Chairman Prachanda to furnish replies Friday; other details

Kathmandu, 24 June: Maoist Chairman Prachanda Friday will furnish replies to points raised politburo members in a prolonged meeting that began 15 June.
Thursday’s meeting was rescheduled for Friday to find a consensus on issues discussed as the party chief held discussions with colleagues.
The standing committee had empowered the party organ to decide modalities on major issues like the delayed integration and resettlement of 19,000 Maoist combatants and concluding the peace process.
The chief of the main opposition will make public the decisions of the politburo at the conclusion of the meet.
Vice-chairman Narayan Kazi Shrestha said majority members demanded the formation of a national unity government under Prachanda.
The party, he threatened, will again launch an armed struggle is such a government isn’t formed and said it will obstruct parliamentary proceedings to prevent the tabling of the budget and its passage.
The embattled government of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal is awaiting the party decision to announce its next moves.
The government has completed draft of its policy and programme that was to be announced earlier this month.
The budget session has been delayed for nearly three weeks.
The next fiscal year begins 17 July.
The ruling coalition is even contemplating introducing the annual budget 2010/11 through ordinance should Maoist obstruct parliamentary proceedings.
Nnnn


Butwal closed down

Kathmandu, 24 June: Industries and market closed down in Butwal Thursday to protest Wednesday’s murder of trader Ramesh Bhandari and his wife Asha.
Three assassins drove away in a motorcycle with stolen money.
Security forces have been deployed heavily as search for killers continues.
nnnn

Two school boys swept away by river in Budhanilkantha

Kathmandu, 24 June: Two students of Himalayan Boarding School were swept away by a swollen river in Budhanilkantha Wednesday as they were returning home from school.
The bodies of brothers Sanjaya and Buddha Lama were recovered downstream.
The monsoon has set in.
Nnnn

Govt. expands BNP buffer zone

Kathmandu, 24 June: The cabinet Wednesday expanded Bardiya National Park (BNP) adding 180 more sq km to the 244 sq km buffer zone.
Total area of the BNP is 968 sq km and hosts among other animal species, the endangered tiger and one-horned rhino.
Nnnn

SAIEVAC secretariat in Kathmandu

Kathmandu, 24 June: A secretariat of South Asia Institute to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC) will be established in Kathmandu.
This was decided by the third meet of the body in the Nepalese capital Wednesday.
A governing board is also being formed with representatives of government, children, international agencies and civil society to supervise and oversee the secretariat’s work.
Nnnn

Thai govt. construction in Lumbini

Kathmandu, 24 June: Thai government is constructing a Thai garden, pavilion, chaitya, pond, drarma-chakra and rock garden at the Lumbini Monastic Zone.
Thai Ambassador Maria Sangiampongsa and Vice-chairman of the Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) Acharya Karma Sangho signed an agreement Wednesday in the capital to execute the project.
nnnn

New secretary at ministry of peace and reconstruction

Kathmandu, 24 June: Dhruba Sharma has been appointed secretary at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction by the cabinet Wednesday.
He was transferred from the Office of the Prime Minister.
Nnnn

US embassy issues visas for Maoist leaders to attend a seminar in USA

Kathmandu, 24 June: Maoist leaders Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Agni Sapkota, Pampha Bhusal and Secretary CP Gajurel have been granted visas by the US embassy to attend a 10-day seminar in Boston.
Twenty-three top leaders, including Maoists, are participating in the
Seminar organized by State Department, Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a Nepali and a US NGO.
Bhusal was denied a visa when he was a minister in the Prachanda government.
“It appears that the Obama administration has become liberal towards,” said Gajurel, according to The Himalayan Times.
Nnnn

Nepal signs UN convention

Kathmandu, 24 June: Nepal has become the 125th country to sign a UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
“’This is a great step as it demonstrates the government’s commitment to preserve and promote the diverse living heritage of the people of Nepal, where cultural heritage is largely cultural practice, and where cultural practice means cultural identity,” said Nepal’s UNESCO Representative Alex Plathe.
nnnn



Seven Maoist combatants held in capital

Kathmandu, 24 June: A special intelligence squad of Nepal Polcie detained seven Maoist combatants from PLA Third Division of Shaktihhor, Chitwan Wednesday evening from a cafe in Durbarmarg, The Himalayan Times reports.
They were carrying a shotgun, two bullets and two knives.
The shotgun did not have UNMIN sticker said a police officer.
nnnn

UN bodies ask released Maoist fighters to report

Kathmandu, 24 June: Different bodies of the United Nations based in Nepal have urged the UCPN-Maoist’s former PLA combatants to participate in various rehabilitation programmes, RSS reports.
The UN bodies urged the former PLA combatants to participate in the rehabilitation programmes after there was minimum participation of the former PLA fighters in the programmes carried out by these organizations.
A total of 4,008 former disqualified PLA combatants were discharged from cantonments last December.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNICEF, UNFPA and ILO have been carrying out different rehabilitation programmes for the unqualified PLA fighters.
… although all the ex-militants were urged to participate in the rehabilitation programmes run by the four UN agencies, only 1,837 have come into contact till date.
Nnnn


TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

A grim economic picture

Kathmandu, 24 June: Overall balance of payments (BOP) deficit in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year stood at Rs 17.36 billion; it was Rs 22.1 billion at the end of the first nine months, according to a macroeconomic report until mid-May released Wednesday at Nepal Rashtra Bank (NRB).
There was BOP surplus of Rs 43.06 billion in the same period the previous year.
The current account deficit in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year stands at Rs 34.78 billion compared to a surplus of Rs 37.04 billion in the same period last year.
Nepal received Rs 184.44 billion in remittances –up 10.2 percent but down 55.5 percent compared to the previous year period.
Trade deficit in the first 10 months jumped to Rs 251.16 billion compared to Rs 163.16 billion in 2009.
Gross foreign exchange review in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year declined to Rs 279.99 billion from Rs 224.19 billion in mid-July 2009.
Gross foreign exchange reserve in dollar terms until mid-May was Rs 3.32 billion.
Nnnn


MEDIA GOOGLE

“…given his hopeless helplessness in taking action against his wayward cabinet colleagues—the agriculture state minister slapping a CDO and the labour minister manhandling the foreign secretary leading to a further plunge in the morale of the civil service—M, K. Nepal as prime minister retains very little moral authority to tell government officials what to do.”

(Retired secretary Bihari Krishna Shrestha, The Kathmandu Post, 24 June)

“The parliamentary party (PP) gave Sher Bahadurji a ticket with Girija Prasad Koirala was leader of the PP and contested against Prachanda. They [Ram Chandra Paudel] supporters can go through minutes. The PP is one unit of Nepali Congress; NC isn’t a unit of PP; PP is a unit of NC.”

(NC central committee member Binaya Dhoj Chand, Tarun, 24 June)
nnnn