Talks On Refugee Open Door For Settlement
Lot Of Hard Work Remains

-By Our Correspondent

However, the Bhutanese organisations are not unhappy with the Nepalese side’s performance this time.

"We had expected that the talks would, at least, lead to the begining of the verification process," said D. P. Basnet of HUROB, the Bhutanese Human Rights Organisation.

Any resolution to the verification process was blocked when the Bhutanese flashed its fangs at the last moment. The two sides could not agree to harmonization of the mechanism of the verificiation.

According to a source, the Bhutanese had wanted the verfication to start with a list of about 3,000 refugees, who had filled forms prepared unauthoritatively by an UNHCR official named as Robert Cooper. Nepal has rejected the list saying it has not recognized any such list.

However, the whole two days talks were focussed to break the impasse on the refugees of the second category, who are Bhutanese who have fled their country — voluntarily and willingly, says the Bhutanese government, but under compelling situation of torture and terror, say the Bhutanese refugees.

They constitute almost 60 per cent of about 100,000 refugees living in the camps in Nepal. The Bhutanese government had been rejecting to take them back saying they had emigrated.

Refugees says, mainly during 1991 and 1992, at the height of eviction of the Bhutanese of Nepalese origin, the Bhutanese government had imprisonment key persons and tortured them until they sign the voluntary emigration forms. Then the terrorised masses, forced to wear a smiling face, were also compelled to sign such forms in front of cameras and videos. These second category refugees were the main reason of the impasse in the previous three rounds of talks.

Now, the Bhutanese have agreed to put those ‘emigrated’ ones at par with the first category who are genuine refugees.

This probably is the main achievement of the talks. Foreign Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat, who led the Nepalese delegation, told Sunday Despatch that he has taken the talks as an opening of the gate for the repatriation of the refugees.

Another achievement, though a small, was the Bhutanese side have not disagreed to a third party mediation, and importantly, it has opened the door for future talks.

It may not be an exaggeration that Nepal has scored over Bhutan diplomatically this time by not giving the Bhutanese much chance to stonewall the talks. According to a reliable source, the Bhutanese even tried to do it once by accusing Nepalese side of leaking information to the press.

Dr. Mahat said, "We sidesteped many arguments such as the possibility of the refugees being left out in case the repatriation process begins because raising such issues would only have stalled the talks."

Meanwhile, it is still a long road ahead before the refugees begin leaving the camps for their homes. The stalemate in the previous seven rounds of talks have shown that Bhutanese are not going to give in easily. Although Bhutan may have felt the heat of international pressure, there will be many stumbling blocks that Bhutan might create. Bhutan, which had resisted for almost nine years, will not give so easily. Nepal still has a lot of hard bargaining to do before a negotiated settlement is reached.

HUROB’s Basnet say no matter what happens in the talks there will be no real outcome until the top notches in the Bhutanese government want it. But Nepal must keep pushing until the last of the refugees leave the Nepalese border.

Bill To Check Maoists, Criminal Activities

-By Our Correspondent

Despite controversy about the existing laws being sufficient to deal with the Maoist insurgency and other crimes, the government has brought out a bill to come down heavily on any criminal activity.

The government recently registered in the parliament a bill to amend and make additions to the existing laws regarding internal administration to make them tough to deal with the Maoists.

Citing the objectives and reasons of making amendments and additions in the Acts, Home Minister Purna Bahadur Khadka said the existing legal provisions were not sufficient to control the growing criminal activities. He said that as per the existing laws, criminals may get released on bail and they may get more encouraged to involve in criminal activities. According to Minister Khadka, the Amendment Bill has been brought out to mete out due punishment to the criminals.

The proposed Bill has been registered with the Parliament Secretariat recently. It aims at making amendments and additions in six different Acts regarding internal administration.

The Acts that are proposed for amendments and additions include the Local Administration Act-2028, Weapons and Ammunitions Act-2019, Explosive Materials Act-2018, the Crime against State and Punishment Act-2046, Donation Act and National Civil Code-2020.

According to the provisions of the bill, any one found guilty of explosion, poisoning, kidnapping and murder, and arson and explosion in public places or homes will be punishable by confiscating his property and life imprisonment. Similarly, taking hostage with arms will also be punished by life imprisonment.

Similarly, crimes of murder or kidnapping will be punished by five to 15 years in prison and a fine of Rs. 25,000 to 50,000 or both. Similarly, rapists, women traffickers, unnatural sex-offenses and forced slavery will be liable to the same punishment.

However, Lawyers and human rightist activists do not see the relevance of the proposed Bill. They say that introducing laws alone will not discourage criminals.

Ganesh Raj Sharma, senior advocate, talking to Sunday Despatch, said it is only the Attorney General who knows whether the existing Acts need amendments or not.

