News Notes (Spotlight Weekly)

Jonchhe

Congress Leader Jonchhe Shot

Suspected Maoist rebels shot Radheshyam Jonchhe, president of Deuba-led Nepali Congress Bhaktapur district committee, in his house at Katunje VDC-7 in Bhaktapur district Sunday evening. Doctors attending on him said Monday that Jonchhe was out of danger but undergoing treatment at the Intensive Care Unit of the Bir hospital. olice said that a group of four people entered the house of Mr. Jonchhe and fired bullets on him.† He was rushed to the hospital immediately. Police also recovered a body of one Ram Gopal Bhakunje, some 50 meters away from the house of Jonchhe. Police suspect Bhakunje to be one of the assailants who might have been shot dead by his own comrades by mistake. Space Time Sep. 02

Rebels Vand Alize A Car Shop, Torch VDC Office

A group of suspected Maoist rebels forcibly entered into a showroom of reconditioned vehicles at Teku in the capital early Sunday and vandalized the shop. According to Police, over a dozen suspected Maoists entered the showroom of Tej and Karan enterprises at around 6:30 a. m., started hitting the cars with iron rods and also set fire on half a dozen vehicles by sprinkling petrol. Staff at the shop managed to throw an explosive left behind by the assailants out which exploded later without causing any major damage. This was the fifth consecutive incident of attack by suspected rebels in the capital over the last five days. Meanwhile, security forces have shot dead four Maoist insurgents in Rolpa district during its ongoing search operations, Ministry of Defense said Sunday. They also recovered 1,800 units of 7.62 mm rifle ammunition during search operations at Bela area in Dang district, the Ministry said. Compiled from reports Sep. 02

London Court Issues Notice

The London high court has issued a show cause notice to the British Defense ministry for review in the case filed against it after the Ministry denied providing 10,000 pounds per head in compensation to the British Gorkha army men who were held as† prisoners of war† by Japan during the Second World War The case was registered on† August 12 on behalf of around 400 Japanese prisoners of war and their families in Nepal, said Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen’s Organization (GAESO). The British government had decided in November 2000 to provide 10,000 pounds in compensation to every army men and their widows held prisoners of war† by Japan. But ex-British Gorkhas were deprived of the compensation amount which led to the filing of the case, the Organization said. Compiled from reports Sep. 01

EC Recoginizes 16 Parties

The Election Commission on Tuesday has recognized 16 of the 26 political parties registered at the Commission. According to a spokesperson at the EC, the newly recognized parties include Nepal Samata Party, Nepal Prajatantrik Sikshya Janasarokar Party, Muskan Sena Nepal, Nepal Rastriya Janabhavana Party, Dalit Janajati party, Prajatantrik Rastriya Morcha, Hami Nepali party, Mukti Dal, Nepal Sarbajan Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Rastrabadi), Supremacy of Nepalese People’s party, Nepal Bahujanata Rastra Sewak Dal, Nepal Jana Prajatantrik Party, Nepal Swotantra Samajbadi Party and Akhil Nepal Samata Party. The Commission will soon decide on the remaining ten political parties seeking recognition including the ruling Nepali Congress, said EC spokesman Tejmuni Bajracharya. The EC had recognized a total of 98 political parties for the last general elections held in 1999. RSS Aug. 28

Rahim

"SAARC To Focus On Poverty Alleviation"

RAHIM Secretary-General of SAARC, Q. A. M. A. Rahim has said that the 23rd ministerial level meeting of the seven-member grouping concluded last week had given top priority to poverty alleviation programmes.† He said that the meeting had been successful in identifying the problems in poverty alleviation, containing terrorism and formulating strategies for the days ahead. Speaking at a face to face program organized by the Reporters’ Club of Nepal here Tuesday, he said that 40 percent of the world’s poor lived in South Asia and hence poverty alleviation was the overarching goal of the regional body. Recalling that the ministerial meeting had brought concrete† resolution and program for the prevention and controlling of in humanitarian activities such as trafficking of women and girls for prostitution and illegal trade in narcotic drugs, the secretary general said the meeting had also accorded priority to promotion of tourism as well as technology. Mr. Rahim expressed hope that the 12th SAARC Summit will be held in Islamabad in January next year as agreed upon by the ministerial level meeting last week. Leading dailies report Aug. 28

