News Notes (Spotlight Weekly)

RPP Demands Powerful All Party Government

In a major development, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) has officially decided to dissociate itself from the present government led by its own leader Lokendra Bahadur Chand. In a report prepared by the party, the RPP has asked for the formation of powerful all party government. The party has criticized the Chand government and has accused that it has not utilized any recommendations provided by the party in the all party meetings. RPP had taken part in all party meetings called by Chand even though other political parties had boycotted them. Despite opposition from leaders like Prem Bahadur Bhandari, who is an advisor to Chand, RPP leaders criticized the government and said that inclusion of political parties is a must to lend legitimacy to the ongoing peace talks. In the political report prepared by central leader Kamal Thapa, the party has proposed all party government and all section conference to resolve country's problems. It also rejected Maoists' demand for constituent assembly. The new developments will bring RPP closer to the five parties that are waging people's movement against regression. Compiled from reports.

Koirala Seeking Legal Counsel Over CIAA Summon

The president of Nepali Congress (NC) and former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala is holding consultations with his lawyers over the CIAA move to summon him on Tuesday (May 19). As yet the NC strongman has not made any decision whether he will honor the summon tomorrow (May 20). Sources close to him say that he is looking at various options before him including filing a petition in the apex court arguing there was no more evidence against him and asking CIAA to clarify which of his property has unknown source. Leading dailies report.

Maoists Criticize CIAA Action, UML Non Committal

Krishna Bahadur Mahara, a member of Maoists talks team and the party spokesperson has said that the recent action by CIAA to summon political leaders for investigation on corruption are prejudiced, reported Rajdhani daily on May 19. Mahara further said that the action was not timely and could not solve the political crisis and would instead aggravate it. Meanwhile, leaders of Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) have said they will not take sides in the ongoing corruption probe, reported The Himalayan Times daily on May 19. A meeting of the party's standing committee decided to neither side with NC president Koirala nor support the government. "Our joint movement with the NC remains as it is, but we are not going to take sides with anybody," a UML leader said, "Koirala has to be investigated." This decision stems from the party's anti-corruption move in 2000 when it boycotted the 19th session of the House of Representatives demanding Koirala's resignation for his alleged involvement in the Lauda Air deal. In a press statement by the party issued on Sunday (May 18), the UML said the party is always in favor of punishing the party. Leading dailies report.

CIAA Action Not Politically Motivated: Bhatta

Even as political leaders have been charging that the recent CIAA moves are prejudiced and politically motivated, a commissioner of the anti-graft body has denied the allegations. Madhav Dutta Bhatta, a commissioner at CIAA, said that "It is not proper to accuse of political motivation just because they are summoned for property investigation. Rather, they should have been glad that they have a golden opportunity before them to prove that they are innocent." Meanwhile, sources reported that CIAA commissioners have decided to arrest any person who does not honor the CIAA summons. Leading dailies report.

Parties Agitation At Local Bodies

The activists of five parties will be "taking over" the offices of Village Development Committees (VDCs) and municipalities on Monday (May 19) as a part of their second phase of agitation against regression. The local bodies had been dissolved a year ago by the Sher Bahadur Deuba government. Leading dailies report.

Indian Tourists Flocking To Nepal To Avoid SARS

The spread of SARS in the Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia and Singapore has made Indian tourists to choose Nepal as their favorite vacationing spot of late. With Nepal being declared SARS-free and relative peace, it has been able to lure tourists particularly the Indians. "This is a golden opportunity for Nepal to attract Indian tourists," said Prabin Pandey, president of PATA-Nepal Chapter. "In the past few months, Indian tourists arrivals in Nepal has been on the rise," said Tek Bahadur Dangi, chief executive officer of Nepal Tourism Board. Joy Dewan, president of Nepal Association of Travel Agents (NATA), hopes that this summer will turn out to be a milestone for Nepali tourism industry as more and more Indian tourists plan to come to Nepal, particularly following the spread of SARS virus in other Asian countries. The ceasefire between the government and the Maoists has had a positive impact on tourism, he said. The Himalayan Times daily reports May 19.

