News Notes (Spotlight Weekly)

Maoists Attack Civilian Bus, 14 Killed

Maoists opened indiscriminate fire and hurled grenades at a civilian bus near Mainapokhari of Dolakha district killing six civilians and eight security personnel. The bus, which was en route from Jiri to Kathmandu, was attacked by the Maoists. Seven army personnel and one armed police personnel were killed in the incident. Moreover, fifteen civilians and six security personnel were injured in the incident. The defense ministry has accused the Maoists of attacking a civilian bus despite their ‘repeated commitments to uphold Geneva convention.’ The security personnel had boarded the bus upon receiving the information that the Maoists had felled trees and obstructed the road near Charikot. Maoists have already taken responsibility for the attack. Leading dailies report.

Koirala Hopes Nepal Will Reconsider His Candidature

In an important shift from earlier stand, Nepali Congress (NC) president Girija Prasad Koirala has said that ‘in a changed context, I hope Madhav Kumar Nepal will reconsider the earlier decision to appoint him as common candidate of the five parties.’ In clear terms, Koirala said that the decision of the five parties’ to project Nepal as their common candidate for the post of the prime minister was no longer valid. “Because the circumstances have changed,” he reasoned. Koirala also expressed suspicions over the real intention of the palace. Kantipur daily reports.

Campaign To Control Street Dogs

At the initiative of an organization called KAT, the pet-lovers have started to sterilize the street dogs in Kathmandu. In order to put an end to atrocities against the dogs and as an alternative to merciless poisoning to control their population, the alliance has decided to go ahead with the campaign. It is said that there are around 25,000 street dogs in Kathmandu. “Due to increasing waste and garbage in the city, the population of street dogs, too, have increased in the city. Since, poisoning is an inhuman practice, we think they should be given necessary vaccines and made unable to bear offsprings,” said Khageshwore Sharma of KAT. Haribansha Acharya, president of KAT, said that in future they will expand their activities to provide treatment facilities to dogs. Till now, the municipality has been regularly organizing campaign to control the population of street dogs by poisoning them. Leading dailies report.

Five Parties To Form Common Strategy For Discussion With The King

Suspecting the palace intention, the five agitating parties have decided to form their common strategy in a written form to present to the King when they meet him jointly. After the resignation of the Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, the leaders of the five parties had said that the avenue for dialogue (with the King) had been opened. But the statement, which palace put out after Thapa’s resignation on Friday (May 7), stating that the next government should be formed including all the sides under the leadership of a person who has a ‘clean image’ and who can restore peace in the country and begin the process of parliamentary elections before mid-April 2005 has miffed the parties. The party leaders argue that there is no clear definition of ‘clean image’ and that it only smacks off conspiracy to form another hand-picked government. As such, the parties have said that their agitation would continue until an all party government would be formed under their recommendation. The parties have also said that their call for general strike on May 11-12 is still on. Leading dailies report.

PM Thapa Resigns

Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa tendered his resignation on Friday (May 7) after heading the government for 11 months. King Gyanendra accepted his resignation but asked him to continue in office till another prime minister was appointed. In a speech he delivered on Friday, PM Thapa said that although he had made honest efforts to resolve the political crisis in the country, he could not succeed and had, therefore, decided to step down. He said he still believed that holding elections were the best way out of the political deadlock. He stated that the King was firm on his commitment towards multiparty democracy and constitutional monarchy. Thapa said that even after his resignation, he will continue to work towards evolving consensus to end the impasse. Compiled from reports.

Seven Maoists Killed In Nawalparasi

In separate incidents in the district, security forces killed seven Maoists including two district-level leaders. Among those killed include five women and two men. Meanwhile, Maoists have shot to death a constable of Armed Police Force (APF) Purna Bahadur Lama in Chitawan on Saturday (May 8). Lama, who had married only five days ago, was going to the residence of his bride when he was shot. The Maoists have also killed two persons in Morang district charging them of hatching conspiracy against them. In the far west region, the Maoists have killed an army man and a police personnel while a female Maoist was killed by the security forces. In Surkhet district, the Maoists have killed a UML cadre Sher Bahadur Wali. In a separate incident, another UML cadre Khem Lal Pariyar has been shot to death by security forces. While the security forces contend that Pariyar was area secretary of the Dalit Muktimorcha – which is close to the Maoists, the party has charged that he was innocent. Maoists also tried to attack the base camp of Armed Police Force of Waling in Syangja district on Saturday evening. They fired bullets and hurled bombs from a nearby hill but could not launch any big attach due to the alertness of the APF there, reports say. Compiled from reports.

