Briefs (Spotlight Weekly)

KING GYANENDRA AND QUEEN KOMAL observed the exhibition of Bhoto (vest) of Lord Rato Machchindranath on June 22 in Jawalakhel. The yearly ritual gains more significance as this year marks the 12-year festival. The two-month-long chariot festival of Lalitpur will come to a climax on June 22 with the exhibition of the Lord's jeweled vest called Bhoto. Because this year is the 12-yearly festival, the chariot of the Lord will be taken to Bungamati, a village in southern Lalitpur, where also the vest will be exhibited. Lord Rato Machchindranath is considered to be the God of rainfall and well-being.

WITH THE OBJECTIVE OF QUICKLY deciding cases related to banks and financial institutions and for speedy recovery of loan, the government has formed a Loan Recovery Tribunal as per the Banks and Financial Institutions Act 2058. According to the Ministry of Finance, the tribunal will become operational beginning July 16. Experts from banking and accounting sectors will be members of the tribunal while representatives from the legal field will chair it. The tribunal will have the authority to take actions, interrogate and fine charges as per the legal status of the courts against defaulters.

QUEEN OF BHUTAN CHIRING Pem Wangchuk arrived in Nepal for a seven-day visit at the invitation of King Gyanendra. She arrived in Kathmandu on June 23 to participate in a youth program to be organized by Save the Children (US). During the stay in Nepal, she will visit Lumbini and observe the planned site of construction of Bhutanese temple there.

THE CHIEF OF THE US ARMY'S Asia Pacific Command S. Campbell arrived in Kathmandu on Wednesday (June 18) for the two-day visit. According to military sources, he met with Chief of Army Staff, Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) General Pyara Jung Thapa and other high level military officials during the visit.

THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM HAS decided to provide assistance amounting to US$ 86,000 to the government of Nepal. The assistance would be utilized to procure and distribute food for the over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees currently living in different camps in eastern Nepal. This is the fourteenth time, the WFP is providing assistance to Nepal in this matter. An agreement to that effect was signed on Wednesday by Nepalese foreign secretary Madhu Raman Acharya and WFP's representative to Nepal Erica Joergenson. The assistance will be utilized to provide food to the refugees for 12 months beginning July.

PRIME MINISTER SURYA BAHADUR THAPA has written a letter requesting American Senator Dianne Feinstein not to withdraw the bill she has sponsored to allow duty free and quota free access to Nepalese garments to the US market. The Californian senator had made her intentions to withdraw the bill public expressing displeasure at the recent decision by the Nepalese government to deport 18 Tibetan asylum seekers. PM Thapa told this to a delegation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) that met him on Tuesday. According reports from Washington D.C., the senator intends to withdraw the bill, which would have greatly helped Nepalese garment industry. "Expressing her dismay that the Government of Nepal imprisoned and then deported 18 Tibetan refugees who fled their homeland this past April, Senator Feinstein (D-Calif) announced her intention to withdraw her sponsorship of legislation she had introduced to grant duty-free status to Nepalese garments in the United States," the report stated. "The legislation would have granted duty free status to Nepalese textile and apparel imports in the United States for a two-year period beginning on October 1, 2003 and ending on September 30, 2005. This is the same status granted to participating counties under the African Growth and Opportunity Act."

Democracy In Danger

The Green Nepal Party (GNP) has strongly condemned the recent assault on its leader and former minister Kuber Sharma. According to the party's press release Sharma was attacked by workers of Tarun Dal and women's wing of Nepali Congress on June 18 in a hotel in Gorkha. "(the assault) is a glaring example of undemocratic criminal act by democratic party's workers. Most objectionable act is that the hooligans entered the hotel room where Mr. Sharma was staying and used filthy and derogatory language. They even unsuccessfully tried to drag him out of the room to the streets where more than 150 persons were shouting abusive slogans against him. They even threatened to molest him and burn his jeep. They were objecting to a line mentioned in GNP's leaflet — Agitators were driven out of villages by the Maoists and now they will be driven out of cities by people." The press release further states, "Violent methods to intimidate other parties and persons who oppose their programs of agitation is against the democratic spirit. In the last 12 years, Nepali Congress has taken the lead to dissolve the parliament prematured-ly. Now also that party along with the communists is out in the streets to disrupt the law and order. They are bent upon creating chaos to destabilize the country. Green Nepal Party strongly condemns hooliganism of Nepali Congress and appeals to people to not to support their unconstitutional demands and undemocratic violent agitation."