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Ruling parties agree to stop violence still continued by Maoists

By Bhola B Rana


Kathmandu, 23 March: Maoists Monday continued attacks against rival parties during campaign for the 10 April constituent assembly elections even as a six-party summit decided to observe an election code of conduct.
Former foreign minister KP Sharma Oli, a politburo member of the CPN-UML, escaped unhurt when YCL attacked his group proceeding to address a public meeting in Jhapa injuring a party worker.
Oli is a vehement critic of Maoists.
Conservative RPP-Nepal Chairman Kamal Thapa also survived an attack as he addressed a pubic meeting in Pokhara.
While YCL attacked political meetings of rivals, a six-party summit decided to strictly observe and enforce the election of conduct as daily violence has marred elections which is only 17 days away.
Nepal Majdoor Kishan Party (NMKP), a constituent of the ruling seven-party alliance, didn’t attend; NMKP has questioned the continuity after government negotiated an agreement with three tarai parties at the Indian embassy paving the way for elections.
Government succumbed to regional demands for self-determination and provincial rule after a prolongs 16-day strike and blockade which BNKP Chairman Narayanman Bujukakchaya said was actually slapped by India.
Six parties Monday also agreed to end clashes and conduct elections peacefully, participants said at the end of the meeting.
Forty European Union long-term election observers from 15 countries have arrived in Nepal to observe elections.
They join the core team of nine election experts based in Kathmandu, who arrived on 9 March to set up and coordinate the mission. The EU Election Observation Mission is led by Jan Mulder, a Dutch Member of the European Parliament.
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Bhutanese refugee camp bombed; election in Bhutan
By Bhola B Rana
Kathmandu, 24 March: A Bhutanese refugee camp was bombed overnight in Morang where one of seven UNHCR-administered refugee camps is located in east Nepal.
Other camps are located in Jhapa.
Bombers were targeting security guards radio reports said.
Reports from Bhutan said elections are being held in Bhutan Monday for the national assembly as exiles in Bhutan said the vote was a farce to continue despotic rule of the king.
The vote is being held when forcibly expelled 108,000 refugees of Nepalese ethnicity languish in east Nepal; Bhutan has a population of only 700,000 people.
Only two pro-monarchy parties are allowed to participate in the vote.
“This election is a ploy to hoodwink the international community
and to quell the demand by democrats, both in Bhutan, and others in exile,
for the establishment of genuine democracy and human rights in Bhutan.
“Above all, the Monarchy wants to legitimatize and institutionalise its privileges
to extract the enormous tax-free annuities from the State for the
maintenance of the large number of the members of the Royal Family by
manipulating the constitutional mechanism.
“Fundamental human rights - the
basic tenets of democratic practice is completely absent in the country. The
arrests of innocent people are still rampant. No political parties other
than the two royalist parties have been allowed to participate in the
electoral process,” Rongthong Kunley Dorji
said in a statement.
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Tibetan refugees continue protests

Kathmandu, 24 March: At least one dozen Tibetan refugees who encircled the UN office in the capital were arrested after police forcibly broke up the gherao Monday.
The refugees demanded cancellation of the August Olympic Game in Beijing.
The 17,000 strong refugee community in Nepal has been staging vocal sit-ins in front of the UN office after the most recent uprising in Tibet demanding UN intervention to stop what refugees call ‘suppression’
CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist) have condemned the refugee protests and supported Beijing.
Government extended belated support for Beijing and reiterated Tibet was a part of China while saying Nepal supported a traditional One China policy.
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