Ideology takes a back seat

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

New Delhi had a Plan B just in case combative Maoist guerrilla leader--elected--Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ sprang any political or diplomatic surprises on his first official visit to India. In the mid-1990s, the only other Communist Prime Minister of Nepal, Mr Manmohan Adhikary, on a similar visit, was expected to rock bilateral relations. He chose not to do so and Prachanda followed suit even after he and his party had said many unpleasant things about India not too long ago.

Never has any Nepali Prime Minister attracted so much attention and curiosity as Mr Dahal who spent eight of his 10 years underground around Delhi and Haryana while in Kathmandu, a human rights activist and Maoist sympathiser, Mr Padma Ratna Tuladhar, was being passed off as the elusive leader. Shock and awe, the literal translation of ‘Prachanda’, were cultivated through anonymity and fiction.

His first overground visit to New Delhi was in 2006 when as leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) he told the Hindustan Times summit that the Maoists had abandoned the armed struggle for multi-party democracy. His every word and step was monitored carefully but no one ever dreamt that he would become Prime Minister. How we got this wrong is another story.

The Maoist brush with India started early. They realised that India would not allow a military conquest of Kathmandu and power could not flow from the barrel of the gun. Top Maoist leaders would frequently refer to India as ‘expansionist’, ‘imperialist ‘ and ‘colonialist’, warning their armed wing that ultimately they would have to fight the Indian Army.

Ignoring this stark reality, military hardliners led by Mr Dahal launched in 2005 the impossible Battle of Khara in far west Nepal against the Nepal Army — a modern day Charge of the Light Brigade — that ended in the biggest debacle of the war. It was the turning point of the people’s war and victory for the pragmatists favouring joining the political mainstream. India facilitated the political union of constitutional forces against monarchy and the election. This did little to woo the Maoists.

The anti-India tirade was maintained. In fact, it picked up in the run-up to the April election. Nine of the Maoists’ 40-point demands advocated in 1996 and recrafted for the election manifesto were India-centric, targeting unequal and lopsided treaties, especially the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Gorkha recruitment in the Indian Army, border encroachments and iniquitous use of water resources from rivers emanating in Nepal.

The revival of the ‘equidistance policy’, an euphemism for the China card, figured prominently among the pet peeves. In an interview on Nepal television, Mr Dahal underscored the need for China balancing India in Nepal. His visit to China before India after being sworn in as Prime Minister raised hackles in New Delhi though officials pretended it was business as usual. His Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa Badal, former Deputy Commander of the PLA, has just returned from China with a $ 1 million military aid package.

After the recent floods in Nepal and India caused by Kosi, a river rising in east Nepal, Mr Dahal called the 1954 Kosi Treaty a “historic blunder”. The anti-India faction of the Maoists has called for an economic policy that looks beyond India. Party hawks had directed Mr Dahal to get the 1950 Treaty scrapped and ask India not to interfere in Nepali politics.

Maoists have reason to be angry with India. It was New Delhi that declared Maoists a terrorist organisation even before Nepal did and arrested their top leaders. But for the Indian Army’s military assistance and expertise to the Nepal Army, the PLA ran a good chance of reaching Kathmandu. Only King Gyanendra’s absurd coup forced the termination of the supply of military hardware to the Nepal Army but by then it was a bridge too far for the Maoists as the Army was fully fortified, backed by adequate reserves.

India’s unarticulated deterrent was not lost on the Maoists. Even after Jan Andolan II in April 2006, New Delhi, ignoring the people’s uprising against the palace, intervened, persisting with its twin-pillar policy of constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy when the first pillar had collapsed.

Maoists have never forgiven India for delaying the end of Monarchy and not crediting them sufficiently for the historic transformations in Nepal. What is worse, India’s National Security Adviser told a television channel after the Maoists’ stunning success in the election that India was used to working with the routed Nepali Congress Party and wasn’t actually expecting the Maoists to win. The list of Indian omissions and commissions is long.

Fortunately for India, Mr Dahal’s coalition partners — three Communist parties and two Madhesi parties from the Terai, one of whose leaders is a former Maoist — and the Opposition Nepali Congress helped moderate the Maoist agenda for Mr Dahal’s visit. The lessons from Khara, three years of the peace process and the ultimate aphrodisiac, power, have taught Mr Dahal flexibility and pragmatism and turned him into a sophisticated politician.

The irony is how both the Maoists and India, at loggerheads, may settle down to accepting the compulsions of geography and ground reality. India made all the wrong calculations on the Maoists, Mr Dahal and his flock targeted Delhi. India is now engaging not just the Maoists but also other political parties. A number of Track I initiatives have been held in Patna, Delhi and Banaras as part of proactive diplomacy though New Delhi has lost much ground in the security sector.

Will the conversion of the Maoists into a political entity have a sobering effect on Indian Maoists and other separatist groups with which they had linkages? There is, therefore, great relevance of the ongoing peace process for Nepal, the region and the rest of the world.

Several challenges remain. Maoists continue to figure on the US Terrorists Exclusion List, now downgraded to Group of Concern even while Mr Dahal met President George W Bush in New York earlier this month. Taming Maoist hardliners and making others give up their bad habits will be as hard as taming Nepal’s turbulent waters that wreak havoc in India. As India lives in the spill-over zone of Nepal, New Delhi will remain a key stakeholder of the peace process and stability of the Government.

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Nepal's new Maoist government oust priests from selecting a girl to be a "living goddess"

The new 'living goddess' wants to be a nurse when she is older

Nepal selects 'living goddess'
29/09/2008 19:12 - (SA)

Kathmandu - Nepal's new Maoist government has taken over the task of selecting a girl to be a "living goddess", ousting royal priests from a role they fulfilled for centuries.

The strictly atheist Maoists gained power in the Himalayan country after the end of the civil war in 2006 and landmark polls earlier this year that brought down the world's last Hindu monarchy.

"Just because we are now a republic and no longer have a king or royal priest, does not mean we should end our traditions," said Keshab Bahadur Shrestha, a member of the government panel that selected the girl known as a Kumari.

The girl selected, Shreeya Bajracharya, is from Bhaktapur town, 30km west of Kathmandu. She is the six-year-old daughter of a farmer.

She met 32 strict criteria, including having "eyelashes like a cow" and a "voice as soft and clear as a duck", said Shrestha.

Bajracharya made her first public appearance at a religious festival in Bhaktapur on Sunday.

For centuries, residents from three medieval towns in the Kathmandu valley have worshipped young virgin girls from a Buddhist caste as the living incarnation of the Hindu goddess Taleju.

The previous Bhaktapur Kumari, 11-year-old Sajani Shakya, upset traditionalists last year when she travelled to the United States to promote a documentary.

Religious officials said she had lost her divine status by travelling abroad and her term as Kumari ended in March with her symbolic wedding to a fruit.

Despite Nepal's new secular status, religious tradition remains deeply ingrained in a country where 80% of people are Hindu.

Last week, an attempt by the Maoist finance minister to cut a $200 government grant to Kathmandu's "Royal Kumari" festival caused rioting and prompted criticism that the Maoists were starting a "cultural revolution".

