UNMIN QUITS 15 JAN. 2011

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 16 Jan. United Nations Political Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) will get out of the country 15 January 2011 after entering the strategic Himalayan state January 2007.
The UN security council took the decision in New York Wednesday.
“.. in line with the request from the Government of Nepal that UNMIN’s mandate will terminate on 15 January 2011 after which date UNMIN will leave Nepal,: a resolution said.‘
The 7th extension will also be the last.
The resolution asked government and Maoists ‘to take full advantage of the expertise and the readiness of UNMIN to facilitate he completion of the peace process’ in the remaining four months for which the tenure was extended.
Government and Maoists wrote a joint letter to UN following a four-point government-Maoist agreement to complete integration and resettlement of 19,000 PLA combatants in 28 cantonments and satellite camps in four months.
Earlier, government sent one letter to the UN extending the tenure by four months limiting the mandate to the watch of PLA combatants only.
Although British Ambassador to Nepal John Turncott called the request ‘ “ambiguous’, the letter didn’t mention Nepal Army should continue to be under the watch of the political arm on the UN.
Maoists, a party to the comprehensive peace agreement with seven political parties, wrote a separate saying the tenure should be extended for six months without mandate change.
The agreement which should have been completed in six months hasn’t; been implemented even in four years together with the peace process that hit hurdles.
Amid mounting insurgencies, especially in terai, the Nepal Army (NA) deployment and development was stalled because of the peace process;
NA even wanted UNMIN to get out of the country.
UN canvassed to get into Nepal to implement a vague and challenging peace foreign driven agreement and monitor the arms and armies of the state and PLA.
The UN called for ‘democratization; of NA as mentioned in the peace agreement—whatever the word meant; the UNMIN didn’t have the authority to define it as sit did.
The UNMIN was given the mandate to oversee the 2008 constituent elections and monitor arms and armies but crossed the mandate and strayed into other –even politics, telling Nepal the type of government it should have.
UNMIN got into controversy weeks after it landed in Nepal/
Maoists proudly boasted they duped UNMIN into verifying 19,000 fighters when their actual strength was only 7,000.
Finally, the political was accused by ruling parties and its top leaders for being a ‘Maoist tail’.
UNMIN has lost its image of a neutral actor—making its presence in Nepal ineffective.
Immediately after government and Maoists wrote a joint letter to the UN this week, a special committee on integration, resettlement and supervision headed by the prime minister decided to start the process Friday.
The committee meets again Thursday to draw up a schedule amid Maoist promises ‘not to obstruct’ the NA’s recruitment, deployment and purchase of logistics.
Meanwhile the cabinet Wednesday Sunday’s landmark four-point agreement between Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Chairman Prachanda to complete the army integration an resettlement in four months.
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PREPARATIONS FOR NC CONVENTION COMPLETE

Kathmandu, 16 Sept.: Preparations for the 12th Nepali Congress five-day general convention beginning Friday have been complete, the patty aid Thursday.
More than 3,000 delegates have arrived from the districts.
The convention venue of the open air theatre.
Delegates are thronging the party office at offices of three presidential candidates Sushil Koirala, Sher Bahadur Deuba and Bhim Bahadur Tamang.
Deuba hosted a tea reception for delegates Thursday telling them he hoped to enliven the party.
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DELAYED CRITICAL GOVT REACTION OF LANDGREN REPORT

Kathmandu, 16 Sept.: One week after UNMIN Chief Karin Landgren presenter her report to UN securitycouncil, government Thursday criticized the presentation.
Bishnu Rijal, an press aide of the prime minister, issued a statement saying the report wasn’t ‘balanced’.
Rijal claimed the report found faults with ruling parties but praised Maoists.
The aide objected to reference to ‘two armies’ in the report.
He expressed unhappiness and said government wasn’t briefed on a reported accord between UNMIN and Maoists in her report on a fresh headcount of Maoists in camps demanded by government.
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BRITISH AMBASSADOR, BABURAM BHATTARAI DISCUSSIONS

Kathmandu, 16 Sept.: Maoist Vice-chairman Baburam Bhattarai and British Ambassador John Tucknott current political situation, including the protected effort to elect a successor of Caretaker Prime Minister Madkav Kumar Nepal.
They also discussed the UNMIN pullout from Nepal 15 January 2011 besides the constitution drafting process and delayed peace process.
Bhattarai told the ambassador of a chasm between ‘status quoists’ and ‘progressives’ and asked for assistance.
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Maoists want Pun to head mechanism
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Kathmandu, 16 Sept.:The Maoist party plans to propose Chief of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Nanda Kishore Pun as the coordinator of the Special Committee Secretariat, the mechanism that would bring the Maoist combatants under the government. The informal meeting of the Integration Bureau of the Maoist party reached a conclusion to this effect on Wednesday, The Kathmandu Post reports..

“We have been proposing Pasang as the coordinator for a long time but other parties have not responded to it positively,” said a Maoist leader. “Being both a military leader and a political figure, he is the right person to lead the mechanism.”