Maoists React Strongly To Pandey Statement

In a strong reaction to the statement by government spokesperson, a member of government talks team and Minister for Information and Communication Ramesh Nath Pandey, the coordinator of the Maoist talks negotiator Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has asked the government to axe Pandey from its talks team. Minister Pandey had told BBC Nepali Service on Wednesday (May 14) that there had been no agreement regarding limiting the Royal Nepalese Army's sphere of activities within 5 km radius of its barracks. He had said that the Maoists had merely proposed such an idea. In a sharp criticism, Dr. Bhattarai asked the government to "expel liars and those trying to disrupt peace talks" from its team. The Maoist leader addressed journalists in a hastily called press conference on Thursday at the Maoists' contact office. Dr. Bhattarai said that the decision (to restrict RNA's activities) had been reached after thorough discussion among the homework team and at the second round of talks. He also accused "some people of RNA" of trying to disrupt the peace talks indicating to the statement by RNA that its activities can not be restricted unless it recovered all of its weapons looted by the Maoists in the past. Dr. Bhattarai also said that he had talked with the Prime minister and deputy Prime minister on Thursday (May 15) where the latters "assured us that the decisions taken at the talks remain valid." Leading dailies report.

Army, Maoists Exchange Words

The army mobilization will remain as it is until and unless all its weapons that were looted by Maoists are recovered, the army officials have said. Reacting to the agreement reportedly reached between the government and the Maoists ñ during the second talks last week ñ to limit the area of activities of Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) within five kilometer radius of its barracks, spokesperson of RNA Colonel Deepak Gurung said that they had not yet received any such order. He added that RNA will continue its activities until it recovers the looted weapons. There is no reason for us to venture out of barracks if all our weapons are recovered, he said. Last month, RNA officials had said that they had recovered only 15 percent of the weapons looted by rebels. On the other hand, Maoist spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara said that the decision (to limit RNA's sphere of activities) was a political one and must be adhered to by the RNA. Meanwhile, talking to BBC Nepali Service on Wednesday, government spokesperson and Minister for Information and Communication, Ramesh Nath Pandey said that the proceedings of the second round of talks were yet to be duly minuted and signed by representatives of both the sides. While refraining to directly answer the question regarding whether the decision to limit RNA's sphere of activities had actually been agreed upon, minister Pandey said that it was put forth merely as proposal (by the Maoist side) and that any agreement has to be commensurate with the constitutional provisions. He also charged the political parties of organizing agitation without proper reason and said it could not only hinder peace process but also project democracy in a poor light among common people. Kantipur daily reports.

Agitation Complimentary To The Talks: Leftists

The eleven different leftist parties including the Maoists reached an agreement to ensure that their current agitation against the regression becomes complimentary to the peace talks between the government and the Maoists. In a meeting called by Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Center-Masal), leaders of eleven different leftist parties including the Maoists and the UML took part. The leftist leaders supported both the peace talks as well as the people's movement and called for better coordination to make both these events complimentary to each other against regression. Leading dailies report.

Parties Organize Peace Rally

In the beginning of their second phase of agitation against the regression, the five parties organized a major peace rally on Friday (May 16) in capital. The parties addressed a meeting in Basantapur in the morning and took out a peace rally to Swayambhunath where they observed prayer service. The parties decided to organize the peace rally to mark the 2547th Buddha Jayanti. Compiled from reports.

First Phase Completed

Leaders of five parties have expressed satisfaction at the successful conclusion of the first phase of "people's movement". The activists of the parties obstructed the movement of government vehicles for the second day in a row on Wednesday. In the evening on Wednesday (May 14), the parties organized a corner meeting in Ratna Park. After the meeting, the activists of the parties burned tires. Police intervened and lathi-charged injuring a few of them. The parties have said they will organize second phase of agitation beginning May 17. Meanwhile, six central level leaders have dissociated themselves from the UML party. The leaders said they were abandoning the party charging it of projecting standard and chaotic policies. The leaders include former ministers Prem Bahadur Singh, Bhim Bahadur Kadayat, former MPs Binod Kumar Shah, Krishna Bahadur Shahi, Madan Dhungel and farmer leader Jhankar Bahadur Raut. Compiled from reports.

Sajha Bus Resume Service

After intense public pressure and lobbying from civil society, the government agreed to resume the services of Sajha buses. Kamal Prasad Chaulagain, minister for transport and labor, inaugurated the resumption of the services of Sajha Yatayat on Thursday (May 15). "Sajha buses is a matter of concern not only the people, but to the King also," he said. The government had stopped the services of Sajha buses over 15 months ago saying it was incurring losses. The government had even decided to liquidate it. But after intense pressures, the service has been resumed. The government has appointed Mukunda Raj Satyal, who has served as the general manager for over 26 years, as the head of Sajha on April 15. Twelve buses of Sajha will now start plying to Pokhara, Bhairahawa and Birhunj. The Himalayan Times daily reports.