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Bhattarai Slams Cross-border Terrorism
Former prime minister and senior Nepali Congress leader has called upon the governments of Nepal and India to check cross-border terrorism. Delivering the ninth Lal Bahadur Shastri memorial lecture, named after the late Indian premier, in New Delhi on Friday, Bhattarai said though the open border between Nepal and India has been a boon to trade, it has also helped miscreants find easy hideouts and facilitated the illegal trafficking of weapons, drugs, money and smuggling of goods. Cross-border illegal activities by terrorists must be checked through cooperative action, he added. Saying that India's growing economy provides tremendous opportunities for a small country like Nepal, Mr. Bhattarai expressed hope that Nepal and India could provide an example of the best relations two neighboring countries can have. RSS news agency reported Refugees Seek World Intervention As the regional forum, SAARC, neglected their plight, Bhutanese refugees in Nepal have called for international intervention, particularly that of India, to resolve the problem. "If India takes up the issue with Bhutan, the problem will be resolved easily", said Rakesh Chhetri, a Bhutanese human rights activists based in Kathmandu. "But since India does not take it up, international intervention has become a must." Recent reports said the Bhutanese government has moved people from the north to the south on land vacated by the refugees. Chhetri accused the Bhutanese government of double standards. "On the one hand, they are engaged in negotiations and, on the other, they are settling people on land owned by refugees. If at all the refugees are repatriated, where will they go?" he asked. The foreign ministries of the two countries are corresponding to hold a ministerial-level meeting within January, but Bhutanese refugee leaders said they were not hopeful of any positive outcome. Nearly 100,000 Bhutanese refugees are languishing in UNHCR-managed camps in eastern Nepal for more than a decade. Leading dailies report Gurkha Soldiers To Be Sent To Afghanistan The British government is to send a strong army battalion consisting of 120 famed Gurkha soldiers to Afghanistan next week. According to an AFP report quoting British defense officials, the Gurkha soldiers will be sent because they are more likely to win the confidence of Afghan people based on their ethnicity. Besides, the Gurkha soldiers are unlikely to suffer from altitude sickness. Leading dailies report Thapa For Broad Consensus
Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) President Surya Bahadur Thapa has unveiled his party's proposal for broad consensus. Called the common minimum program, Thapa's consensus plan includes taking His Majesty the King into confidence while trying to find solution to the nation's problems. "While accepting nationalism, multiparty democracy, constitutional monarchy, human rights and sovereign people on the basis of a broad national consensus, we can amend the constitution on other subjects," Thapa said at a program organized on Wednesday. Thapa also called on the Maoists to understand national and international realities and come forward for dialogue. "Should the Maoists want dialogue, the door (for dialogue) is open," he said.Compiled from reports Three Dozen Journos In Custody Almost three dozen journalists have been arrested by security forces since the state of emergency was imposed in the country one and a half months ago, claimed the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ). In a press release issued here on Wednesday, the FNJ also flayed the government for psychologically torturing the detained journalists. After the imposition of the emergency, the government had asked the press to refrain from publishing articles that would encourage the terrorists. Leading dailies report Surge In Real Estate Transactions A large number of people from outside Kathmandu valley have started to buy land here, out of fear of the Maoist rebels as well as to protect themselves from the land ceiling imposed by the government. In the last six months alone, 15,000 people bought land in the valley. "Most of the buyers are from outside the valley," said an official at the Land Revenue Office. Because of the increased transaction, the government is set to collect Rs 350 million from the Land Revenue Office in Dillibazaar this fiscal year, against its target of Rs 200 million. As more and more people tend to look for land and houses inside the capital valley, the real estate business is picking up. Leading dailies report ML Gives Gautam Authority For Reunion The politburo meeting of the Marxist-Leninist (ML) party has given full authority to its general secretary Bamdev Gautam to initiate the process of party's reunion with the Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML). The politburo meeting of the party held to take stock of the UML standing committee meeting's decision to go ahead with the reunion has given Gautam full authority to talk with UML leaders and take the issue to its conclusion. Party's politburo member Radha Krishna Mainali said the informal talks between the leaders of the two parties had moved in a positive direction. The two parties had split four years ago on the eve of the UML's Sixth General Convention. Compiled from reports Central Bank Freezes Maoist Accounts Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), in response to a request by the government, has frozen more than a dozen individual accounts held in various commercial banks. The holders of these accounts are suspected to have Maoist links. The central bank had directed the commercial banks to freeze these accounts as per the information and request of the security agencies. Authorities believe this move will break the financial network of the Maoists. Although the exact amount that would be affected is not yet known, the authorities say the money, mostly comprising cash looted by the Maoists over the years, was being used to finance terrorist activities. The Maoists are believed to have looted more than Rs 500 million in cash and valuables during their six-year-old insurgency from branches of state-owned Nepal Bank Limited and Rastriya Banijya Bank. The rebels have also raised billions of rupees in donations at home and abroad to finance their activities. This is the first time in the financial history of Nepal that the central bank has directed commercial banks to freeze individual accounts to stop terrorist activities. Leading dailies report ISDP Suspended Due To Security Operation Following the imposition of the state of emergency and mobilization of army, the Integrated Security and Development Program (ISDP) has been suspended in six out of seven districts worst hit by Maoist activities. "The government has suspended the ISDP in six out of seven Maoist-hit districts except Gorkha because it was practically difficult to implement the program due to the imposition of emergency," said Prithvi Raj Ligal, vice-chairman of National Planning Commission (NPC). The six districts are Rolpa, Rukum, Salyan, Jajarkot, Kalikot and Pyuthan. The ISDP was designed to take development works to the insurgency-hit areas. The government had identified six more districts ó Dailekh, Dang, Dolakha, Lamjung, Ramechhap and Surkhet ó for inclusion in the ISDP last July. However, due to the imposition of the emergency, no work has been initiated in these districts, Ligal said. Development works in Gorkha district are going on. Ligal added that the ISDP would be resumed as soon as the emergency is lifted. The Royal Nepalese Army was all set to build 13 roads, among a host of other development works, in the seven districts during the current fiscal year (2001/2002). Out of the 13, the army now is building five roads in Gorkha alone while the work in remaining six districts have been suspended. Leading dailies report NC To Present Report On Emergency The ruling Nepali Congress party will be presenting a report it has prepared after "monitoring" the first one and a half months since the imposition of the state of emergency to the government. "The high level committee is engaged in monitoring the situation. The report prepared by the committee will be presented to the government within a week," said Arjun Narsingh KC, spokesman of the party. The committee has been formed under the convenorship of party general secretary Sushil Koirala. According to a committee member, initial monitoring has shown that the government has failed to undertake its responsibilities during the emergency. Meanwhile, Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala has met with central members close to him and decided to point out the weaknesses of the government in the last one and a half months. Leading dailies report
No Foul Play In Koirala's Accident The committee formed to probe the November 10 road accident involving former prime minister and Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala has concluded that there was no foul play in the incident. The report points to lapses made by security escorts as the reason for the accident. On that day a mini truck rammed into the vehicle carrying Koirala. He escaped unhurt. Following the accident, the government had formed a one-man committee headed by former Supreme Court justice Narendra Bahadur Neupane to probe the incident. Leading dailies report |
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