News Notes (Spotlight Weekly)

Maoist Leader Commits Suicide

Security officials have said that a district-level leader of the Maoists Sadhuram Sapkota aka Prashanta has committed suicide in custody. He had been arrested more than a month ago from Kathmandu. Army barrack in Balaju held a press conference to inform about the incident. Officials said Sapkota killed himself by tying shoelaces around his neck and hanging from the window railing. Sapkota was the in-charge of Maoists' Kathmandu Valley coordination committee when he was arrested. Leading dailies report.

No Hidden Agenda: Minister Mahat

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat has clarified that there was no hidden agenda in the forthcoming visit of the King to India. Amid speculations that the King was going to put forth hidden agenda, Minister Dr. Mahat has rejected such ‘rumors.’ He added that the King would discuss with Indian leaders on issues of bilateral interest. King Gyanendra and Queen Komal are visiting India from December 23-January 2. Leading dailies report.

Indian And Pakistani Security Advisors To Meet In Kathmandu

The National Security Advisors of India and Pakistan are possibly going to meet in Kathmandu on December 24. According to reports by Press Trust of India (PTI), the meeting is being held on the eve of the meeting between the foreign secretaries of the two countries scheduled to be held in Islamabad on December 27-28. Indian National Security Advisor J.N. Dixit will hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Tariq Aziz in Kathmandu. The visit coming on the eve of the secretary-level talks is reported to be significant. However, it is not known what are the agenda for the talks and why they have chosen Kathmandu as the venue for holding them. Just a week ago, Pugwash Conferences had held a major interaction between various Indian and Pakistani personalities to discuss the Kashmir issue in Kathmandu. Compiled from reports.

Maoists Attack A Police Post Near Valley, Five Killed

In a daring attack, Maoists killed fiver police personnel including an inspector at the Ilaka Police Post in Sankhu – 17 kilometers on the north-east of the capital. Dozens of armed Maoists caught the police personnel by surprise as they launched attack from all the sides using weapons like SLR and INSAS on Saturday (December 18) evening. After taking over the police post - where 29 personnel were present - amid little resistance, they killed inspector Indra Lama and four others. Five more were injured. The Maoists fled to the surrounding jungles after looting some weapons and bullets. Following the attack, security personnel launched an intense search operation in the surrounding areas. This is the first time Maoists had attacked a police post so close to valley. “We were just getting together to decide the shift as the day shift had completed. The Maoists appeared out of nowhere, gheraoed the office and opened fire,” a policeman who escaped unhurt later said. Witnesses said inspector Lama was ordered out of the office premises and shot dead. Meanwhile, security personnel arrested two Maoist cadres who were trying to flee after placing a bomb at Purna Chandi area in Lalitpur. The bomb squad later defused the explosive. Leading dailies report.

Briefing On India Visit

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat, foreign ministry officials, Home Minister, and other senior officials engaged in ‘briefing session’ at the Royal Palace on Friday (December 17) on the eve of King Gyanendra’s visit to India from December 23-January 2. According to sources, King Gyanendra will spend two days in New Delhi where he will meet with the Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, opposition leader Atal Behari Vajpayee, foreign, water resource and defense ministers. Then after, the King will visit the capitals of the states bordering Nepal including Deharadun (capital of Uttaranchal); Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh); Patna (Bihar); and Kolkata (West Bengal). The visit to the neighboring states assume significance given their importance in terms of cross-border movement of the Maoists. Compiled from reports.

Multi Party System Has Given Pains To People: Singhal

The executive chairman of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Ashok Singhal, who recently visited Nepal to participate in the Ram Sita Bibaha Panchami celebrations, told reporters in Kathmandu that Nepal was suffering in multi-party system. He said that bad governance had allowed terrorism to creep into Nepal. However, that terrorism will die out just like the Khalistan movement died in India, he likened. He also expressed concern over criticisms against the King even though the latter had repeatedly emphasized his commitment to the multi party system. Leading dailies report.

IMF Warns Against Fiscal Indiscipline

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expressed dissatisfaction with the government over what it says as fiscal indiscipline and obstruction in reforms. It has also warned that failure to fulfill commitment on economic reforms could affect its assistance of Poverty Reduction Growth Fund (PRGF) and related aid. The Fund is concerned over the lack of improvement in the non-budgetary expenditure and PRGF commitments. The Fund has raised issues like slow pace of privatization; inability to adjust petroleum price with that of international market; failure to take action against intentional defaulters of bank loans; and rising non-budgetary expenses. It expressed concern over the government’s failure to fulfill commitments that were to have been completed a month ago. “If the situation does not change, then it will be difficult to continue the PRGF when it comes for review in three months’ time,” said a senior official at the Finance Ministry. Recently, a team of IMF headed by Nepal desk chief made the inspection tour to Nepal. They expressed these concerns to the government officials. The Fund’s decision can also affect World Bank’s Rs 5.5 billion assistance. Kantipur daily reports.