The Kumari in Kathmandu spends most of her time locked up in an ornate palace in the heart of the city, though last month Nepal's supreme court ruled that the practice violated the child's human rights Sphere: Related Content

$1.3 Million in military aid for Nepal from CHINA

Sunday, 28 September, 2008, 12:07 AM Doha Time

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s northern neighbour China has announced a military aid of Rs100mn (over $1.3mn) for Nepal, the first military aid received by the new Maoist-led government of the Himalayan republic.
China’s Minister for Defence Liang Guanglie made the announcement during a meeting with his Nepali counterpart, Maoist Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’ on Friday. Badal is on a visit to China at the invitation of the Chinese defence ministry to observe military exercise ‘Warrior 2008’.
The Russia-educated Badal, who was the military strategist of the Maoists when they were an underground party waging an armed war against the state, is the first defence minister Nepal has seen after a long time.
In the past, the portfolio was held by the prime ministers themselves.
Just as Nepal’s new Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ visited China soon after assuming office, Badal also followed suit.
Though Nepal’s official media reported about the military assistance yesterday, it was, however, not specified whether the aid comprised cash or military equipment.
Around last year, when the Indian government sent non-lethal military assistance to Nepal, it created a furore with the Maoists lodging vigorous protests and accusing New Delhi of trying to sabotage the peace process.
Badal, who also met Guo Boxiong, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, the apex body in the Chinese armed forces, reiterated his government’s commitment to the One-China policy.
Badal also repeated the assurance given by Prachanda during his visit that Nepal would prevent anti-China elements - meaning mostly Tibetan refugees - from staging anti-China activities on Nepal’s soil.
Indian military officials would be closely watching Badal’s visit. Even though the Indian government says it is unperturbed about Prachanda choosing to visit China before India, the Indian military establishment is wary of Nepal’s China tilt over defence issues.
During King Gyanendra’s government, India took serious umbrage at the royal government going on an arms buying spree and paying the Chinese manufacturers hard cash while ignoring the mounting dues to India for the supply of arms at a high subsidy.
China had been the only neighbourhood country to supply arms to the Nepal army during King Gyanendra’s regime. The weapons were used to combat the Maoist insurgency as well as the pro-democracy movement started by the political parties together with the Maoists and civil society. – IANS

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Nepal crippled by strike against federal plans

Singha Durba, one of Kathmandu's busiest roads,

is deserted during a general strike September 28, 2008. Gopal Chitrakar

Sun Sep 28, 2008 3:23pm IST

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Shops were closed and vehicles stayed off the roads across Nepal on Sunday during a strike called against a plan to turn the Himalayan nation into a federal state, officials and witnesses said.

Major political parties and the Maoist-led coalition government have agreed to split Nepal into several autonomous provinces under a federal structure after preparing a new constitution likely in two years time.

"A small and poor country like Nepal should not be turned into a federal state," said Chitra Bahadur K.C., chief of a leftist group, National People's Front, that called the day-long strike to oppose the plan. "The federal system will weaken national unity."

Activists pelted stones and set fire to half a dozen vehicles in Kathmandu. Others trying to enforce the strike also clashed with police but officials said there were no injuries.

Nepal abolished the 239-old monarchy in June, part of a 2006 peace deal with Maoist former rebels ending their decade-long civil war which caused more than 13,000 deaths.

During their war that started in 1996, the Maoists promised to create autonomous provinces but critics said Nepal had no infrastructure and resources required to turn it into a federal state.

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Nepal's Maoist government wages war on sleaze

28 Sep, 2008, 0833 hrs IST, AGENCIES

KATHMANDU: Nepal's new Maoist government has declared war on sleaze in the capital Kathmandu, saying the increasing numbers of massage parlours and nude dance bars are driving up crime and immorality.

The ultra-leftists pledged radical change in the impoverished nation after they won landmark polls in April which placed their former warlord leader as prime minister of the world's newest republic.

For Bamdev Gautam, Nepal's new home minister, that means battling Kathmandu's mushrooming adult entertainment sector, which he describes as a "breeding ground for depravity" and "at the heart" of an urban crime problem.

"This is a movement against social evils. We've seen the growth of vicious immorality among Nepali youth because of these late-night restaurants and dance bars," home ministry spokesman Modraj Dottel explained.

During the civil war, when government troops were battling the Maoists, there was a heavy security presence in urban areas and many residents felt safer.

But urban areas in Nepal have now been hit by a slew of kidnappings, muggings and knife attacks since the end of the
Maoist insurgency in 2006, with gangs exploiting political instability and a lack of policing.

The rise in sex-related businesses has also created more human trafficking, sexual exploitation of young girls and a rise in HIV infections, activists say.

Parts of the capital, like Thamel, the main tourist area, have turned into red light districts -- bad news for the Maoists, who promote themselves as champions of the poor and exploited.

Thamel is falling under the "control of gangsters and petty criminals whose sole purpose is to promote prostitution, vulgarity and dupe tourists and locals," said a notice by a Thamel residents' group placed in local papers recently.

"The residents of Thamel would like to heartily thank the home ministry and the government of Nepal for taking this great step to curb hooliganism, muggings (and) open prostitution," the residents said. Action is certainly being taken.

On a recent night in usually vibrant Thamel, the streets were empty by 10:30 pm, with police patrolling and locking up entertainment spots and chasing away customers. Still, not everybody is happy.

Bar and restaurant owners say they are worried the crackdown is discouraging foreign tourism -- a vital income-earner for Nepal -- by lumping legitimate nightlife businesses in with those offering sex.

Prabin Rayamajhi, who owns "De La Soul," a cosy bar in the heart of Thamel that offers alcoholic beverages but no floor shows or sex, said the forced early closing hours were killing business.

"I'm gradually letting my staff go as I can't afford their pay," he said, adding that otherwise he supported the need to control a boom of bars with names like "Pussy Cat Bar" and "Krazy Girl."

"If this crackdown continues, many legitimate businesses like mine will go under, throwing thousands out of work," he said.

Dance bars, the main target of the crackdown, are really feeling the pinch of the ultra-leftist government.

"I really don't know what I'll do if this place shuts down," said 23-year-old waiter Dev Bahadur Pulami in the deserted "Ice Dance Bar", as 12 women danced half-heartedly to an empty room.

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Nepal Constituent Assembly members protest against Maoists carrying arms inside ICC

ANI

Kathmandu

Thu, 25 Sep 2008:

Kathmandu, Sept 25 (ANI): The Constituent Assembly (CA) members of Nepali Congress today raised serious concern over possession of modern weapons by Maoist cadres inside the premises of International Convention Center (ICC), where CA meetings are held.

Speaking at a meeting held in the Parliament, Nepaliongress leaders Arjun Prasad Joshi and Shobhakhar Parajuli said that some Maoist cadres are entering parliament with AK-47 weapons registered by the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), even after formation of the government under their leadership.

The police deployed for security could not seize the arms since they are sealed by the United Nations.

The leaders demanded that the Home Minister should clarify as to who is responsible for security arrangement at the parliament.

