Royal couple greet Kishunji

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 21 Feb: In a rare gesture , the King and Queen Thursday drove to a reception at a five-star hotel across the Bagmati river and extended their personal greetings and best wishes to former prime minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai on his 84th birthday.
This is the first time the royal couple has demonstrated such a gesture.
Crown Prince Paras and Crown Princess Himani also extended their personal greetings at the reception.
To recall, Bhattarai, affectionately called Kishunji, visited the crown prince where be was recovering after a heart attack.
Bhattarai, a firm supporter of constitutional monarchy, said monarchy should continue for another 300 years in Nepal as the 238-year-old institution that also founded modern Nepal is being put to a vote on unlikely elections on 10 April.
Bhattarai, the only surviving founding member Nepali Congress, quit the party last year after prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala hijacked Nepali Congress by abandoning a centrist party position to opt for a republic opposed by more than 53 party lawmakers.
Monarchy, according to a recent independent poll, has majority support but government won’t test its popularity in a referendum an dis instead pushing fraud elections being rigged by ruling seven parties, including Maoists.
Maoists, unhappy with Bhattarai, boycotted the reception.
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Government buys time; other details

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 21 Feb: Election Commission Thursday gave some relief to a government that is a constituent assembly election on 24 million people with mainly Indian government backing.
The commission gave parties demanding for self-determination and provincial rule in terai an opportunity to submit a list of candidates for elections under proportional representation on 24 February even though the deadline expired Wednesday 21 February.
The commission acted on an emergency government request which asked for four-day extension.
Maoists and Janamorcha of the ruling seven-party coalition opposed what they called unilateral talks by three representatives of premier Girija Prasad Koirala to broker an agreement with terai leaders under Indian mediation at the Indian embassy Wednesday.
The objections came at a cabinet meeting.
The proposed election would have been a farce without participation of the terai people who constitute nearly half the population; two conservative parties have walked out of what has been called farcical polls.
The donor community also put pressure on the government Thursday saying no aid without assembly election.
Only 37 of 74 registered parties submitted their lists Wednesday.
The government has until early Saturday to meet six demands of the terai rejected so far by Koirala who is desperate to hold elections after two failed attempts.
Meanwhile, curfews continued in Nepalgunj, Lahan and Sirana bazzar Thursday on the ninth day of an indefinite strike by the front causing shortages nationwide and disrupting normal life.
Curfew was slapped along the national highway in Bara and Parsa to facilitate the movement of petrol tankers from Raxaul to the Valley.
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A Nepali associate of Indian kidney trafficker held

Kathmandu, 22 Feb: Police Thursday arrested a Nepali doctor from Saptari for alleged links with Indian Dr Amit Kumar, an international racketeer in kidney trade.
Dr Pankaj Jha was arrested the Indo-Nepal border by Nepal police after the extradition of Dr Kumar following his arrest this month in the kingdom.
Lawyers called the extradition illegal.
Supreme court has issued a show cause to government demanding an explanation.
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Four killed in Bhutan’s people’s war

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 22 Feb: Human Rights Organization of Bhutan (HUROB) said four activists of Bhutan Communist Party Marxist, Leninist, Maoist (BCP-MLM) have been killed by t Bhutanese police after launching a people’s war inside Bhutan to topple King Jigme Singhe Wangchuk this year.
Eight activists have also been arrested from two places in Sampdrupzongkhar district.
HUROB Chairman S.B.Subba said the arrested should be given prisoner of war status.
"We request all the concerned to raise the issue with the Royal Government
of Bhutan immediately to prevent prisoners from being tortured or
forcefully disappeared," Subba said.
Pro-democracy Bhutanese leader Tek Nath Rijal from his exile in Nepal said nearly 80,000 Bhutanese of Nepalese ethnicity could be expelled in another mass expulsion following inhuman treatment with restriction of their movement.
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No suspicious activities in Nepal’s madrasah along India border: Official

By Bhola B Rana

Kapilvasthu, 20 Feb: Local administration has made clear masjids and madrasas in the district aren’t involved in activities for or against anybody following claims Indian security agencies, Sanjaya Panthi reports in Kantipur.
Indian reports said anti-Indian activities were being conducted.
Local administration made clear no ‘activities’ except educational were being conducted.
CDO Ram Bilas Yadav said there were 172 madrasas and were running on their own resources imparting education from class one to Fajidal [MA].
CDOYadav said no suspicious activities were reported so far from religious places..
The administration made clear no INGOs have been registered to run activities only in the Muslim community.
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Naxalite probably hiding in urban centers [Excerpts]

By Vishwa Mohan in Times of India

New Delhi, 18 Feb: The revelation of Misir Besra, a top Maoist leader arrested in Jharkhand recently is significant in view of Friday’s attacks in Orissa.
Besra had specifically spoken of polce stations in the state being on Naxalite hitlist, along with a few individuals, politicians and officers in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
… agencies have an exact idea of the command structure headed by politburo comprising 14 permanent members and six ‘alternative’ members.
Ganapati is party general secretary.
.. the party’s top leadership is still dominated by leadership from Andhra Pradesh, with half of its politburo members coming from the state and as many as four of them from the banned outfits old bastion, Karimnagar district.
Not much has been known of the underground leadership that directs its cadres to commit violence in as many as 13 states and has links with associates in Nepal.
The politburo member’s interrogation reveals not only details of the Maoist command structure, but also audacious plans to target cities like New Delhi and Mumbai.
Officials believe that most of them might have even been taking shelter in urban areas with the help of unarmed sympathizers whose number could be anywhere between 60,000 to 70,000 across the country.
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