NEWS NOTES (Spotlight Weelky)

‘Maoists Using Children In Insurgency’

About 30 percent of the rebels involved in the underground CPN (Maoist)-led violent campaign are children, a recent report said. According to the Global Report on Child Soldiers 2001 made public early this week by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, the Maoists are using school and college students and younger children in their insurgent activities. The report said Maoist rebels have denied charges of recruiting children for their campaign. Children are also reportedly used as messengers, sentries and spies and involved in cultural and propaganda activities, the global reports said. More than half a million children are recruited into government forces and armed groups in more than 87 countries around the world, the report said. Compiled from reports June 15.

Maoists Explode Bombs

Maoist rebels exploded crude bombs at two police beats in the eastern town of Dharan on Saturday night. Two policemen were injured during the bomb explosion at the Ilaka police post, police said. People were terror-stricken after the incident, reports said. In a separate incident, five police personnel sustained injuries in a cross firing between Maoist rebels and policemen at the B. P. Nagar police post in the far-western district of Doti on Thursday night. After a nearly one-hour gunbattle, the rebels took away 19 pieces of arms including rifles, pistols and shotguns. At least four rebels were believed killed or injured in the incident, RSS news agency reported, quoting Chief District Officer of Doti Tana Gautam. Compiled from reports June 17.

‘GARDEP’ To Be Continued

The European Union-assisted Gulmi-Arghakhanchi Rural Development Project (GARDEP) has re-started all project activities in two western districts that had been stalled for the last one month amid Maoist attacks, a leading daily reported Monday. According to Allan Campen, joint director of the GARDEP II project, all project staff have been assigned to their previous duties. The GARDEP had closed down all its activities and had threatened to pull out after a group of Maoist rebels burnt down a project vehicle worth Rs 5 million nearly six weeks back. Campen said the office would continue only ongoing projects and would not launch new projects unless EU headquarters in Brussels takes necessary decisions. Kantipur June 18.

Management Transfer In Controversy

RBB

The World Bank has raised serious objections over the preliminary selection procedures of the companies vying for the management contracts of two government-owned commercial banks in the country, reports said. Kantipur daily reported Monday that the Kathmandu office of the World Bank had expressed reservations over the technical evaluation conducted by a Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)–appointed committee. The committee declared technical proposals submitted by all four companies, — Development Partnership-UK, ICC Bank-UK, Ernst and Young, and Price Water House Coopers — as invalid for failing to secure 70 percent points as required by the Request for Proposal (RFP). Rajdhani daily reported on Sunday that the committee may have been influenced by two of the board of directors of the Nepal Bank Limited (NBL) who reportedly are willing to take over the management of the bank themselves. The government was supposed to hand over the management of NBL and Rastriya Banijya Bank to the private sector within this month under loan assistance from the World Bank. The latest controversy is likely to delay the process by at least three months, reports said. Compiled from reports June 18.

RNAC Bosses Sent To Judicial Custody

RNAC

Six former officials with the state-owned Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC), including former executive chairman Hari Bhakta Shrestha, have been sent to Nakkhu Jail after they failed to deposit bail as demanded by judges at the Patan Appellate Court. In its judgment Wednesday, the division bench comprising judges Buddhikant Mainali and Bhoop Dhoj Adhikari demanded a bail of Rs 40 million from former chairman Shrestha and Rs 35 million from board member Tirtha Lal Shrestha. The court had passed the judgment in accordance with the Corruption Control Act, 2017 B. S., considering the defendants’ accountability and responsibility to their post, and on the basis of the evidence received. The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed cases against 10 people for alleged involvement in irregularities while leasing a wide-body aircraft for the national flag carrier from Lauda Air, an Austrian company. Compiled from reports June 14.

Koirala Urges Bhattarai To Keep Restraint

Bhattarai

A day after the main opposition leader Madhav Kumar Nepal held talks with senior Nepali Congress leader and former prime minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai on finding a new leader of the government, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala urged Bhattarai not to take any step in haste. In his meeting with Bhattarai, Koirala urged the former prime minister not to criticize the government, saying that changing the prime minister at an hour of crisis would further fuel instability in the country, Nepal Samacharpatra daily reported. Koirala also sought Bhattarai’s help in running the upcoming budget session of the parliament smoothly. Bhattarai advised the premier to maintain balance within the ruling party and the government, reports said. Compiled from reports June 14.