They also called it as rehearsal to impose their dictatorial rule and influence the Constituent Assembly proceedings during the Constitution writing process.

On Monday, police personnel at the third gate of the ICC had tried to stop a Maoist cadre possessing arms from entering parliament but failed, Kantipur reported. (ANI)

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Nepal’s Maoists: What’s Next?

2008-09-23

Nepal’s Maoists have entered the country’s political mainstream, following a war that killed thousands. But is one-party rule still their ultimate goal?

Maoists demonstrate in support of moves to abolish Nepal's monarchy and establish a republic, 28 May 2008. AFP

WASHINGTON—Experts are divided on the commitment of Nepal’s Maoists to democracy, following a 10-year civil war and elections in April that gave the party a majority of seats in the country’s legislature.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is now the largest party in Nepal’s constituent assembly. And in August, the party’s leader, Prachanda, was named prime minister.

With multi-party elections and the abolition of Nepal’s monarchy this year, Nepal’s Maoists have now achieved their “core demands,” said Urmila Venugopalan, Asia Editor for the Country Risk division of Jane’s Information Group, in London.

“However, at the same time, I think there are genuine concerns that the Maoists have not completely dismantled their parallel power structures at the local and village levels,” she said.

More than 19,000 Maoist fighters have still not been integrated into Nepal’s regular army—a condition of the peace agreement negotiated when the Maoists laid down their arms two years ago, she said.

And many of those weapons are unaccounted for, despite a promise that the guns would be “locked away” under U.N. supervision, Venugopalan said.

“I think the impression is that the Maoists still retain a significant cache of weapons.”

Another concern, Venugopalan said, is that the Maoists have not disbanded their youth wing, the Young Communist League (YCL), “which seems to act as a kind of parallel police force.”

“So I think there are credible fears about the intentions of the Maoists. But I think at this stage it’s still a little bit unclear to see where they’re actually going.”

Time to disarm

Bob Templer, Asia Program director for the New York-based International Crisis Group, agreed the YCL should be disarmed. “They’ve talked about that, but haven’t done much about it,” Templer said.

Templer said the Maoists’ political leadership may now be trying to avoid direct contact with the group. “But at the same time, they’re not entirely unhappy to have a force that’s capable of intimidating people and doing things like that.”

The Maoists may have abandoned their goal of one-party rule, though, “when they signed the initial agreements with the other parties that led to the peace process,” Templer said, adding that the Maoists recognize they live in a “changed world.”

“They’re very conscious of the failure of communist regimes around [the world] … And they’re very conscious of certain things, such as the fact that it’s unclear that India would tolerate an aggressively Maoist government on its doorstep. And it’s unclear whether Nepal’s donors would support it.”

“What they really wanted is to get rid of the monarchy, and that’s happened,” he said.

Power base

“[Prachanda] is playing it very carefully right now,” said Mikel Dunham, a close observer of Nepal’s politics and author of the book Buddha’s Warriors. “The country obviously is in very dire straits, and they need foreign investment.”

“Right now, they’re in a position where they have no choice but to work with the other parties,” Dunham said.

But Dunham said the Maoists are now expanding their power base “on the sly” by quietly placing themselves in unions and private businesses.

“I have a Tibetan friend who owns a carpet factory in Bodhnath, which is on the outskirts of [Nepal’s capital] Kathmandu, and one day he walked into his office and there were three Maoist cadres sitting at this desk, saying that they were going to ‘help him’ with his business.”

“The Maoists’ agenda is and always will be to ultimately take over the country,” Dunham said.

Tilt toward China

Nepal's increasing political tilt toward China has meanwhile put at risk Tibetan refugees protesting China's crackdown in neighboring Tibetan regions of China.

Tibetans demonstrating outside Chinese diplomatic facilities in Nepal have routinely been beaten, detained, and threatened with deportation to India.

"This is the first major crackdown on us by the new Maoist-led Nepalese government," said Tenzin Kunkyab, part of a group of 80 Tibetan protesters detained on Sept. 9. "I think the Nepalese authorities are acting under Chinese pressure."

Told they would be taken to an immigration office, "we refused to move," Tenzin Kunkyab said.

"And police carrying lathis [wooden batons] came in to beat us and force us into police vehicles. Many old ladies were also beaten and injured. Two protesters' hands were badly hurt. When we arrived at the immigration office, they left us in the vehicles for 30 minutes, and later we were moved back to the original detention center."

"They are trying to stop our protests by threatening to deport us, but our protests will continue," he said. "Nepal is [still] a democratic nation."

Reported in Washington by Richard Finney. Additional reporting by RFA's Tibetan service. Tibetan service director: Jigme Ngapo. Translation by Karma Dorjee. Produced and edited for the Web by Sarah Jackson-Han.

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Trade in electricity with India can benefit Nepal

Prerana Marasini

Third Power Summit begins in Kathmandu

KATHMANDU: With a key point of developing Nepal as one of the important electricity producers for India, the third Power Summit has begun in Kathmandu from Tuesday.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, India’s Minister of State for Commerce and Power, Jairam Ramesh, said trade in electricity with India could bring Nepal financial benefits.

“Nepal’s electricity potential could be used to attract Indian investments in electricity-intensive industries which could bridge Nepal’s trade deficit with India.”

According to government figures, Nepal’s trade deficit with India was more than Nepali Rs. 105 billion (Rs. 6,543.60 crore) last year alone. A message sent by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Prachanda (who is now in the U.S.) said the government could not sustain the deficit for long.
Investment assurance

Nepal’s deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Bam Dev Gautam, requested foreign investors to feel safe in investing in Nepal. He said the new government was committed to providing peace, security, and stability needed for the developmental projects to proceed.

Meanwhile, Mr. Jairam Ramesh told The Hindu that the recent visit of Nepal’s Prime Minister to India was helpful in ‘reassuring’ the Indian investors.
Infrastructure

Mr. Jairam Ramesh has said that India wanted to build most modern infrastructure in its trade transits in Nepal. “We are basically looking at building roads, quick immigration facilities, banking and communication facilities in the trade centres,” he told reporters in Kathmandu, before flying to Birgunj.

Accompanied by Nepal’s Minister for Commerce and Supplies, Rajendra Mahato, Mr. Jairam Ramesh would be visiting Raxaul on Wednesday.
Non-tariff barriers

In order to revise the existing trade and transit agreements, as said in the joint statement, Mr. Jairam Ramesh told The Hindu that India was ready to lift the ‘identified’ non-tariff barriers imposed on goods exported to India.

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Nepal's New PM Makes the Rounds

Nepal's Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, right,
sought to allay Indian fears that his Himalayan nation would shift
its focus away from New Delhi toward their other giant neighbor, China

Manish Swarup / AP

By Ishaan Tharoor

When Pushpa Kamal Dahal departed for the 2008 Olympics' closing ceremony days after becoming the first Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the writing — for many Indians — was on the Great Wall. For citizens of the other rising Asian giant, the Games had already broadcast how far their India lagged behind China on the field of play. Now, the leader of Nepal — once virtually a client state of its vast southern neighbor — was marking his rise to power not with the customary audience in New Delhi, but in Beijing.

