News Notes (Spotlight Weekly)

Koirala Smells Rat, Sees Conspiracy Against Agitation

Girija Prasad Koirala, former prime minister and president of Nepali Congress (NC), has said that attempts to make political parties take part in the peace talks could be the game to make the joint agitation carried out by the political parties a failure. "To sit in a dialogue with the unconstitutional government is tantamount to give them legitimacy and accepting the regression. The repeated attempts by the Maoists and the government to force parties to participate in the talks are their designs to diffuse our agitation," Koirala said. Meanwhile, Sher Bahadur Deuba, president of Nepali Congress (Democratic) has said that his party will not take part in the peace talks. "It is because of the King, the Maoists and the tyrannical attitude of Girija Prasad Koirala that the nation is undergoing present problems," he said. Kantipur daily reports.

Army-Maoist Skirmishes Reported

Separate incidents of skirmishes were reported in Dolakha and Dailekh district on Sunday (August 3). Even as the government and the rebels continue to posture for peace, the battles have not fully stopped. A group of rebels ambushed a military vehicle at Namdu village of Dolakha district injuring three soldiers. Soldiers who were on their way to Jiri from the Khimti hydropower station were showered with bullets by the rebels in the village. The injured soldiers have been taken to nearby hospital. Likewise, a Maoist guerrilla died after the rebels attacked military patrol at the Lalidanda village of Dailekh district triggering two-way firing. Leading dailies report.

Garments Bill Will Be Re-Introduced In US Senate

Foreign secretary Madhu Raman Acharya, who returned from his trip to Washington, USA has said that he is hopeful that the bill to provide duty free and quota free access for Nepalese garments to the American market will be soon re-introduced. The foreign ministry sources revealed that the American senators have assured Nepalese government that they would revive the bill after the latter convinced them that Nepal would stick to the policy of handing over Tibetan refugees to the UNHCR and initiate the payment of US$ 1.5 million by Nepal Electricity Authority to the Panda energy, which has invested in Bhotekoshi project. Earlier, US Senator Dianne Feinstein had withdrawn the bill she had sponsored. Leading dailies report.

Govt. Preparing Its Political Agenda

The government is preparing its political agenda to put forth at the third round of talks. Kamal Thapa, minister for Information and Communications and the spokesperson of the government, said that the talks would be held quite soon. He said the government was in informal touch with the rebels. Shailendra Kumar Upadhyaya, a talks facilitator, said that the talks could be held as soon as this weekend. Leading dailies report.

Maoists To Sit For Talks Even Without Parties

A day after Maoist chairman Prachanda called for a compulsory participation of political parties in the peace talks and asked the government to make arrangements for their inclusion, his second-in-command Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, however, said that the rebels would sit for the talks even if the political parties continued to refuse to participate. Dr. Bhattarai is quoted by facilitator Padma Ratna Tuladhar to have said that the rebels wanted to sit for the talks at the soonest and would do so even if parties did not participate. Tuladhar, who received a call from Dr. Bhattarai on Friday (August 1) night, said the rebels wanted the facilitators to arrange for the talks date. Leading dailies report.

PM To Initiate Talks With Parties

In keeping with the Maoists' demands for including political parties in the peace talks, Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa is expected to initiate his own parleys with the leaders of five agitating parties beginning Sunday. PM Thapa would meet with Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala and Unified Marxist Leninist general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, among others, and try to convince them to take part in the talks, if not the government. Meanwhile, the political parties seem to be sticking with their gun. They have refused to be a part of "regressive government". Madhav Kumar Nepal has even accused the recent rebel demand of compulsory participation of political parties in the peace talks as "a possible joint plot of the rebels and the government". He said that although their demand was positive, it was strange to see them changing their stands so often, indicating the Maoist statement a week ago which had accused the political parties of being status-quoist. "Perhaps they want to put the blame on political parties if talks fail," Nepal said. Compiled from reports.