Nepali Caught With Cannabis

A women who hid cannabis worth US $ 1.45 million in the heels of her shoes was arrested as she attempted to shuffle past customs officers at Hong Kong’s international airport. The Nepali woman, who had 9.1 kg of cannabis resin stashed in her footwear and luggage, was apprehended on Friday (May 7) on arrival from Kathmandu after high-tech scanners pinpointed the contraband. She was scheduled to appear before magistrates on Monday on charges of trafficking dangerous drugs. If convicted, the woman faces a possible life prison sentence. The Himalayan Times daily reports.

Maoists Loot Everest Bank

A group of armed Maoists barged into the Everest Hotel branch in the Mills Area of Janakpur and made away with around Rs 4.2 million. The Maoists first took the bank under its control and looted the money before fleeing. The Maoists also put explosives in different places around the vicinity of the bank in order to keep the security forces ‘busy’ while they made their entry into the bank. Meanwhile, Maoists destroyed two fire-fighting vehicles and one ambulance by hurling a bomb inside the premises of Dharan municipality in eastern Nepal. Leading dailies report.

Four Donors Suspend Their Work In The West

Thanks to the Maoist threat, three donor agencies have suspended their activities in Karnali zone and Kailali district of the western Nepal. Dutch development agency (SNV), German agency GTZ and British DFID have said they were compelled to take the decision due to persisting insecurity. Because of their decision, the rural infrastructure development programs will be affected. The donors have said that 25000 people will be affected by the suspension of their activities. The GTZ and DFID have decided to suspend their food security programs aimed at helping the freed Kamaiyas. “Due to this, 30000 people will be affected,” they have said. Apart from these three, the World Food Program (WFP), too, has decided to suspend its programs in the region. The donors have said that they will restart their activities once the situation improves. Kantipur daily reports.

Donors Meet With Political Parties

Donors met with the representatives of the agitating political parties on Tuesday (May 4). The donors had to meet with them separately because the parties had earlier decided to boycott the Nepal Development Forum (NDF) meeting (May 5-6) saying there was no use in holding the meeting when there was an illegitimate government in office. During the meeting donors said the human rights and democracy were the main issue that would be discussed at the NDF. The donors also complained that the political parties were unable to form a consensus opinion. They also asked the parties to come up with concrete programs to deal with the Maoists. Meanwhile, the donors have released a statement highlighting their positions at the NDF. In the statement, the donors have said that their assistance would depend on the human rights and democracy situation in the country. Leading dailies report.

Labor Pact Put Off Indefinitely

Due to the controversies regarding the fake visa scandal, the proposed labor pact between Nepal and Malaysia has been put off indefinitely. The government of Malaysia is said to have requested Nepal government to put it off for the time being. Scores of Nepalese laborers had been stranded at the Malaysian airport last week after their visas, issued from the Malaysian embassy staffers in Kathmandu, were found to be fake. The stranded laborers were forced to return back to Kathmandu where they had to face charges of breaching immigration laws. With the objective of promoting and regularizing the labor flow from Nepal, the labor pact was going to be signed by the officials from the two countries next week. Malaysia had recognized Nepal as one of its laborer-supplying countries three years ago. At present, there are over 200,000 Nepalese laborers working in Malaysia. Leading dailies report.

32 Women Still Languishing In Jail On Abortion Charges

Around 32 women are still languishing in different prisons facing long sentence for committing abortion even though the law framed two years ago legalizes conditional abortion. Most of the women languishing in prison are charged of infanticide. According to Mira Dhungana of the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD) – an NGO – these women should be given general amnesty and released immediately since new laws have already come into force. “We have pleaded to the prime minister and even the King for their release,” she said. After the 11th amendment of the Civil Code two years ago, abortion has been legalized under certain conditions for fetuses up to 18 weeks old. The government has just recently announced that the Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu would act as an abortion clinic. Dr. Sabitri Kishore, director of the hospital, said that in the last one and a half months of its appointment as legal abortion clinic, 350 women have already underwent abortion there – most of the women hailing from outside Kathmandu. Dr. Kishore said that the abortion service has been expanded to regional hospitals in Biratnagar, Pokhara and Butwal. “Soon we are going to expand it to Nepalgunj and Bharatpur,” she said. Compiled from reports.