"Prachanda chooses China over India," growled a headline in the Times of India, referring to Nepal's new PM by the nom de guerre the ex-Maoist rebel had used during a decade-long insurgency waged in the Himalayan foothills. That war changed the political landscape of Nepal. Dahal's trip to the Bird's Nest, in the eyes of India's hawks, threatened to upset the order of things in the whole region.

A month later, New Delhi's fears have been calmed — if not fully dispelled. During a five-day trip to India in September, the Nepali Prime Minister warmly embraced his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, stressing that good relations with India were "vital" for Nepal's future and downplaying his earlier Chinese visit as merely a happy opportunity to witness the greatest show on earth.

Dahal made clear, though, that Nepal will not be doing business as usual with India under his government. A treaty signed in 1950 will now be renegotiated to redress what many in Kathmandu consider India's historically domineering role in its affairs —to this day, Indian exports and businesses control much of Nepal's economy. "The time has come to effect a revolutionary change in bilateral ties," Dahal told reporters in New Delhi on Sept. 16. "I will tell Nepali citizens back home that a new era has dawned."

Nepal has undergone seismic change in the past half year. In April, Dahal and his Maoists won a majority of seats in an assembly charged with the task of reshaping a country that had existed for over two centuries under a rigid, feudal monarchy. Nepal's last king vacated the royal palace soon after, in June, and Dahal, who only a few years back was a fugitive in his own country, was sworn in as Prime Minister on Aug. 18. From the ashes of a civil war that claimed over 13,000 lives, his Maoist-led government now intends to revitalize one of Asia's poorest nations, swapping talk of armed revolution with praise for capitalist industry. They want to transform Nepal, a country whose landscape holds untold potential both for tourism and hydropower, into what one Maoist official described as "the Switzerland of Asia."

Dahal knows Nepal needs outside help. But the Maoists, who remain on the U.S. State Department's terror watch list with a reputation for vigilante violence, have yet to gain the full confidence of the international community. This holds most true for India, whose foreign policy establishment is still reeling from the overthrow of Nepal's ancien regime and the political elites it had previously patronized. Though India helped vault Dahal into the limelight by forcing Nepal's monarchy into peace talks with his rebels, certain circles in New Delhi harbor a fundamental distrust for the Maoists as India reckons with its own ongoing Marxist-Leninist revolt. Ajai Sahni, a prominent analyst and the director of the Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management, insisted before the April elections that "Nepal's Maoists have no intention of honestly participating in the democratic process."

Fair or not, it's this bullish sentiment that amplified the implications of Dahal's Olympic visit last month. Dahal himself eulogizes the Chinese path to prosperity and has referred to India in the past as an "expansionist" enemy. His government unflinchingly cracked down on Tibetan activists, further evidence, to some in India, of Beijing's growing influence over Kathmandu. Ironically, China backed the monarchy to crush the Maoists during the civil war, but Beijing — unburdened by the divisive rancor which grips India's democracy — has nimbly changed tack, expanding its already significant involvement in Nepal's hydropower sector, while promising rail links between Kathmandu and Lhasa.

But Dahal and Nepal's new breed of politicians "have not forgotten that the Chinese were once not on their side," says S.D. Muni, India's leading Nepal expert. They know that as Asia's two giants grow and flex their muscles, Nepal must deftly maneuver between them. Dahal's trip to India has also yielded a raft of new investment proposals, which tellingly preceded the Maoist-led government's announcement of its first budget on Sept. 19. "Anybody in power in Kathmandu would know that they need India more than China," says Muni. "The China card is played simply as a reflection of their relationship with India."

As India and China jockey for contracts, Nepal's new leader may be trying to communicate a larger message. After a decade of war, Nepal is still counting the cost of violence, chronic energy and food shortages, and the loss of its best and brightest to jobs overseas. It's easy for the country's neighbors to see it as it was in its kingly past — a helpless, compliant pawn in the geo-political games of others. But, as Dahal and his government attempt to refashion the nation, most Nepalis — beginning with the Prime Minister — want India and China to see a Nepal finally standing on its own feet.

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Landslide, flood kill 45 in far-western Nepal

KATHMANDU, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Nature's fury continues unabated in Nepali far-western region as the death toll climbed to 45 on Sunday. Over 35 people are still missing due to incessant downpour, landslides and flood in the past two days.

According to The Himalayan Times Monday's report, 26 have died in Kailali, 10 in Kanchanpur, six in Doti, one each in Bajhang, Dadeldurra and Darchula districts, the regional police office said.

Around 4,000 people have been displaced in Kailali as more than400 households failed to escape the flood fury.

The transport sector has been paralyzed in the hilly districts.

The Central Natural Disaster Management Committee Sunday allocated 10 million Nepali rupees (135135 U.S. dollars) for the relief and rescue operations for the victims in the region. The army has been deployed in Kailali and Kanchanpur, said the daily.

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Floods in Nepal Kill 24 People, Force Thousands to Flee Homes

By Michael Heath

Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Flooding and landslides in western Nepal killed more than 24 people and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes during the past two days.

At least 15 people were killed in Kailali district and 25 communities inundated when the Mohana River burst its banks after torrential monsoon rains, Nepalnews.com reported. Almost a dozen flood- and landslide-related deaths were reported in the Kanchanpur, Bajura and Doti districts, it said.

Tens of thousands of people fled their homes in the Kailali district capital, Dhangadhi, after it was inundated. More than 50,000 people in Kailali and Kanchanpur are waiting to be rescued.

Nepal is still recovering from flooding in the southern Terai region last month that displaced at least 70,000 people, according to the United Nations. Poor weather is hampering rescue and relief efforts in the far west.

Labor Minister Lekhraj Bhatta joined other lawmakers on a visit to flood-hit areas in Kailali yesterday amid complaints about the government's slow response to the crisis, according to Nepalnews.com.

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Nepal's Maoist PM to meet Indian premier

Nepal's Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal,
also known as 'Prachanda' (R) in New Delhi

NEW DELHI (AFP) — Nepal's new Prime Minister Prachanda was to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Monday in New Delhi on issues ranging from trade ties to flood control measures, officials said.

Nepalese officials said before the visit he was keen to reassure India that his trip to China for the Olympics closing ceremony was not a move to end Nepal's close links with India.

The Maoist leader arrived in the Indian capital on Sunday for his first visit to neighbouring India since he took the job last month, and was to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday, a foreign ministry statement said.

Flood control is expected to be high on the agenda, an Indian official said, after the Kosi river breached its embankments in Nepal and submerged large swathes of northeast India last month.

India and Nepal traded blame over the disaster, which left hundreds of villages underwater and millions of people destitute.

Prachanda, a former school teacher whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal, led a decade-long insurgency against Nepal's monarchy before signing up for peace in 2006 and embracing multi-party democracy.

Maoist information minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara said this week Nepal hoped to build a "new and smooth relationship with India in the changed political context."

New Delhi, which has been battling its own Left-wing insurgency, "has been justifiably wary of the Maoists north of the border," the Indian Express noted in an editorial Monday.

