News Notes (Spotlight Weekly)

Oli Comes Down Hard On Government

A senior and influential leader of the ruling Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) has criticized the government for choosing Information Minister Dr. Mohamad Mohsin as its spokesperson. The UML standing committee member Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli has also criticized the ministers representing his party for failing to take a strong stand against naming Dr. Mohsin as government spokesperson. “I have already asked the prime minister and ministers why they chose a party-less person as the spokesperson of the all-party government. They replied because there was a tradition of appointing Information minister as spokesperson. But this is a very lame excuse. There is no hard and fast rule that only an information minister can become a government spokesperson,” said Oli. He also took Deputy Prime Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari – another standing committee member of the UML – to task for eating his words. “He was the same person who was clamoring for reduction in the budget of the royal palace. Suddenly, after becoming a finance minister he ate his words and said he could not reduce it,” said Oli. Leading dailies report.

Mohsin Lands In Controversy

Dr. Mohamad Mohsin, who is said to have been inducted in the present Deuba cabinet as per the recommendation of the royal palace, has landed in controversy. Already his appointment as government spokesperson is drawing flak from influential leaders of the coalition government. Moreover, efforts to appoint him to a powerful all party steering committee has attracted widespread criticisms. As per the Common Minimum Program (CMP) of the coalition partners, a powerful steering committee headed by the Prime Minister and including the topmost leaders of the parties in coalition as members will have to be formed in order to oversee, monitor and guide the activities of the government. PM Sher Bahadur Deuba is said to be mulling to rope in Dr. Mohsin also as a member of that committee to the displeasure of others. Even his own party leaders have disagreed. “There is no reason to include him (Dr. Mohsin) in the committee,” said Dr. Narayan Khadka, central leader of ruling Nepali Congress (Democratic). Likewise, Shankar Pokharel, central member of the UML, has said that his party would not agree to such idea. Discussion on this issue would be held after UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal returns home from his current visit to South Korea. Compiled from reports.

UML Putting Pressure To Change NPC Vice Chairperson

The Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) has put pressure on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to ‘change’ the vice chairperson of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Dr. Shankar Sharma. According to sources close to the Prime Minister, Deuba wants to keep Dr. Sharma while he is ready to make changes in the members of the NPC. It is said that Dr. Sharma had differed with Finance Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari, who belongs to the UML, during the budget preparation. Dr. Sharma is said to have expressed dissatisfaction after Adhikari tried to make many changes in the budget at the last minute. Kantipur daily reports.

Army To Have Women Officers

After the successful induction of women in its ranks, the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) is considering recruiting women officers for infantry units. “The plan to recruit women officers is under consideration,” said a senior officer at the RNA headquarters. “The plan is being worked out in the preliminary stage, and hopefully it will take concrete shape in the near future,” he said, adding that despite the fragile security situation, women were as keen as men to join because a career in the forces entailed job security. For instance, recently the Adjutant General’s Department (AGD) received 200 applications for 15 vacancies for the post of military hospital nurse. RNA legal unit chief Brigadier General B.A. Kumar Sharma said, “The army has already broken grounds by inducting women in the ranks.” He added, “Hundreds of them are working as officers in the technical, medical and legal sections also of the army.” As many as 800 women are currently serving in different army departments. Some are doctors, nurses, lawyers and para-folders. The rest are in military police, signal operation, clerical jobs and infantry. The Himalayan Times daily reports.

Wagle To Knock Supreme Court’s Door

Former minister Chiranjibi Wagle has said that he will knock the doors of the Supreme Court against the verdict by the Special Court that had sentenced him to two and a half years of imprisonment along with Rs 27.2 million as fine on charges relating corruption and amassing wealth beyond the known source of income. Moreover, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), which had filed cases against Wagle is also said to be mulling knocking the door of the apex court as it seems dissatisfied with the verdict. “We expected stronger sentence,” said Yubaraj Subedi, a lawyer of the commission. Meanwhile, Wagle continued to plead his innocence and said he will seek justice at the apex court. Kantipur daily reports.

