JALESHWOR REVENUE OFFICE BOMBED

Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: A cylinder bomb explosion Wednesday at the district revenue office in Jaleshwor, Mohottari, destroyed important documents.
An army team is defusing a similar bomb placed at the Maoist district office.
The bombs were planted by unidentified groups.
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MOTHER, CHILD BURIED ALIVE IN SINDHUPALCHOWN

Kathmandu, 8 Sept. A mother and her four-year grandchild were buried alive by a landslide in Sindhupaldchown overnight.
Two persons are missing and two others were rescued.
The mudslide hit a settlement 15 minutes walking distance from Lamosanghu.
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ONE INJURED IN BANKE BLAST AT MAOIST LAWMAKER’S HOUSE

Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: One person was injured and an Indian registered vehicle was damaged overnight in a string bomb explosion in front of Maoist lawmaker Mohammad Istiyak’s hone at a village in Banke.
A man fell from a rooftop of the lawmaker’s home when a bomb exploded.
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THREE BANGLADESHIS ARRESTED

Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: Three Bangladesh were arrested Tuesday at Jyatha for alleged involvement in forging Nepali passports for Bangladeshi nationals.
Shamsul Alam Suzon, Omar Farooque Bhuyian and Ahamad Sultan were arrested.
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TWO MAOIST COMMANDERS ARESTED

Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: Two Maoist commanders have been arrested with weapons in Butwal and Nawalparasi Tuesday by Nawalparasi district police.
Raju Basyal Ramesh and Bindu Pun Magar were paraded by police Tuesday.
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KB GURUNG LENDS SUJATA KOIRALA SUPPORT

Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: NC General Secretary Kul Bahadur Gurung, who was also an aspirant for general secretary in general convention election 17 to 21 September, Tuesday lent his support for Sujata Koirala instead.
The support came at a meeting in Gobinda Raj Joshi’s house.
Central committee member Joshi and Binaya Dhoj Chand will support Koirala and Gurung’s bid central committee members.
The foursome will help each other.
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FOUR MORE CHOLERA CASES IN BUTWAL

Kathmandu, 8 Sept, Four more cholera cases were detected d in Butwal Tuesday.
Thirteen cases have been reported so far.
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

NABIL ANNOUNCES 30% DIVIDEND

Kathmandu, 8 Sept. Nabil Tuesday announced a 30 percent dividend for its shareholders out of its earnings from fiscal year 2066/67.
The bank’s board meeting took the decision, subject to the permission of Nepal Rashtra Bank.
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ECONOMIC REFORMS NOT AGENDA OF POLICY MAKERS

Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: Outgoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) Resident Representative Alexander Pitt said Wednesday economic reforms not on the agenda of policy makers.
“…political background is not very encouraging. Economic reforms are not on the policymakers’ mind. I think policymakers need to pay close attention to the economy to alleviate the key constraints to increase Nepal’s economic growth,” Pitt told The Kathmandu Post.
He estimated Nepal’s growth in 2009/10 at just 3 percent.
“That is too low for a country like Nepal with a population growth of about 2 percent,” he added.
Nepal Rashtra Bank has to supervise the finance sector more forcefully the, resident representative said.
“Nepal Rashtra Bank needs to supervise the financial sector more forcefully. We also have financial cooperatives that are completely unsupervised.”
IMF’s resident representative in New Delhi will now look after the Nepal office.
“I think the decision has been driven by the desire to put a greater emphasis on regional development, but there are also cost considerations,” Pitt said.
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SPICEJET TO START OPERATIONS

Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: Spicejet will start six weekly flights between New delhi and Kathmandu from 7 October.
One-way flight will cost Rs 1,499.
Zenith Travels has been appointed general sales agent.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“Corruption prevails everywhere in he country. Can’t say which sector it’s limited to.”

(PM Nepal, Annapurna Post, 8 Sept.)

‘Twice we failed to institutionalize democracy. For the third time, we’re now attempting to institutionalize a democratic republic.”