It urged New Delhi to engage the new Nepalese administration, arguing that "a genuinely friendly, stable Nepal could be very helpful indeed."

India is of vital importance to Nepal as its lone fuel supplier and key trading partner.

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Unidentified disease hits 1,000 in western Nepal

KATHMANDU, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- At least 1,000 people have been reportedly affected by an unidentified disease in some villages of Gulmi district in western Nepal, while number of pneumonia patients has gone drastically up in the district.

According to the National News Agency RSS Friday's report, the unidentified disease gripped Darling for a week and Neta and Paudi Amarai in the district, some 200 km west of Kathmandu, for the last four days. The disease is characterized by headache, fever, common cold, fainting and diarrhea.

With the number of patients increasing, the Village Development Committees (VDCs) have fallen short of medicines, the RSS said. Young people in between 14 to 20 years of age were more affected. Classes in schools have also been affected due to the disease.

However, district public health office said it was not aware of the epidemic. Acting chief of the office Shiv Chalise said a team of health personnel would be dispatched to the VDCs soon. 　

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President of India contributes month's salary for Bihar flood victims

President Pratibha Patil

Posted: 9/11/2008 4:42:00 PM IST

New Delhi, Sep 11 (IANS) President Pratibha Patil Thursday donated a month's salary to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund for the Bihar flood victims.

The president has contributed a month's salary towards the relief and rehabilitation of those affected by the unprecedented floods in the state caused by the Kosi river, a statement from Rashtrapati Bhavan said.

The floods have claimed at least 50 lives, according to official estimates.

Over 2.7 million people and nearly one million cattle have been affected by the floods caused by a breach in an embankment of the Kosi upstream in Nepal. About 100,000 hectares of farmland have been submerged and nearly 300,000 houses damaged.

Nepal's President Ram Baran Yadav

The Nepal army mounted unit escorts their President Ram Baran Yadav as he leaves the Constituent Assembly building after presenting the country's plan and programme for the coming year in Kathmandu September 10, 2008.
REUTERS/Gopal Chitrakar (NEPAL)

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19 Nepali parties seek amendment to gov't roadmap

KATHMANDU, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Altogether 19 parties including the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) party on Thursday registered their proposals seeking an amendment to the government's program. According to reports from local leading news website eKantipur, in their 22-point amendment proposal, the Nepali Congress, the second largest party in the Constituent Assembly (CA) has asked the government to replace the terminologies mentioned in the government's programs such as "Janamukti Sena" -- the People's Liberation Army which is the armed force of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M) -- and Janayuddha -- the People's War, which was launched by the CPN-M from 1996 to 2006 -- with CPN-M soldiers and civil war respectively. The CPN-M led by its chairman and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" emerged as the single largest party after April CA elections and is leading the first republic government of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. The Nepali Congress has also demanded that "the first joint government" should be mentioned in the programs instead of "the first national joint government". Likewise, the opposition party, in its amendment proposal, has also proposed to mention the returning of the properties seized during the decade civil war, compensation to those displaced by the conflict, dismantling of the paramilitary structure of the CPN-M youth front, the Young Communist League (YCL), a federal republican state instead of a forward taking constitution and the guarantee of a multiparty parliamentary democratic system. Terai Madhesh Democratic Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Rastriya Janashakti Party, People's Front Nepal, and Nepal Workers and Peasants' Party among other parties have filed their own amendment proposals. On Wednesday, President Ram Baran Yadav had tabled the policies and programs of the CPN-M-led government for the next year at the legislative session of the Constituent Assembly.

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3,000 trees fall mysteriously in West Nepal

3,000 trees fall mysteriously in W Nepal

www.chinaview.cn 2008-09-11 14:26:59

KATHMANDU, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- In what locals believe to be the handiwork of some supernatural power, nearly 3,000 trees at a local community forest in Banke district in mid-western Nepal collapsed in a matter of 10 minutes, eKantipur.com reported on Thursday.

According to the website, locals have been completely baffled as the trees at the Shrikrishna Community Forest, some 360 km westof Kathmandu, fell in quick succession last Monday.

According to the locals, the land in the area has deep cracks. "There was neither a gale nor a storm during that day," said Tilak Bahadur Chand, a local.

Unable to explain the incident, people have resorted to supernatural theories. The open-mouthed locals have begun saying that the incident is ominous and they are now fearful something bad might happen soon.

"It is a bad omen," said another local. News about the incident spread quickly and every day people from the surrounding areas in huge numbers are visiting the site of the mystery. And they are offering different explanations -- many see in it the hand of some supernatural power.

Locals said they immediately apprised the District Forest Office (DFO) about the incident. They allege that the DFO has become a mere spectator, taking no initiative to find out the truth.

However, Hemlal Aryal, a forest official, said that they would soon visit the site to find out what is behind the incident.

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Nepal says to deport illegal Tibetans back to Tibet

A Tibetan protester shouts anti-China slogans from a police van near the Chinese consular office in Kathmandu September 10, 2008.

Police arrest Tibetan protesters near the Chinese consular office in Kathmandu September 11, 2008.

A Tibetan protester shouts from a police van near the Chinese consular office in Kathmandu September 11, 2008.

Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:35am EDT

By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's Maoist-led government will deport Tibetan exiles living illegally in the country, an official said on Thursday, a move likely aimed at stopping regular protests against its influential neighbor China.

More than 20,000 Tibetans live in Nepal. Thousands fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

Those early arrivals were given refugee status in Nepal. But new exiles from Tibet cannot stay in Nepal, which hands them over to the U.N. refugee agency for their onward journey to India, where their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama lives.

Now, Nepal wants to deport all Tibetans without either official refugee status or U.N. documents back to Tibet, where they could face action by Chinese authorities.

Tibetans are not allowed to organize any anti-China activities in Nepal, but in recent months they have staged near-daily demonstrations in Kathmandu against the Chinese crackdown on protests in Tibet in March.

The new Nepal move is seen as an attempt to discourage the exiles from organizing anti-China protests.

Home Ministry Spokesman Modraj Dotel said police had detained 106 Tibetans to see if they had necessary papers to establish their refugee status.

"If they have the status they will be allowed to stay," Dotel said. "Otherwise, they have to leave the country."

Dotel said the verification of papers was being done with the help of the United Nations refugee agency.

Kathmandu considers Tibet as part of China, which appears to be unhappy with the way Nepali authorities were handling the protests. In recent months, more than 10,000 Tibetans were detained during the protests but were freed within a day or two.

Beijing has been pressing Nepal to do more to stop the protests, mainly staged outside a Chinese consular office in Kathmandu.

Nepal's new leader, Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda visited China in August, when he met Chinese President Hu Jintao and reaffirmed Nepal's one-China policy.