Prachanda Says Maoists Ready To Sit For Third Talks

Ending the two-week-long war of words and putting fresh prospects on the success of the third round of peace talks, Maoists chairman comrade Prachanda, in a statement issued on Thursday (July 31), said that his party was ready to sit for the third talks. In the statement, the Maoist supremo has said that his party has taken positive note on the government's decision to release its central leaders and start the process of making the whereabouts of ëdisappeared people' public. In a comparatively mellowed down tone, Prachanda has asked that the next round of talks be focused on political issues rather than ëtechnical ones'. However, Prachanda has added a caveat in his statement — requesting the government to make arrangements for the compulsory participation of the five political parties in the dialogue. In the last two weeks, Maoists managed a brinkmanship feat by recalling its talks team members, closing down its liaison office in Kathmandu and sending signals that it was reverting to the path of violence — triggering frenzied attempts by the civil society members to pressure both sides to stick to table of negotiations. Leading dailies report.

Govt. Willing To Talk On Political Issues

The government has made it clear that it is willing to talk on political issues in the upcoming third round of peace parleys with the Maoists. Kamal Thapa, Minister for Information and Communications, said that Prachanda's statement has opened up possibilities of holding the third round of talks soon. "Hopefully, the Maoist leaders will now come back and then we will together fix a date for the talks as soon as possible," said Thapa. He added that the government was also positive about the Maoists' new demand of including political parties in the talks. He said the government has always wanted to include political parties in the talks and that the parties were being regularly informed about the talks proceedings informally. Leading dailies report.

Parties Play Hard To Get

The politics of the country is set to take a fresh course after the Maoists stated that political parties must be included in the forthcoming talks. Responding to the new development, Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML), however, said, "There is no way political parties would endorse this government or cooperate with it in any way. All the time we had been urging both sides not to flee from the table of talks." On the other hand, Narhari Acharya, senior leader of Nepali Congress (NC) appeared somewhat flexible on this count. He said that the inclusion of parties in the talks were compulsory for it to succeed. Compiled from reports.

US Embassy Expresses Sadness Over Maoist Warnings

The American Embassy in Kathmandu has said that it regrets the warnings by the Maoists to target American projects adding that these projects were of purely humanitarian nature. The rebels had warned local people in Nuwakot, Rasuwa and Sindhupalchowk districts against working in projects/organizations funded by American assistance. "We are very concerned by this warning," said Constance Colding Jones, counselor for public affairs at the American Embassy. "It is a shame." She said that these projects were working to help local people and not the military. Meanwhile, she endorsed the statements made by Minister Kamal Thapa and Colonel Deepak Gurung regarding the Maoist accusations that there were American military in Nepal. Minister Thapa and Colonel Gurung had said there are no American military or advisors in the country. Kantipur daily reports.

Two Military Personnel Killed By Maoists

A group of armed rebels shot to death two unarmed military personnel in Bhadrakali village of Sindhuli district. Five soldiers were on their way from Sindhuli district headquarters to the repeater tower station of Nepal Telecommunications at Madanbas in the district when the rebels attacked them. The soldiers were the guards at the station. The army has condemned the incident calling it a gross violation of peace code of conduct by the rebels. Leading dailies report.

Right To Information Act Soon

To strengthen media, the government is mulling to introduce right to information act soon, said Kamal Thapa, minister for Information and Communications. The government would soon introduce the act in the form of ordinance. "The media freedom is the compulsory condition for democratic society. So, the government is fully committed to promote it," Minister Thapa said while addressing a program organized by the Editor's Society, Nepal on Thursday. Leading dailies report.

Kofi Annan Urges For Peace

Kofi Annan, secretary general at the United Nations, has urged the Nepal government and the Maoists to find out permanent solution to the conflict. In a statement released from New York on Thursday (July 31), Annan asked both sides to give continuity to current peace process. He even lauded the two sides for their commitment towards peaceful resolutions of the problems. Stating that he is studying the peace process in Nepal with keen interest, Annan said the U.N. was ever willing to provide any kind of assistance to make the talks successful. Compiled from reports.

British Minister Welcomes Steps Towards Maintaining Peace

Concerned by the critical developments in the recent weeks, Baroness Amos, the British secretary of state for the Department of International Development has said that Britain welcomes the steps to maintain the ceasefire and find a settlement. "We are anxious to see progress towards the peace settlement maintained by both parties," reads her statement. "We are, therefore, concerned by critical developments and the threat they pose to Nepal's peace process talks," she said, "Any resumption of conflict would have the most serious consequences for development and human suffering in Nepal." The Himalayan Times daily reports.