(President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, Gorkhapatra, 8 Sept.)
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NA NOT ON GOVT. REQUEST TO UN TO MONITOR ARMS, ARMIES

Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: The government on Tuesday requested the UN security council to extend the term of UNMIN by four months with a mandate to ‘focus on monitoring’ of Maoist combatants, cantonments and armies,’ Republica reports.
The request is deliberately silent about monitoring of the Nepal Army buy UNMIN, leaving room for many to interpret that the national army has been removed from UNMIN’s purview.
‘The government has requested the UN security council to renew the UNMIN’s term with a mandate to focus only on monitoring and management of the Maoist combatants, cantonments and arms under the ‘new term’ said Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Rakam Chemjung.
When asked to interpret the mandate more specifically, Chemjung said,” You should understand the meaning when we ask UNMIN to focus only on monitoring and management of the Maoist combatants and arms.”
“We have omitted the Nepal Army in the definition of two armies in the request letter,” Chemjung further elaborated.
Nepali Congress leader Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, whom the prime minister had consulted before sending the request, interpreted the new mandate as ‘UNMIN should not be concerned about Nepal Army.”
The government sent the request for the renewal of the term of the extension of the UNMIN’s as the current term is expiring 7 September.
A source close to the prime minister told Republica said that the government preferred not to be explicit in the request in regard to monitoring of the national army by UNMIN.
“As Maoists have expressed their willingness to be flexible to understand the problem faced by the national army for being under UNMIN’s monitoring, the government decided to send such a request,” the source said.
Foreign Affairs Advisor to the prime minister, Rajan Bhattarai, said in view of arguments raised by various stakeholders concerned, the government has sought ‘a precise and effective motoring of Maoist combatants and their arms.”, The Kathmandu Post reports.
“After the Maoist leadership agreed to relax its approach to the Nepal Army in terms of the Army’s need for recruitment of technical manpower, training and logistic support, the government agreed not to lift the monitoring part of Nepal Army (NA) whish is under the purview of UNMIN,” he said.
“We sought a middle way,” Rajan said. “After we received a positive response from the Maoists we decided to be accommodating too. We think it a would be a win-win situation for all of us.”
Meanwhile, Maoists, saying government sent a letter to the UN conspiratorially, said they will write to the world body separately, Kantipur reports quoting Vice-chairman Narayan Kazi Shrestha.
“While talking with us, the prime minister said the mandate would not be changed, “Shrestha told Kantipur. “It’ll be against the understanding. That’s why another letter will be sent to the UN.”
(Note: NC and UML have come out as firm defenders of the state army after a campaign against it during royal rule. The two parties, along with Maoists and others, signed a vague comprehensive agreement inviting UN to handle Nepal’s internal political issues. Government is now facing international pressure, mainly from western donors funding UNMIN activities, to send back the world’s political arm from Nepal. Maoists, who decry foreign interference, are pressing for UNMIIN’s continued stay. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has suggested the caretaker cannot take a decision on the mandate which should be decided by a successor government. Ban said this even amid UN threats to withdraw from Nepal. While Ban said a caretaker can’t take a decision on UNMIN mandate, it asked the Madhav Kumar Nepal government to extend the tenure and mandate without change.)
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PRAKASH MAN SINGH SUSHIL KOIRALA’S GENERAL SECRETARY

Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: Congress Acting President Sushil Koirala’s will appoint Prakash Man Singh general secretary from his panel, Nagarik reports.
After there more than half-a-dozen contenders, preparations are ongoing to appoint Singh even as Koirala said he wouldn’t form a panel.
“Discussions and consultations are going on. A decision on general secretary and treasurer will be announced in a day or two,” Singh told Nagarik.
Koirala was pressurized by associates to form a panel with office bearers.
Challenger Sher Bahadur Deuba has picked Bimalendra Nidhi general secretary and Chitra Lekha Yadas treasurer.
Another contender Bhim Bahadur Tamang has nominated Narahari Acharya general secretary.
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Rs 3b more missing from coffers
Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: The disclosure last month that local government bodies misappropriated about Rs. 3 billion has turned out to be the tip of the iceberg. Government officials have come up with a startling revelation—another Rs. 3 billion sent from the state coffers is unaccounted for, The Kathmandu Post reports.

Right after it came to light that a huge amount of money was missing “mysteriously” from the expenditure account details received by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) from the local bodies, a meeting of high-level government officials, including those from the Nepal Rastra Bank, National Vigilance Centre (NVC), the PMO and the Ministry of Finance (MoF), had decided on Aug. 18 to investigate the issue.