(Editing by Krittivas Mukherjee and Paul Tait)

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Police beats a Tibetan protester after an arrest near Chinese consular office in Kathmandu September 9, 2008. Tibetans living in Nepal were protesting against Chinese actions in Tibet. REUTERS/Gopal Chitrakar (NEPAL)

Police arrest a Tibetan monk near Chinese consular office in Kathmandu September 10, 2008. Tibetans living in Nepal were protesting against Chinese actions in Tibet. REUTERS/Gopal Chitrakar (NEPAL)
REUTERS/GOPAL CHITRAKAR

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NEPAL: Emergency health response to help flood victims

10 Sep 2008 10:21:05 GMT

SHREEHARIPUR, 10 September 2008 (IRIN) - Urgent medical attention is needed for the people displaced by the floods on 18 August taking refuge in temporary shelters, including school buildings and tented camps, in Sunsari and Saptari districts, according to the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS).Government health officials said more than 11,000 displaced families in Saptari camps needed medical attention.

Most suffer from diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, fever, respiratory disorders and skin infections that have worsened because of inadequate medical care, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). Oxfam has built more than 2,000 temporary shelters in Saptari District alone, which has seen a large influx of displaced families over the past two weeks, and is constructing more camps to house up to 23,000, according to NRCS. Health concerns are mounting with the growing numbers living in the tiny camps in very hot weather. Lack of awareness "I'm worried about my son. He's been sick for days," said 50-year-old Abhina Khatun in Bhardaha VDC of Saptari District, where nearly 15 people have died this month. Khatun's 12-year-old son Mohammad Hafij was suffering from dehydration and diarrhoea after drinking polluted water from the river where he had been swimming.

Many children and adults have come down with diarrhoea after swallowing river water, despite warnings by village facilitators who educate the displaced families on hygiene and sanitation. The heat and humidity are so intense that residents cool off in the river. "There is a challenge to ensure that the communities follow hygiene practices. The children often do not pay attention until they get very sick," said Shila Karn, working with Sabal, a local NGO supported by UNICEF to promote hygiene and sanitation in the camps. Emergency response Following increasing health problems among displaced families, the government is boosting health services with the help of international agencies and NGOs, including the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UNICEF and World Health Organization (WHO). "We have stepped up our services and this has helped to reduce the number of patients," said Garib Das Thakur, chief of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division of the Department of Health. Hand-pumped tube wells, bathing spaces and toilets have been installed, helping to reduce the incidence of diarrhoea. But some NGOs remain concerned over the lack of doctors at the camps, which are run by health workers, including community medicine assistants or health assistants.

Medical staff also complain they are overburdened by the sheer numbers of people. "There is a need to expand the team and also involve more workers to disseminate health education as that could save a lot of lives," said health worker Bhupendra Chaudhary. He was particularly concerned over the plight of children, with nearly 6,000 in the camps of Saptari District alone. However, the District Public Health Office said it had already expanded its team and services. It now maintains a 24-hour emergency healthcare service close to the camps. Moreover, 18 doctors from Kathmandu have arrived to provide additional support. At the same time, Rotary International is building a special health camp to help provide better medical aid. Sphere: Related Content

Nepali Congress to act tough against Maoists

ANI

Kathmandu

Tue, 09 Sep 2008:

Kathmandu, Sep 9 (ANI): Nepal's former Prime Minister and president of Nepali Congress (NC) Girija Prasad Koirala today said that his party would act tough against the Maoists to make them a democratic force.

Addressing a function here, Koirala said his party would act strong against undemocratic activits of the Maoists in the capacity of a responsible opposition.

He said the party has completed a historic responsibility by ending the conflict that ravaged the country for a decade.

Koirala also claimed his party rendered vital role for establishment of republican system in Nepal.

Earlier Nepali Congress Vice-President Ram Chandra Poudel said that the Maoist People's Liberation Army can't be integrated with the Nepali Army as the former is loyal to a political party.

He also accused the government of failing to provide assistance to the flood victims of Koshi disaster, which in its aftermath has claimed 36 lives so far, and rendered over 50,000 homeless.

He also assured that the Nepali Congress would assume the role of a responsible opposition party and would not engage in the game of pulling down the government, Nepalnews reported. (ANI)

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Nepal Maoists 'must free' child soldiers

August 26, 2008 - 5:49PM

Nepal's former rebel Maoists, who now lead the country's government, should immediately release children from their remaining guerrilla army, the United Nations says.

Around 19,000 former fighters - including 3,000 underage combatants - have been in UN-monitored camps since a 2006 peace deal that ended the Maoists' bloody "people's war".

UN agencies must have access to the children to ensure their "recovery and reintegration", Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said.

"The promise of peace has not come to fruition for these children," she said.

Nepal's Maoists, whose leader Prachanda was sworn in as prime minister last week, said they had yet to decide what to do with the 2,973 underage fighters, who were all under 18 in May 2006.

"We cannot chase them away just like that. They were helpful during the 'people's war' and now we cannot just ditch them," senior Maoist Chandra Prakash Gajurel told AFP.

Despite winning polls in April and having their leader become prime minister, the Maoists have not tackled the issue of the fighters, who battled Nepal's security forces for a decade.

The former rebels - whose decade-long civil war killed at least 13,000 people - say the fighters should be integrated into the Nepalese army.

But the army has said that there is no place in its ranks for politically indoctrinated guerrillas.

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Special Monlam Prayers for Taktse Rinpoche

Posted: September 9th, 2008, by MeYuL.com

Pokhara Solidarity Committee

9th September 2008

Pokhara, Nepal All the five Tibetan refugee camps in Pokhara namely Tashi Palkhiel, Tashi Gang, Tashiling, Paljorling and Jampaling arranged special prayers on 8th September 2008 in their respective camps.

Each camp offered butter lamps and recited monlam for peace and better realm of rebirth of His Holiness the Dalai lama’s eldest brother Taktse Rinpoche who unfortunately passed away on 5th September 2008 in USA. Taktse Rinpoche struggled and worked for the independence of Tibet through out of his life. He was living evidence when and how the Chinese entered Tibet and carried out their so called liberalization of Tibet. The whole Tibetan community and the Tibetans in Tibet lost a great person and a good leader. Pokhara Tibetan Solidarity Committee

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Nepal parties criticise Maoists' "undemocratic" actions

Monday, September 8, 2008 : 2325 Hrs

Kathmandu (PTI): Within a month of formation of the Maoist-led government in Nepal, parties across political spectrum have slammed the "undemocratic behaviour" of the former rebels and criticised their youth wing for trying to impose an "authoritarian rule" in the country.

The partners in the ruling coalition here have joined the main opposition party the Nepali Congress, which slammed the "totalitarian attitude" of the CPN-Maoist and its Young Communist League.

"We will check their (the Maoists) attempt to impose their authoritarian rule on all state organs," Nepali Congress spokesman Arjun Narsingh Khatri said at a press conference at the end of the party's central working committee meeting.

The second largest party in the Constituent Assembly also accused the CPN-Maoist of being determined "to intensify its acts of violence and increase influence of armed combatants in statecraft."

Ruling coalition partner, the leftist CPN-UML, also accused the Maoists Young Communist League of defaming the communist movement in the country, with co general secretary Jhalanath Khanal asking CPN-UML's own youth wing to protect the movement.

Central member of the Madhesi People's Rights Forum (MPRF), another coalition partner, B P Yadav said the Maoists have continued acts of terror including abduction, killing and extortion in Siraha district in southern Nepal in violation of the peace agreement signed by them.

