senior party activists Nanda Lal Mishra, Dinanath Koirala, Dev Karan Jaiswal and others also expressed their views at the programme chaired by Nepali Congress constituency-2 regional president Ramprit Jaiswal.

Security forces kill 4 terrorists, seize weapons

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Sept. 1: Maoists vandalised the offices of nine village development committees (VDC) in Kavrepalanchok district adjoining Kathmandu Saturday night, destroying property worth at least Rs. 5 million.

According to Chief District Officer Himanath Dawadi, the terrorists set fire to the documents as well.

The Maoists also set fire to set fire to a dozer used in the construction of a road in Kavre. The road was being built with the help of the local people.

The security forces have been mobilised to hunt down the terrorists.

Meanwhile, four terrorists were killed in operations by the security forces in Rolpa in west Nepal and Dhading in central Nepal Saturday. According to the Defence Ministry, two terrorists each were killed in Bhawang of Rolpa and Bimire of Dhanding.

The security forces found weapons, explosives, socket bombs, combat dresses and bullets of .303 rifles in these sites.

The search operation in Bela of Dang in west Nepal yielded 1,800 bullets of 7.62 mm guns. In Kalika of Kalikot district, the security forces found explosives, equipment used to set up ambush and five quintals of foodgrains. In Doti, the forces found nine guns on Friday.

The medical team of the security forces set up a temporary health camp at Chepang and Badhichaur of Surkhet district on Saturday and provided health services and medicines to 53 local people, the Ministry said.

Sexual health awareness sees marked improvement

By A Staff Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept.1: There has been a marked improvement in sexual and reproductive health awareness among Nepali youths.

Studies show that the level of awareness among the married women of reproductive age about the knowledge of at least two family planning methods jumped from 20 to 99 per cent since the Reproductive Health Initiative (RHI) was introduced in 1999.

Five local NGOs are promoting the awareness drive funded by the European Commission (EC) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The percentage of females using contraceptives shot up from 25.6 per cent to 71.6 per cent, says the Book of Abstracts on RHI in Nepal. The findings were disseminated at a recent seminar. Male contraceptive users increased from 5.1 per cent to almost 15 per cent. The percentage of women of reproductive age giving birth in medical facilities increased from 21.6 per cent to 57.5 per cent.
"Significantly, more females reported participating in the decision-making process on household matters and RH issues," the paper says.

Married women of reproductive age recognising the need for pregnancy care and checkups increased to 97 per cent. More than 92 per cent of these women now have knowledge about preventing the infection of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and 52.8 per cent of them have knowledge about abortion related complications.

According to the research abstract presented by Shiva Hari Maharjan of the Environment, Health and Development Advisory Group, the knowledge in adolescents about the right age for marriage went up to 96.1 per cent. Their knowledge about the adverse effects on a baby's health due to early child birth saw a rise from 45.8 per cent to 86.6 per cent during the last three years of the RHI campaign.

"This increase in knowledge resulted in a noticeable change in attitude and practices among the target population," says the abstract paper.

The percentage of adolescents who had heard of STDs increased from 44.5 per cent to 93.3 per cent.

The dissemination paper claims that there was 100 per cent increase in the level of knowledge among household heads regarding the need to involve themselves in the RHI.

Thanks to the substantial improvement in the RH knowledge, the proportion of child bearing by married women of reproductive age between 15 and 19 years witnessed a dramatic decline from 65 per cent to 9.2 per cent. Signaling a similar positive trend, the rate of unwanted births fell from 23.5 per cent to 11.7 per cent.

However, a study on the role played by males in safe motherhood brings to the fore a gloomy picture. The findings of a study conducted by Aama Milan Kendra revealed that motherhood is largely viewed as mother's business.

"Communication between husband and wife on safe motherhood issues is inconsistent and often lacking," said the finding of the research conducted in Morang district. Though men play an important role in decision making, they are not adequately aware of safe motherhood issues.

Men were found to accompany their wives for checkups in hospitals lying outside their village, but they rarely went with their wives for pregnancy-related examinations in the community health facilities. Men's discouraging participation in this affair is attributed to factors such as lack of awareness, absence of motivation and gender stereotypes of the society. "Men's roles are limited to emergency management," according to the study.

Adolescents constitute 24 per cent of Nepal's total population, more than half of whom are girls. Resource crunch, burden of household chores, early marriage and early child bearing limit the education and development opportunities for girls, especially in the rural areas.

According to the 1991 census and Health Survey 1996, nearly half of all girls aged 15 to 19 years are married and a fourth of the married adolescent girls are either pregnant or already mothers. The Health Survey 2001 had revealed that 33 per cent of adolescent girls were illiterate.