Prachanda Criticizes EU For Its Remarks

Maoist chairman Prachanda has alleged that the European delegates’ remark on the party is ‘one-sided and irresponsible.’ In a press statement, Prachanda has alleged that the expression of the EU has hurt the people’s sentiments. The statement further said: “We were stunned at the way the delegates acted to trample the Nepali peoples’ sentiments, while completely ignoring such acceptable demands of his party as dependable international mediation for peace talks and election of the constituent assembly. The party, while hoping a balanced and positive role from the European Union in keeping with the good of Nepalis on top, is ready to extend all cooperation in this regard, Prachanda said. Leading dailies report.

DPM Adhikary Defends Govt.

Responding to barrage of charges and criticisms against the government by his party colleagues, Deputy Prime Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikary, who heads the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) team in the cabinet appealed them to understand the complexity of the adverse circumstances. He said that it was only the UML ministers who were steadfast on their determination to defeat regression. He said that the government had repeatedly urged the Maoists to come for talks but in no vain. He called for support from the party to the government. He said that he was ready to step down if the party so decides but he asked them to fully comprehend the reality and the consequences. Leading dailies report.

Nepal Police To Get Modern Weapons

After the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) and Armed Police Force (APF), the government is now planning to arm the Nepal Police with modern weapons. For the first six years of conflict, Nepal Police had confronted the Maoists with their outdated 303 rifles. At present, it is included in the Unified Command and works along with the better-armed RNA and APF. The government is planning to replace the 303 rifles with the modern weapons like SLR, LMG, SMG and Minmi. It has reached the final stages of procuring 17,000 such weapons. At present, around 500 police personnel are armed with modern weapons and they work in different special task forces. Around 5000 others have received training from the RNA and APF. 300 police personnel are shortly being sent to Rajasthan, India to receive special commando training. Government is considering to set up the Ilaka Police Posts and local police posts that were earlier vacated after arming the police personnel. Nepal Samacharpatra daily reports.

Bank Sends The List Of Defaulters To Diplomatic Missions

Nepal Bank Limited (NBL) has communicated the ‘black-list’ of ;intentional defaulters of loans’ to the diplomatic missions in Kathmandu requesting them to stop providing visa to the persons concerned. The list contains the names of 50 persons black-listed by the Credit Information center. The move comes amid the government’s efforts to impound their passports. In fact, diplomatic missions of western countries including the United States have already shown interest to stop issuing visa; have trade links or other relations with the black-listed persons. The government has termed the intentional defaulters of engaging in financial terrorism. Those named in the NBL letter (to diplomatic missions) owe between Rs 100 million to Rs 2.5 billion. The letter has also been sent to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). Meanwhile, businessmen have expressed dissatisfaction over the NBL move. According to reports, defaulters owe around US$ 500 million mostly to the two major banks – NBL and Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB). Over sixty percent of these bank’s loan have turned into bad debts hitting them hard. The World Bank (WB) has been helping in reforming these banks, which have already been handed over to international expert teams under management contract. Kantipur daily reports.

Police Recover Money Robbed From Nabil Bank

In an incident that appeared straight out of a movie, police recovered money looted after a daylight robbery at the Kantipath branch of Nabil Bank Ltd in Kathmandu on December 14. An armed boy named Niranjan Khanal had barged into the bank and held the customer service officer Dinesh Poudel at gun-point and demanded Rs 20 million. It was the same pistol he had looted from his brother-in-law police inspector Madan KC on Monday (December 13) night. Later he agreed to take Rs six million after the bank managers told him they did not have that much money. He made the bank staffers to carry two suitcases of money to the main gate and fled in a taxi. Police were informed about the incident only after he was gone and full 45 minutes after he had entered into the bank. However, the robbers’ luck ran out after KC’s wife informed the police that Niranjan had come to his room – he lives in a rented apartment of his elder brother Niraj Khanal along with two suitcases and the pistol. Police raided the house at Khadga Bhadrakali and recovered Rs 5.93 million and the pistol. The boy is still at large. According to police, he hails from Ratnapur of Dang district. Anil Shah, general manager of the bank, said that they did not immediately inform the police of the robber’s entry into the bank fearing untoward incident. “It is our policy to first guarantee the lives of our staffs and customers,” he said, adding that the bank would investigate how the person got into the bank premises in the first places through the metal detector and security searching. Leading dailies report.