Meanwhile, the transport strike called by MPRF activists in Siraha district, to protest Maoists' acts of seizing personal property, continued for the sixth day, severely affecting normal life. Sphere: Related Content

Seized properties will be returned: Nepal PM Dahal

TGW

Nepal’s first Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has once again assured that the forcibly seized properties by the Maoists party will soon be returned to their lawful owners.

This the Prime Minister said only after repeatedly grilled by the media men present at the Pokhara Airport on Monday.

Prime Minister Dahal on his return to Kathmandu was forced to land in Pokhara- Nepal’s tourist town, as the helicopter carrying him and his team ran out of fuel, say reports.

PM Koirala on Monday attended “Dolpa Fest” in the district of Dolpa.

“After we bring the government’s policies and programs, we will return the seized properties”, said the Prime Minster talking to the reporters.

Prime Minister Dahal has been making similar assurances in the past however, let alone returning seized properties at times of the Maoist led rebellion, the Maoists cadres have recently seized 11 bighas of land, including a 16-room building worth Rs. 80 million, belonging to Birendra Saha of Kalyanpur-6 at Ramnagar in Siraha District.

Immediately after assuming the post of the prime minister, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had publicly assured that his party will return the illegally seized properties and create favorable atmosphere for the displaced people to return home within 15 days.

However apart from giving lofty assurances the Maoists has not done any thing tangible so far.

2008-09-09 09:44:16

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Nepal to free slaves trapped by ancestors' debts

5 hours ago

KATHMANDU (AFP) — Nepal's Maoist-led government vowed Monday to end slave-like conditions for around 150,000 bonded labourers in the far west of the country who have been paying off debt for generations.

Under the "Haliya" (land tiller) system, children inherit debt accrued by their parents and grandparents and have to work in the fields for moneylenders and landlords.

"This practice will be scrapped after a committee we have appointed submits its report," Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the Maoist government spokesman, told AFP.

Nepal officially abolished all forms of slavery in 2001, but the Haliya system -- which traps people in a cycle of debt -- lives on in remote areas, said activists.

"It has continued in our region because landlords forced poor people to continue with this age-old tradition," Gorak Sarki, a Haliya from Doti district, 440 kilometres (275 miles) west of Kathmandu, told AFP.

"When we complained the authorities just ignored us, and we were compelled to stick with the tradition to survive," said Sarki.

Haliya labourers say they want a minimum wage and an allocation of land.

"We have high hopes of the new Maoist government. They have promised revolutionary land reforms so we hope they will address our issues," Dambar Bishwokarma, another Haliya activist from Doti district, said.

Nepal's Maoists are now leading the country after signing up for peace in 2006 following a bitter, decade-long insurgency.

They emerged victorious in landmark polls in April for a body that abolished the unpopular monarchy and is now due to write a new constitution for the world's newest republic. Sphere: Related Content

Indians unsafe in Nepal: Senior Police official

Indians unsafe in Nepal: Senior Police official
TGW

Nepal Police has nabbed five men alleged for their involvement in the bombing of the personal residence of Nepal’s vice-President Parmananda Jha, situated in Gaurighat, Kathmandu.

A group called as National Liberation Army (NLA) had immediately taken the responsibility for carrying out the explosion talking over telephone with a local Television Channel. The men who were nabbed by the police as per the reports have accepted that they are indeed the members of the said group.

The explosion took place on August 17, 2008 in the aftermath of Mr. Jha’s excessive love for Hindi language which became evident when he preferred to deride Nepal’s National Language Nepali and his own mother tongue Maithili by taking oath and secrecy of the office in Indian language Hindi.
Jha was heavily criticized in the country for taking oath and secrecy of the office in the alien language Hindi- a language spoken in the northern part of India only, after his election as the country’s first vice president.
Mr. Jha belongs to the ethnic Madhesi communtiy whose ancestors hail from Kushweshorsthan of Dharbhanga district, northern India.
In addition, reveals a weekly newspaper, Parmananda Jha’s own brother Dhanananda Jha owns a bi-cycle repairing center in Darbhanga District, India.

A Plastic Hand Grenade, high explosive ranges of 3600-4200 splinter and double bearings were used to carryout the explosion where a security guard of the Nepal Army was severely injured.

Nepal’s Police Force has taken it as a huge success and has pledged to continue its efforts towards nabbing several other criminal groups operating in Kathmandu and bringing them behind bars.

Metropolitan Police Crime Division Office (MPCD), Hanumandhoka had on Sunday organized a press conference.

Speaking on the occasion, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Upendra Kant Aryal said that this underground group survived basically on extortions and ransoms mainly form the Indian entrepreneurs and people of the Indian origin in Nepal.

The mastermind of the said explosion, Mohan Karki is a Bachelors Degree Holder form the Ratna Rajya Campus Tribhuwan University, Kathmandu.
2008-09-08 09:02:56 Sphere: Related Content

Where Are They?

FROM GORKHAPATRA

By Nandalal Tiwari

Recently, different human rights organisations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), made public a list of those who were made to disappear during the 10-year armed conflict, from 1996 to 2006. They have shown that the whereabouts of nearly 1,300 people are still unknown. Of course, this is not the first time that the human rights organisations have come up with a list of the disappeared and demanded that the government take the issue seriously as well as steps, including setting up of a powerful commission, to establish the status of the disappeared. However, successive governments have so far been trying to evade the issue.

Cases of disappearances

The act of disappearing people started after the government began arresting people suspected of being members or sympathisers of the CPN-Maoist that launched an armed rebellion in February 1996. There were cases of disappearances during the 30-year Panchayat period, too, but they were few compared to the insurgency period. The numbers suddenly increased after the army was deployed to quell the insurgency in 2001. This is made clear by the National Human Rights Commission, which in 2005 said that it had received nine complaints of disappearance in 2000 whereas the number rose to 584 in 2003 alone.

A committee formed after the reinstatement of democracy in 1991 under the chairmanship of Hiranyeshwor Man Pradhan, who was additional justice of the Supreme Court, had submitted a report to the government a year after. This is the first committee in Nepal’s history set up to probe into the disappearances. The committee had probed into the cases of 61 persons who were kept in custody and made to disappear for acting against the partyless Panchayat system. The committee had reported that 37 of the disappeared were killed in custody whereas the status of the 26 persons remained unknown. The committee had recommended that the government take action against the security personnel involved in the act of disappearing. Unfortunately, the government never took steps to that effect, instead it promoted those police officers found guilty by the committee.

With the escalation of cases of disappearances by the state, the families of the disappeared had held a fast unto death in 2004, demanding that the government make the status of their kin public. Following it, a committee was formed under assistant secretary Ram Gopal Malego of the Home Ministry during the premiership of Sher Bahadur Deuba. Although the committee made public a list of the disappeared many times, it never showed the status of those disappeared. It only made public the names of those who were taken into custody and then released. The other committees formed later, including one headed by Baman Prasad Neupane, now Defence Secretary, fared no better.

Thus, not a single committee formed to investigate into the disappearances during the armed conflict has been effective. The reasons being that, first, the government was insincere; second, the committee lacked specific power; third, there was lack of legal provision; fourth, the security wings were unwilling to admit their mistakes and bring the guilty to book.

