News Notes (Spotlight Weekly)

Nation Remembers Their Late Majesties

The Nepalese people are still haunted by the horrific night of Jestha 19 (June 1) last year when King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya along with their entire family and a few other royal relatives died in a palace shoot-out. In the year since that tragedy, Nepalese have been forced to go through a tremendous amount of turmoil, with the country thrown into the grip of a state of emergency. To mark the first death anniversary of Their late Majesties, several clubs, organizations and religious institutions organized memorial services and prayer gatherings across the country. Royal physician Dr. Khagendra Bahadur Shrestha put up a public display of some hitherto unpublicized photographs of King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya at the Birendra International Convention Center, which drew throngs of visitors. Compiled from reports.

Deuba Phones Vajpayee, Musharraf

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba talked to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf over the telephone on the stand-off between the two South Asian nations. Deuba, who is also the chairperson of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, urged the two leaders to exercise restraint and bring down bilateral tensions. He raised concern about the military build-up along their border. Leading dailies report.

Helicopter Goes Missing

Rescue teams failed to locate the missing helicopter of Asian Airlines for a third consecutive day on Sunday (June 2). Due to unfavorable weather conditions, the search-and-rescue efforts were hindered. The helicopter, en route from Makalu base camp to Lukla, had gone missing since Friday with 10 people aboard, including four crew members. The authorities have said that a team of security personnel will begin search operations on foot. Compiled from reports.

RNAC To Be Operated As Joint Investment

Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Bal Bahadur KC has said the government was planning to operate Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) as a joint investment. The minister said that as the government's rescue effort or privatization was not going to work, it would be best to operate RNAC as a joint investment. "The RNAC is at a crossroads now. If it is not operated as a joint investment, it would collapse," KC said, addressing a program of the corporation at Biratnagar. RNAC, which has two Boeings and seven Twin Otters, employs more than 1,900 people. "Remove unnecessary staff. At a time when RNAC is facing a loss of Rs 2.7 billion, it cannot sustain such a huge number of personnel. This is the time to take strict decisions," KC told the gathering of top RNAC executives. KC also lashed out at the practice of "moving heaven and earth" whenever RNAC tries to buy or lease aircraft. Even the role of press has been disappointing, he said. Compiled from reports.

Bodies Of Over 200 Rebels Recovered

Hours after King Gyanendra, at the recommendation of the council of ministers, re-imposed a nationwide state of emergency for three months on Monday night (May 27), a large number of armed rebels launched a daring attack on the temporary security post of Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) in Khara village of the remote mid-western district of Rukum. Following the overnight battle, security forces recovered the bodies of more than 200 rebels. Five RNA personnel lost their lives and 20 others were injured. A large quantity of weapons also was recovered. The rebels reportedly used automatic weapons, machine guns and mortars, which they had looted from army barracks in the past. Security forces on the ground repelled the rebel attack with support from air. According to information provided by security sources, hundreds of rebels launched a sudden attack at the post at around 12:30 in the night. With the support of a night-vision helicopter deployed immediately from Nepalgunj, the rebels were repelled. In its press statement on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said security forces recovered one light machine gun, 15 7.62 mm rifles, 32 303 rifles, five shot-guns, two 12-bore guns, pistols and a large amount of explosives from the site. A large number of security forces have been mobilized around the area to hunt down the fleeing rebels. Security officials have said the rebels were found to have used stimulants and alcohol before the attack. Around 200 soldiers under the command of a lieutenant-colonel were stationed at the Khara post to carry out development works in the district under the Integrated Security and Development Program. Compiled from reports.

Deuba Draws Parallel Between Koirala And Maoists

In a continued offensive against the party establishment, ousted Nepali Congress leader and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba drew a comparison between Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala and the Maoist rebels. "Both are guided by the same objective of decimating their critics. While Prachanda has been killing all his critics, Koirala is kicking out all his critics from the party," Deuba told a gathering of supporters at his official residence in Baluwatar last week. He said he was trying his best to eliminate terrorists, who were killing Nepali Congress cadres every day. He accused Koirala of trying to end his political life. "He forced Ganesh Man Singh to leave the party and tried to end the political life of Krishna Prasad Bhattarai. But he cannot end my political life," a furious Deuba said in a tirade against his former mentor. On the controversy over the emergency, Deuba charged Koirala of attempting to send the security forces in the battlefield with their hands tied. Compiled from reports.

US Scholars Say Maoists Are Like 'Shining Path'

Two top US insurgency scholars have drawn similarities between the Maoist insurgency in Nepal and the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) movement that rocked Peru for nearly 18 years. Dr. Scot Palmer, who has extensively studied the Shining Path insurgency, said in the capital last week that the movement waged by Maoist was more or less along the same lines. In fact, he pointed out, both outfits have gone about their business in a professional way before unleashing terror in the countryside. "So vast were the preparations that the leader of the movement embarked on his mission of running the insurgency by opening an university to train the cadres," Dr. Palmer said. Drawing from his experience in Peru, he said, "The way out of the crisis [in Nepal] is beefing up intelligence, shielding the communities even if that means death of the security personnel, forming teams led by local people, selective attacks backed up by firm action, among others." He underlined the importance of ensuring prompt development work. Another scholar, Dr. Tom Marks, said the insurgents needed to be fought out by mobilizing the local population as well. "Rebels themselves do it before emerging as the leader of the movement. Peru rounded up 400 key rebels through intensive use of locals before trying them." He, however, did not rule out the possibility of injustices in the process. He said the job of the government should be to take along the development process at any cost without ever thinking of returning to the status quo. "If the government and political parties can live up to it, there is a mechanical way in which the insurgency can be fought out." Both scholars stressed the need to ensure political commitment, discontinuation of the state of emergency if it stretches too long and democratic empowerment backed by a wide spectrum of the political establishment. The Nepal Council of World Affairs organized the interaction. The Kathmandu Post reports.

Rights Situation Critical: Amnesty

The London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International (AI), in its annual report, has stated that the human rights situation in Nepal has deteriorated sharply after the imposition of the emergency last November. Execution-style killings, hostage-taking and torture were used by Maoist rebels last year in their battle to against constitutional monarchy, the AI report stated. It also complained of unlawful killings, disappearances, torture and arbitrary arrest by the police and army. Compiled from reports.

Nepal Second Major Tourist Destination

Two top British newspapers — The Guardian and The Observer — have published survey findings that state that Nepal is second major tourist destination. The report, which was prepared after questioning 15,000 people from 180 countries, showed that New Zealand topped the list, with 95.59 respondents favoring it as their first choice destination. Some 94.95 percent of the respondents chose Nepal as their second choice destination. Compiled from reports.