"The Attorney General is the authoritative official who knows more about the laws than the politicians and the people in the administration. But the prosecution chiefs have not spoken about the insufficiency of laws to control criminal activities," Sharma said. "The attorney general should also speak out whether any amendment or addition are required in the existing laws."

Sharma is of the opinion that the proposed Bill brought out in a hurry may be counterproductive.

Similarly, Krishna Pahadi, President Human Rights and Peace Society, said that the proposed Bill itself is the starting of an unhealthy process. He said that the Bill has given unlimited power even to an Assistant Sub-Inspector of police.

Pahadi said that the process of bringing out the Bill itself is not good. "The government should have gone for separate amendments of the separate Acts."

Said Pahadi, "If the Bill is passed, police atrocity will be increased in the country. According to the Bill, even a junior official of police will have the power to raid and investigate wherever he wants and without prior notice. He said it might lead to the misuse of power by the police, which will create several anomalies in the society.

He said that an unlimited power has also been given to the Chief District Officers who can do whatever like.

"From the point of view of human rights, the Bill is not appropriate. It should be condemned. I think, the government is preparing to bring out yet another Bill, which is more suppressive."

Saying strong laws alone will not solve the problem, he said, the government should look for political solution to solve the Maoists problem.

But parliamentarian Benup Raj Prasai holds different views about the proposed amendment Bill.

Prasai said that the successive governments have appealed to the Maoists to hold talks to resolve the problem but the latter did not show any interest in holding talks.

"It is the concern of all to safeguard the hard-earned democracy. As the terrorism is posing a threat to the democratic system itself, the state must show strong willpower and have laws to discourage them. I think, the proposed Bill has been brought out in an appropriate time," Prasai said.

He said that is not a new Bill, but only the amendments to the existing Acts. He also said that the majority government has to maintain peace and security for which the Bill has been introduced.

"The amendment Bill does not have so harsh provisions. It has just been brought out to discourage the criminal activities that have created a situation of terror among the people," he says.

Bharat Mohan Adhikari, parliamentarian and former minister, said that his party CPN (UML) has formed a task force to study the provisions in both the Amendment Bills relating to the Internal Administration Act and the Citizenship Act.

He did not want to comment on the Bill at present.

About two years ago, the RPP-UML government headed by Lokendra Bahadur Chand tried to introduce a Bill under the heading of "Terrorism and Destructive Crime Control Act-2054" to suppress the Maoists. But due to public pressure, the then government had withdrawn it.

What After Vikram?

-By Our Correspondent

Finally, the smoke-belching three wheelers, commonly known as Vikram tempos, which were the whipping boy for Kathmandu's air pollution have been taken off the roads since mid-night Friday. There were nearly 640 Vikrams plying on the roads of the capital for years.

The government plans to replace them with micro-buses, and has taken steps to alleviate any hardship to diesel taxi owners, providing 99 per cent custom duty relief for people importing micro buses, equivalent to that of Euro-1. Those who are willing to buy eco-friendly three wheelers, electric tempos, can also apply for loans of 65 per cent of the cost at just 5 per cent interest repayable in three years with the 10 per cent VAT scrapped.

But no single micro bus has so far been imported to replace the Vikrams. Some 300 gas and electric tempos, which already were in operation, have taken the extra burden of Vikrams’ service. But they are not enough to carry the passengers stranded by the Vikrams' pullout.

Vikrams were comparatively cheaper than those of electric and gas tempos. There are only 225 battery-operated and 128 gas tempos.

Many of the banned Vikrams are expected to go outside the valley, except Pokhara and Lumbini.

The government has several plans to reduce the alarming pollution level in the capital city, according to the Ministry of Population and Environment (MoPE).

"Banning Vikrams was our first step in minimising air pollution in the city. We will continue to stop other vehicles with high emission level in times to come, says Bhakta Bahadur Balayar, Minister of State for Population and Environment.

The government has already banned the import of two-stroke motorcycles, and is planning to phase out the old buses, which are no less polluting than the Vikrams.

But hundreds of passengers, who were depending on Vikrams, now face problems to commute. There are more than 150,000 commuters who use the three-wheelers. The three wheelers were also the cheapest and the most efficient means of public transportation. There are too few public buses and other three wheelers to meet the demand.

"Ban on Vikrams was a must. But the problem is there are no micro-buses yet," says one Ramesh Ghimire who have been travelling by Vikrams for years.

Some 1,250 applications have so far been registered to take electric tempos on the loan basis.

The Danish government has agreed to provide some battery-operated tempos on five per cent interest for those willing to purchase such tempos. People, who had always pointed accusing fingers at the Vikrams, will now have to do without an efficient public transportation system.