It is obvious that the previous governments never wanted to work towards making public the status of the disappeared. Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai in 2000, for instance, in response to a query about the whereabouts of Milan Nepali and Dandapani Neupane, had bluntly admitted, “They have been killed.”

The NHRC mentions that both the army and police act very irresponsibly in relation to its queries on disappearances. It must be noted that the ICRC in Nepal had stopped working on disappearances in 2004, on the ground that the government and army refused to cooperate. A report of the UNOHCHR in Nepal in 2006 on the disappearances of the 49 people held at the Bhairabnath battalion barracks at Maharajgunj in Kathmandu also stated that it never got any response from the army. The government had labelled the CPN-Maoist a terrorist organisation in 2001and imposed a state of emergency and enacted the Terrorist and Disruptive Act to curb the rebellion. This Act was instrumental in enabling the security mechanisms to arrest any individual and keep him/ her in detention for a year without observing any legal procedures that included notifying the family members or the human rights organisations. This Act was scrapped only in 2006.

Facts, fiction and fate

Maina Sunuwar, a girl of 15, was arrested from her home at Kharelthok in Kavrepalanchowk district on the morning of February17, 2004 by a covert team dispatched by the Birendra Peace Operation Training Centre in Panchkhal. Under the pressure of the HR organisations regarding her whereabouts, the army first stated that she had been shot dead while trying to escape at Hokse area. But later on, after a year, it admitted that she had died of electrocution and been buried at the Centre.

At midnight of July 15, 2004, a team of the army took away Sarala Sapkota from her home at Jeevanpur-1 of Dhading district. Her father tried best to locate her status, but got himself detained. However, on January 11, 2005, a team of the NHRC accompanied by forensic experts exhumed a human body from a field near Sarala’s village. Sarala’s relatives as well as the villagers were sure that the skeleton was that of Sarala. However, the NHRC wanted a DNA test and sent the sample to India, but there has been no report on the findings.

Krishna Sen ‘Ichchhuk’, the then editor of Janadisha’ daily and a renowned literary figure, was arrested on May 20, 2002 at Naya Baneswor in Kathmandu. He was detained at the Mahendra Police Club. Eyewitnesses say he was badly tortured. He died five days later and was cremated at Pashupati. However, the government then claimed that he was killed in an encounter at Gokarna, north of Kathmandu.

The ways ahead

The CPN-Maoist, now the party in the government, and the then government headed by

Koirala had agreed in the Comprehensive Peace Accord to set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate into the disappearances and make public the status of those who were made to disappear. However, two years have elapsed since then. In addition to the unwillingness of the previous governments, the commission was not set up due to the deficient legal framework. Therefore, the government should immediately make the necessary legislation to that end.

In the meantime, it is imperative that the government provide relief to the families of the disappeared. And the relief should not be less than it provides to the families of those who were killed during the period. In fact, it should be more because the families of the disappeared have suffered more. Sphere: Related Content

Prachanda told to discuss ‘unfair treaties’

Sunday, Sep 07, 2008
Prerana Marasini

KATHMANDU: Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Janardan Sharma on Saturday said Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda should discuss the “unfair treaties” Nepal has signed with India, during his ‘first political’ visit to India.

Mr. Sharma said: “India should positively think about Nepal and the ‘unfair’ treaties should be re-evaluated, including the 1950 Treaty. We will advise the PM on the issues that need to be raised in his India visit.”

Mr. Prachanda will visit India on September 14. Earlier, when he visited the flood-affected area in Sunsari, Mr. Prachanda had said the Kosi Treaty was a ‘historical mistake’.

Coalition fissures

Referring to the Maoists’ youth wing — Young Communist League — collecting donation from citizens, CPN (UML) leader Madhav Kumar Nepal, in a TV interview, said: “I hear that YCL is collecting donation even today. How can I, then, say that the alliance is strong?”

Another ally, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, has called an indefinite transportation strike in Siraha district for the past three days.

Protesters said the Maoists have not fulfilled their commitment as stated in the Common Minimum Programme.

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Waters in India recede, but officials warn flood danger still high

13 hours ago

PURNIA, India (AFP) — Some villagers began trying to return to their flooded homes in eastern India on Saturday as waters slowly receded, but officials warned the move was risky with a month of heavy rains still expected.

Almost 900,000 people have been evacuated to higher ground since flood defence walls broke upstream in Nepal almost three weeks ago, shifting the flow of the Kosi river away from its normal course and east onto farmland.

Large swathes of the impoverished state of Bihar were flooded. About 100,000 people remain marooned in village islands by the river, with most refusing to leave, while some evacuees are trying to head home.

"We have reached a stage where people in the thousands are still left, but they are now refusing to come out," state disaster management official Pratyaya Amrit told AFP.

"People think the flood is over. In a lot of the camps people have started moving back. In the last two to three days, at least 10,000 to 15,000 have gone back."

But India's monsoon season, when much of the country receives more than 90 percent of its rain, does not end till the close of September, and officials say the river could rise again.

About 1,100 square kilometres (440 square miles) of villages and farms remain underwater, even though levels have decreased by a foot (30 centimetres) or more in parts.

In areas surrounding Birpur town, on the border with Nepal, an AFP photographer accompanying an Air Force relief flight said more than 80 percent of the area was under water.

On Saturday, some 2,000 people could still be seen Saturday sheltering on rooftops and dry strips of land, waving to the helicopter for emergency food supplies.

The helicopter was dropping red and orange water-resistant packages containing beaten rice, lentil flour, palm sugar and water purifying tablets, a relief official said, adding that the relief sorties would be reduced Sunday.

"Right now we have nine helicopters," Deepak Kumar Sahu, an official coordinating flood relief efforts told AFP.

"Tomorrow we'll withdraw two. The focus is on the evacuation and the rehabilitation camps."

Army officials running boat rescue operations this week said the receding water was making it harder to reach distant villages, where people have been without food or water for weeks.

"Beyond 15 to 20 kilometres (nine to 12 miles) it is hard for us rescue," said one army official, asking not to be named.

"We're trying to get as far as possible."

But with frequent stops to pull boats across shallow sections of water, they can only get as far as nearby villages where people want to stay put, asking instead for supplies to be sent to them.

On a road in Bihar's Purnia district, 350 kilometres from state capital Patna, rescued villagers unloaded from boats trudged towards the town and camps all week.

But as reports circulated that water levels were falling, just as many villagers were walking the other way, to check how much water was on either side of the road and decide what to do next.

With camps running out of room for the tens of thousands of people who have left their homes, many of the freshly evacuated villagers are living on the road.

But local administrative officials say new camps were being set up and more medical teams were being deployed.

"We're increasing capacity by putting up tented accommodation," said Purnia's top administrative official C. Sridhar.

"Some people who are coming with cattle are setting up on the side of the road. We are persuading them to move towards camps."

Disaster official Amrit said rescue boats would ferry food to villagers as well as try to convince them to evacuate.

"We have another 25 days (of monsoon) to go. What if the levels go up again?"

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