Nepal Unwilling To Commit Forces For Iraq

The United Nations is in a tough situation after it failed to receive any credible assurances from its member states including Nepal regarding the deployment of forces to provide security to its facilities in Iraq. The UN officials had been expecting that forces from countries like Nepal, Pakistan and Georgia would be available to provide security. However, none of the countries have expressed willingness till date compelling the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to remark, “None of the 191 member countries of the UN are willing to provide security to the UN.” Nepal’s state minister for foreign affairs Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat said he was not fully informed about this issue and would comment only after discussing it with the ministry officials. The Royal Nepalese Army (RNA), on the other hand, has already made it clear through a statement that they are stretched too much inside the country to be in a position to provide peacekeeping force to the UN in Iraq. The RNA has already sent 42,000 peacekeepers in 28 different missions since Nepal became the member of the UN in 1955. Currently, RNA peacekeeping force is active in Congo, Liberia, Haiti and Lebanon. Besides, it is also preparing to send forces to Sudan and Burundi. “It is difficult for Nepal to decide on a tough country like Iraq,” said an official at the UN section in the ministry. Although officials know how much the country will be appreciated if they send the forces to Iraq, risks of having to face the wrath of terrorists is also equally heavy. Moreover, the spate of hostage-taking by the terrorists in Iraq has also made the countries around the world nervous. Nepal Samacharpatra daily reports.

Local Bodies In A Limbo

As the government partners failed to agree to reinstate the previously elected representatives of the local bodies, the people are facing difficulties in getting their jobs done at the municipalities and VDCs. Although the government has decided to authorize the government officials at the local bodies to carry out the essential tasks, an ordinance to that effect is yet to be issued. “We have decided on that ordinance and it will be issued soon within a couple of days,” said Yubaraj Gyawali, Local Development Minister. The Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) party to which Gyawali belongs had pressed to reinstate the local bodies but other coalition partners did not agree. As such, the government is authorizing the officials for the time being to operate the local bodies. Compiled from reports.

Flexible Up To Elastic Limit: Deuba

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that his government will exhibit flexibility up to the elastic limit while negotiating with the Maoists. “By flexibility I do not mean we can go beyond the breaking point. However, as a democratic I am not averse to compromises,” said Deuba addressing a meet of his party’s student wing on the occasion of the B.P. Memorial Day. Leading dailies report.

Koirala Treats Nsu Dispute As Internal Problem

President of Nepali Congress (NC) Girija Prasad Koirala has asked the cadres of his party’s student wing Nepal Students Union (NSU) not to drag the recent dispute outside. Koirala was referring to differences in the party and the wing over the recent decision by the party general secretary Sushil Koirala to sack the NSU central committee and replace it by an ad hoc committee. At a program organized on the occasion of the B.P. Memorial Day by the NSU ad hoc committee, Koirala asked the students to apply restraint so that the party’s problem can be solved internally. At the program, students booed and stopped the party general secretary from addressing them. At a separate program held in Wednesday morning, Koirala had accused the palace of trying to bring a rift in the NSU by inciting differences. Leading dailies report.

Nepal Sees Good Prospects For Peace

Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the ruling Unified Marxist Leninist (UML), has said that there are good prospects for initiating peace talks despite the strong-worded statement by the Maoist chairman Prachanda who ruled out immediate peace talks or ceasefire. “I do not think that statement will derail the possibility of talks. Things are moving in the right direction,” he said. Nepal, however, took the government to task for saying it cannot go beyond the constitutional limit in order to resolve the problem. “If the political strength of all forces are recognized, we can go for new constitution after arriving at consensus about the means to achieve it,” he said. Leading dailies report.

Controversial Judge Quits

Supreme Court judge Krishna Kumar Burma, who was in the eye of controversy over the verdict of releasing an alleged British drug-lord Gordon William Robinson, has finally resigned from his position. King Gyanendra has accepted his resignation. Burma has resigned on ‘health’ grounds. He, however, continues to defend his verdict. The verdict had been delivered by a bench including Burma and another judge Baliram Kumar. Leading dailies report.

Abducted Students Released

Around 84 students and teachers abducted from Sri Krishna secondary school of Chhaimale VDC – located 20 km south of Kathmandu – have been released by the Maoists following the efforts by the security forces to encircle them. The Maoists had abducted them on Sunday (July 18) and were released in an unidentified village of Makwanpur district on Tuesday (July 20) morning. The released pupils reached their village in afternoon and were united with their worried parents. According to them, the Maoists preached them about their policies and against monarchy for hours in their captivity. Security forces had been massively mobilized in the area and they were present to welcome back the students. Spokesperson of the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) Brigadier General Rajendra Bahadur Thapa handed over Rs 20,000, on behalf of chief of army staff General Pyara Jung Thapa, to the families as relief compensation. He said that the security forces did not launch active operation as they wanted to avoid incident like that occurred in Mudbhara of Doti district when a couple of students also got killed during security operation to flush out the Maoists from a local school. “We were compelled to walk for 10 hours and had to listen to 16 hours of their preaching. Never in my life had I gone through such a harrowing experience,” said Ashok Acharya, a grade 10 student after his release. Compiled from reports.