News Notes (Spotlight Weekly)

20 Rebels, Nine Security Men Killed

Twenty Maoists and nine security personnel were killed in six different clashes in the country on Sunday (August 31), police said. Seven Maoists were killed in Surkhet clash, three in Rolpa, seven in Sarlahi and two in Rautahat district. In Bhairahawa, a group of armed rebels attacked police post killing four policemen. Three security personnel were killed in clashes in Malarani VDC in Kalcho in Surkhet. Likewise, two army men died in clashes in Chhinchu in Surkhet. Meanwhile, Shalin Pode, a sweeper at the military hospital in Kathmandu, was shot to death in Dhalko. Pode, who used to work as a sweeper in night shift, was at a video rental store he ran when two rebels including one lady approached him and shot him from a close range before fleeing the scene. The Himalayan Times daily report.

Parties Soften Stance

Nepal

The five parties, while denouncing the latest government decisions to issue prohibitory orders, which could directly obstruct their ‘decisive’ agitation beginning September 4, have hinted that they could readjust their programs. The leaders of Nepali Congress (NC) and Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) have indicated that they would begin to ask their party cadres not to come to Kathmandu valley as earlier directed and instead scale down their agitation to district level programs. At the meeting of the five parties – NC, UML, Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP-Anandidevi), Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) and People’s Front (PF) – the leaders of NC and UML advocated for toning down their agitation. The five parties will meet today to finalize their decisions to readjust the programs of agitation to avoid violent escalation. Leading dailies report.

UNHCR Denies Newspaper Reports

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) on Sunday (August 31) said that it respects the bilateral process involved between Nepal and Bhutan in trying to resolve the refugee issue and denied as ‘ridiculously inaccurate and disappointing’ the news reports that the UN bodies, including the WFP, have warned of ‘pulling back’ from the refugee camps in Jhapa ‘if the UNHCR is not involved in the negotiating process’. Criticizing the reports, representative of UNHCR in Nepal Abraham said, “ We are not here to play politics, but to assist the government of Nepal. The UNHCR is even ready to offer its expertise to the process”. He also expressed optimism over the repatriation of the refugees, saying, “ something has to happen; we are not going to see the same number of people in the next year”. The Himalayan Times daily reports.

Rebels Abduct Students

The rebels have started to abduct school students from different parts. In Doti district, the rebels have started to take away students from different schools claiming they would be taken to their ‘ten-day party program’. Already they have taken away 5 dozen students and have continued to take more. According to a student who escaped from the Maoists’ clutch, the rebels are taking the students from schools in Nirauli, Badchhain and Gadsera VDC to unidentified location. Almost 46 students belong to the Raghunath secondary school of Nirauli alone. Meanwhile, in Rautahat district the former local representatives have demanded that the administration return their weapons as they needed them to protect themselves against the Maoist attack. After a former VDC chairman was killed by the Maoists in the district recently, they have felt threat from the rebels. Most of the representatives are staying at district headquarter unable to return to their villages. Kantipur daily reports.

US Energy Giant Lobbying Against Nepalese Garment Bill

The American energy giant Panda Energy has intensified its lobbying with the US senators against the garment bill introduced by Californian senator Dianne Feinstien, which proposes to provide duty free and quota free access to Nepalese readymade garments into the US market. The Panda energy has been irked by the delay in the payment of US$ 1.5 million, which it claims the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) owes to it. “Unless the dispute between the Panda Energy and NEA is resolved there is no possibility that the garment bill will be passed. But the NEA and Water Resource Ministry do not seem serious on this,” said Kiran Sakha, president of Garment Association of Nepal (GAN). Sakha and Nepalese foreign secretary had, a month ago, visited Washington to convince senator Feinstein to re-introduce the bill. She had withdrawn the bill earlier in response to Nepal government’s decision to deport 18 Tibetan asylum-seekers. According to Sakha, the voting on the bill will take place in couple of weeks but it has run into rough waters thanks to dispute with Panda energy. Garment entrepreneurs believe that Nepal can earn billions of rupees in garment export if the bill is passed. The United States is the primary market for Nepalese apparels. Nepal Samacharpatra daily reports.

Maoists Declared Terrorists

The government has declared the Maoists, their sister organizations and others affiliated with them as terrorists. Seven months after the terrorist tag was withdrawn from their head by then government to pave way for peace dialogue, the government re-imposed the label after they unilaterally walked away from the peace process. Kamal Thapa, spokesperson of the government and minister for Information and Communication, briefed journalists that the government was also keeping the option of imposing state of emergency open. “We will take any action appropriate to protect life and property of our citizens,” said Thapa. Minister Thapa, who was also the member secretary of government talks team added that in retrospection the rebels had never wanted the peace process to succeed. “They only wanted an answer yes or no on constituent assembly. They were not prepared to entertain any dialogue,” he told select journalists on Thursday. Compiled from reports.