The meeting had subsequently directed the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) to submit the details of the Rs. 3 billion it received from last year’s development budget.

However, three weeks on, the MoLD has not replied and it does not have any idea about where it spent or deposited the Rs. 3 billion. The NVC has dispatched another letter to the MoLD seeking a clarification.

MoLD Secretary Krishna Gyawali said he was aware of the missing budget. “I have heard about it, but I don’t think the MoLD has received such a large amount,” he said.

“The MoLD has collected details of the amount deposited in ‘Account C’ from 57 districts which is not more than Rs 140 million.” MoLD officials said they are trying to collect the details, but are finding it increasingly difficult as the local bodies have repeatedly provided details of amount way less than the one (Rs. 3b) claimed by the Finance Ministry.

Officials at the Ministry of Finance, however, said over Rs. 3 billion was released for the local bodies from June 15 to July 27 (a period of 45 days), but “its expenditure details have not been mentioned anywhere.”

“The MoLD was asked to confirm where the Rs. 3 billion sent to it had gone,” an MoF source told the Post.

“Since the amount released to the MoLD was unusually high in the last fiscal year, we had to start the probe.”

The amount that the local development ministry used to receive in the past years during the 45-day period had remained in an average of Rs. 500 to 600 million.

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COURT ORDERS AREST OF MAOIST LAWMAKER
Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: The Okhaldhunga District Court has directed Nepal Police to arrest and produce murder convict Maoist Constituent Assembly member Balkrishna Dhungel as per the verdict of the Supreme Court, The Himalayan Times reports.

Issuing an order to the Okhaldhunga District Police Office, the district court directed it to arrest Dhungel, and 18 other convicts who have been at large for years.

Police sources revealed that the District Police Court had sought the help of the headquarters and the Regional Police Office, Biratnagar, to arrest the Maoist CA member and other convicts.

District Judge Kiran Prasad Siwakoti independently verified the information while talking to The Himalayan Times over phone. Stating that the convicts might have been hiding in areas outside the district, the district police sought the help of central and regional headquarters of Nepal Police.

The apex court has forwarded text of its January 3 verdict to the district court for prompt execution of the

verdict that slapped 20-year jail term on Dhungel and

ordered confiscation of

his property for killing

Ujjan Shrestha in 1998.

Criminal law expert Krishna Prasad Sapkota, who is also the president of Supreme Court Bar Association, told The Himalayan Times that Dhungel could not be pardoned under the Comprehensive Peace Accord, as he had been convicted by SC. He accused UCPN-M of shielding Dhungel and added that the CPA only allowed government to withdraw politically motivated charges lodged against anyone during insurgency but not against convicts.

Citing Article 5.2.7 of the CPA, spokesperson for UCPN-M Dinanath Sharma had issued a press statement yesterday accusing the apex court

of violating the CPA. The Article reads: “Both sides (the state and the Maoists) guarantee to withdraw accusations, claims, complaints and

cases under considerations made against individuals

due to political reasons, to immediately make public the state of those who are in detention and to release them.”

Noted human rights lawyer Govinda Bandi said Dhungel could not even file mercy plea before the President, as he did not participate in apex court hearing.
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CHINESE DELEGATION COMING

Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: A top level Chinese delegation is arriving in Kathmandu on an official visit on Saturday, said an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Himalayan Times reports.
The 21-member delegation is led by He Yong, secretary at Secretariat of Communist Party of China.
During the visit, the delegation is expected to meet President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, PM Madhav Kumar Nepal and leaders of UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and CPN-UML.
“The delegation is visiting upon invitations from the three big parties,” said the official.
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GORKHALAND AUTONOMY

Kathmandu, 8 Sept.: In a bid to solve the Gorkhaland issue in Darjeeling hills of West Bengal, a tripartite meting was held Tuesday discussing subjects, departments and territory which are expected to be handed over to a proposed interim authority in the area, PTI reports from New Delhi.
The meeting between the officials of Central and West Bengal governments and Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, leading an agitation for a separate state, discussed the legislative power to be given to the proposed authority and the tea gardens to be included there, sources said.
They also discussed whether the authority would have all nominated members or elected and how many members would comprise the interim body.
Sources said the proposed Darjeeling Regional Authority is likely to be put in place for the Gorkhas of Darjeeling ahead of next year’s assembly polls in West Bengal.
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