Briefs (Spotlight Weekly)

King Gyanendra offering traditional prayer at Chhinnamasta Goddess' temple in Saptari

THE KATHMANDU VALLEY TRAFFIC Police Office has made it compulsory for pillion riders to wear helmet beginning Wednesday. Anyone not wearing a helmet will be fined from Rs 25 to Rs 200. Police said the provision has been introduced for the safety of the mobike riders. But commuters said the new regulation would add to their hassles at the same time benefiting the helmet sellers. Out of over 400,000 vehicles in the capital valley, the number of two-wheelers in over 150,000.

A GROUP OF PEOPLE representing different religions of the world would attempt to scale Mount Everest this year - the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of the world's highest peak. The commemorative climbing mission aims at promoting Nepal's image as a peaceful nation, officials said. Nepal Tourism Board, Nepal Mountaineering Association, Asian Trekking, the Everest Peace Project and the Pacific Asia Travel Association are jointly promoting the campaign. The expedition will be led by 'Snow Leopard' Ang Rita Sherpa, the ten-time Everest summiteer.

THE SPECIAL COURT AT Anamnagar ordered last Tuesday to release former Information and Communications Minister, Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta, and director at the Kantipur Television Network Pvt. Ltd., Kailash Sirohiya. Gupta was released after two months and Sirohiya after nine days in police custody under charge of withdrawing a security bid bond for receiving the license for Kantipur Television illegally. Hearings continue on charge of corruption against former minister Khum Bahadur Khadka while the court has already released former minister Chiranjivi Wagle on bail.

Former powerful minister Khum Bahadur Khadka was released by the Special Court on a bail of Rs 20 million last Friday. Khadka was under judicial remand of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for the last two months on charges of corruption in the Bakraha River Control Project. Two other officials accused of corruption in the same project, Amodananda Mishra and Narayan Bahadur Thapa, were asked for Rs. 8 million rupee each as bail amount by the court. Thapa was again taken into custody after he failed to post the bail amount while Mishra was released after submitting the amount. Khadka is the general secretary of former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba-led Nepali Congress (Democratic).

FIVE SECURITY PERSONNEL were killed in an attack by Maoist insurgents in the mid-western district of Banke last Friday. The Defense Ministry said Saturday that three policemen belonging to the Armed Police Force and two Royal Nepalese Army personnel were killed in an encounter with the insurgents at Gawar area along the Lamahi-Kohalpur section of the Mahendra highway on Friday. The two-way gun battle took place when the insurgents tried to ambush the vehicle the security personnel were traveling in. The authorities said that the security personnel were returning to their base in Nepalgunj after defusing explosives set up in the form of a road block along the highway. Chief District Officer of Banke, Dilli Raj Joshi, said that around half a dozen security personnel injured during the gun-battle were undergoing treatment at a local hospital in Nepalgunj.

NEPALI READYMADE garment exports to the United States have plunged by 22 percent in 2002 as compared to the year 2001. According to the Garment Association of Nepal (GAN), exports to the United States in 2002 fell by under 30 million US dollars in comparison to the year before. The overall decline of exports comes despite the rebound in the sector in the last six months. The value to total garment products exported by Nepal to the United States stood at 106.6 million dollars in 2002, the Association said.

THE SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE of the National Assembly on Friday asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to provide it with details regarding Gurkha soldiers captured by the Japanese army during the Second World War. The Committee also asked the Ministry to form a cell to find out the actual number of prisoners of war (PoWs), if the record of the soldiers was not available with the government. The Gurkha soldiers had won the right to compensation from the British government early this month, more than 50 years after they were taken prisoners by the Japanese forces. The London High Court had ruled the British government to provide 10,000 pounds (15,000 US dollars) to each PoW, who were claiming compensation for their dreadful jail period after they were captured by the Japanese. The parliamentary committee made the decision amid reports that there was no actual data with the government about the PoWs. An activist of ex-Gurkha army's organization has claimed the number of PoWs to be as high as 3,000 in Nepal. Gurkhas began serving Britain in 1815 in India, and following India's independence in 1947, became part of the British army. Nearly 3,600 of them are still serving in the British armed forces.