Prachanda Announces Breakdown Of Ceasefire

In a dramatic statement on Wednesday (August 27), chairman of the Maoists comrade Prachanda announced that the justification of holding talks, maintaining ceasefire and sticking to peace code of conduct has ended. A week after the third round of peace talks was abruptly suspended, the rebel chief has announced the unilateral withdrawal from the peace process. “Our party believes in people’s republic. But for the sake of people’s quest for peace, we had agreed to sort things out through elections for constituent assembly,” Prachanda stated. He blamed the government’s inability to agree to their demand for constituent assembly and the ‘activities of army’ as being responsible for their taking the decision to walk out of the peace process. He, however, did not forget to add that the door for talks was still open from their side. Leading dailies report.

Parties Fear Int’l Isolation

The five agitating political parties face possible isolation from pro-democratic international community if they do not withdraw their agitation against political regression (set to begin from September 4) in view of changed circumstances following the breakdown of ceasefire by the Maoists. Despite being supportive of the spirit of their agitation, the international forces have urged the political parties to withdraw it because of perceived threat of terrorist infiltration, which could spin the movement out of their control. The ambassadors of USA, UK and India have asked the political leaders to find the way out of the present impasse in consultation with the King after he returns from London. In the last three days the ambassadors of the USA and the UK have met with NC president Girija Prasad Koirala and UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and the Indian ambassador met with Koirala on Monday (September 1) and urged him to become active to resolve the problem in cooperation with constitutional monarchy. The American and British envoy also met with Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa on Monday and requested him not to widen the rift with the political parties. Prime minister Thapa also apprised Koirala and Nepal about the report from security agencies that the Maoists have infiltrated some snipers and also smuggled in explosives to launch attacks in the capital. He told them that the agitation of the political parties where crowds will gather can be used by the Maoists for their violent purposes. The diplomats have indirectly warned the political leaders that if they go ahead with the agitation and if it turns violent that could trigger anarchy and ultimately damage democracy – for which they will be held responsible. Kantipur daily reports.

TU Suspends Bachelor Level Exams

Tribhuwan University (TU) finally decided to suspend the ongoing examinations of Bachelor level (first year) after student activists belonging to different political parties obstructed the exams. The university has said that the new schedule of the exam will be announced soon. Most probably, the exams will be held after Dashain and Tihar festivals. Leading dailies report.

India Arrests Six ‘Weapon-Suppliers’ To Maoists

Indian police on Monday (September 1) arrested six people in Ranchi of Bihar on the charge of supplying weapons to the Maoists of Nepal. Those arrested are said to be the henchmen of Pappu Yadav, a notorious criminal who was arrested in Kathmandu some months ago. It may be recalled that a section of the media had reported Pappu Yadav as saying he had bought weapons from a former member of parliament of Nepal. The police have seized four AK 47 rifles along with three 9 mm pistols from the arrested people. The three Maoists, who had gone to buy the weapons, fled after the incident. The police are trying to nab them. According to the police, the Maoists were from the Gulmi district. As per the statement given by the arrested people, the Maoists have bought a lot of weapons and explosives from the Maoist Communist Center (MCC) of Bihar. The MCC had hidden all the weapons at Ramnagar of Bihar, according to the police. MCC has supplied a large quantity of weapons to western Nepal through Bagaha of Parsa district, it is learnt. Some of the weapons, which were sent to Gulmi from Rupandehi, have been smuggled into Kathmandu, states a source. The Himalayan Times daily reports.

Gajurel Tried To Use Stolen British Passport

According to a source at the British Embassy, Maoist leader Chandra Prakash Gajurel, who was arrested while trying to fly out of Chennai in India to Europe, was carrying a ‘stolen’ British passport. Indian immigration officials nabbed Gajurel on August 20 for trying to fly on a forged passport. The initial investigations by the Indian officials showed that he was trying to travel on British passport. “It is correct that Gajurel was trying to travel on a British passport. But that passport was issued in the name of another person. It was stolen,” said a source at the British Embassy. After his arrest, chairman of Maoists comrade Prachanda had urged Indian government to release him. He had asked India not to make a big issue out of a small technical matter. Gajurel, comrade Prachanda said, was traveling to Europe on party program. Meanwhile, diplomatic sources in Kathmandu say that though Gajurel was arrested, another Maoist leader Mohan Baidya aka Kiran reached London on time. Kantipur daily reports.