India Revokes Special Additional Duty

The government of India (GoI) has revoked Special Additional Duty (SAD) imposed on all Nepalese imports, an announcement said Wednesday. The GoI had imposed 4 percent SAD in this year’s budget with effect from April 2002. The decision has been taken as per the understanding between officials from the two neighboring countries during the Inter-Governmental Committee meeting held in New Delhi early this month. "Now the SAD has been removed on Nepalese exports to India on items including vegetable ghee, copper wire and acrylic yarn," said Mrs. Nagma Mallick, first secretary at the Indian embassy in Kathmandu. Kantipur Aug. 29

Govt. Aims To Double Industrial Out Put

The government is formulating ‘Industrial Development Perspective Plan’ (IDPP) with a view to raise the contribution of the industrial sector to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country from less than 10 percent now to 20 percent by 2020. The IDDP, being prepared under the technical and financial assistance of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and UNDP, will help for the growth and consolidation of the industrial sector for the socio-economic transformation of the country, officials said. The plan also aims at revitalizing the manufacturing sector, which has been a key sector in generating employment opportunities and reducing poverty, officials said at an interaction program organized here Thursday. Compiled from reports Aug. 30

CIAA Likely To Prove junior Wagle's Accounts

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), the anti-corruption watchdog, is likely to probe into personal accounts of Devendra Wagle, son of acting Prime Minister Chiranjivi Wagle, a leading daily reported. CIAA decided to look into the matter after Kantipur daily on Thursday revealed the bank accounts of junior Wagle saying that he had deposited more than 10 million rupees in three different commercial banks in the capital. The revelation came less than a week after Minister Wagle told the Judicial Inquiry Commission on Property (JICP) that he has not deposited more than Rs 600,000. "It has come to our notice and we are going to take it seriously," CIAA Chief Commission Surya Nath Upadhyaya said Friday. Sources said Devendra’s main business, a travel and trekking company called Nepal Vision Treks and Expeditions Pvt. Ltd., had folded about two years ago. Kantipur Aug. 31

JICA Suggests Re-trenchment

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has suggested retrenchment of employees in the state-owned Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) before making investment in proposed three projects. On behalf of the government of Japan, JICA and Japan International Cooperation Bank (JICB) extended suggestions to NEA last week. NEA sources say that the Japanese side has agreed in principle to extend financial cooperation for the proposed 220KV Hetauda-Bardibas transmission line, technical cooperation for Kulekhani III hydropower project, and the construction of third sub-station in Kathmandu valley (K-3). JICA and JICB gave the suggestions to NEA after recently undertaking a study to find out whether the situation for investment in the three projects was conducive or not. About 9,790 employees are working in NEA that generates 426 megawatt of power and the Japanese side has been insisting that it is highly overstaffed. Interestingly, the NEA Board of Directors has given approval to raise the number of employees at the state-owned monopoly to 10,073. NEA has already advertised for the appointment of one thousand more employees. Space Time Sep. 02

"Maoists Should Declare Ceaserire" : Nepal

A senior opposition leader and UML general secretary, Madhav Kumar Nepal, has called upon the Maoist insurgents to unilaterally declare ceasefire and not to disturb the upcoming polls. Inaugurating the 16th national conference of his party’s student wing, ANNFSU, here Monday, Mr. Nepal said, in a written speech, that only a new government could negotiate with the Maoists. He also urged his student cadres to continue the ideological struggle against ultra leftist provocation and remain committed to gearing ahead the educational movement for reforms and changes, for nationality, democracy and public life. Mr. Nepal is recovering after falling ill last week. Compiled from reports Sep. 03.