However, a non-Maoist member of the Technical Committee on Integration said the transfer of the chain of command of the combatants from the Maoist party to the government can’t be complete unless a “neutral person” is allowed the lead the mechanism. “The Nepal Army and the police force will be reluctant to send their senior officials as members of the mechanism if we allow a Maoist to lead the secretariat,” he said.

The parties have already agreed that nine members including four experts and a representative each from the Nepal Army, the Armed Police Force, the Nepal Police and the People’s Liberation Army will constitute the Special Committee Secretariat. Last month, the Nepal Army had urged the government to appoint one of the three retired Nepal Army generals — Balananda Sharma, Amar Panta or Bajra Gurung — to head the secretariat.
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INDIAN TERAI PENETRATION

Kathmandu, 16 Sept.: In a bid to strengthen its foothold in the terai along the open 1,700 km open India-Nepal border, India will invest Rs 106.2 million rupees for reconstruction, renovation and furnishing schools three districts of Mohottari. Morang Rupendhaehi.
Money has also been set aside for the same purpose in the hill district of Myagdhi, according to the Indian embassy.
Four accords were signed Wednesday by the Indian embassy and representatives of the schools.
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TWO BROTHERS ARESTED FOR MOVIE PIRACY
Kathmandu, 16 Sept.: Two brothers, Deepankar and Aabinav Kasaju, owners of cyberansar.com, a popular website, were arrested Wednesday from Teku for movie piracy.
Their office was raided by police.
They were arrested for pirating movies by violating Cppuright Act-2002.
Such a raid and enforcement are rare.
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BHIM RAWAL TO LEAD NEPALI UN DELEGATION

Kathmandu, 16 Sept.: Home Minister Bhim Rawal will lead the Nepali delegation to forthcoming UN general assembly session in New York, according to a cabinet decision Wednesday.
Caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal dropped out as delegation head following heavy criticism.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala isn’t attending with her involvement on the four-day NC general convention in the capital from Friday.
Kul Chandra Gautam, a candidate for the general assembly presidency, National Planning Vice-chairman Jagadish Chandra Pokhrel, UN division shief at the foreign ministry Durba Bhattarai and under secretary at the ministry Dor Naath Aryal are members of the delegation as well.Six officials of the Nepali mission in New York, including Permanent representative Gyan Chandra Acharya, are also members of the delegation.
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US concerned about misuse of passports

Kathmandu, 16 Sept.: After it came to light that Nepali passports were being misused, the US embassy in Nepal cautioned the government that the passports could get into the hands of terrorists, The Himalayan Times reports.

Senior embassy officials today met the Chief of Protocol (CoP) Mukti Nath Bhatta at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), and enquired what the government would do with the outstanding copies of ordinary Nepali passports after the Machine Readable Passport was introduced, a senior official privy to the meeting told The Himalayan Times.

Cases of misuse of Nepali passport by foreign nationals abroad have been reported since long. A group of four Bangladeshi citizens were arrested for forging Nepali passports, last Wednesday. The group revealed they had already sent more than 100 people to the Gulf for employment through fake passports. Two years ago, a Pakistani citizen was arrested in Honolulu Airport with a fake Nepali passport.

US embassy officials also raised the question of security regarding the hand-written Nepali passport currently in use, after smart passports are introduced. “It’s our concern that Nepali passports must not be misused,” said the official at MoFA quoting a US embassy official. “They might get into the hands of extremist outfits if not managed properly.”

MoFA still has around three lakh copies of ordinary passports and two and half lakhs more books stored at the Ministry for Home Affairs. They are in the process of being delivered to MoFA.

If everything goes as planned, Nepal will start using the smart passport by mid-November. As MoFA has been issuing around 1,000 to 1,500 passports per day, it is clear that hundreds of thousands of ordinary passports will be outstanding after mid-November.

CoP Bhatta told this daily, “Their concern is genuine as cases of misuse of our passport have been coming to the fore.” He said cases of misuse obviously raises the question of credibility of Nepali passports. He, however, hoped that once the MRP is launched, the problem will be taken care of.

According to an official, Bhatta assured US officials that Nepal government is capable of managing the surplus ordinary passports. He added the government would follow strict security measures to ensure that the passports don’t fall into any illegal hands. “Once we start issuing MRPs, the surplus ordinary passports will be destroyed. We will keep only a certain number of books for emergency purposes,” the official said quoting Bhatta.
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PRESIDENT BRIEFED ON EFFECTS OF NO BUDGET

Kathmandu, 16 Sept.: President Dr Ram Baran Yadav Wednesday summoned Nepal Rashtra Bank Governor Dr Yubaraj Khatiwada, National Planning Vice-chairman Jagdish Pokhrel and Finance Secretary Rameshwor Khanal for a briefing on effects without presentation of a complete budget for fiscal year 2010/11, Annapurna Post reports.
According to the presidents press advisor Rajendra Dahal, they briefed the president on the short and long-term effects without a complete budget.
Pokhrel said development work has suffered and livelihood of ordinary people have been affected.
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THREE NEPALI DRUG TRAFFICKERS RELEASED FROM BRITISH PRISONS

Kathmandu, 16 Sept.: Three Nepali charged for drug trafficking have been released from prisons in United Kingdom Tuesday, Kantipur reports/.
A government attorney told a court in London Tuesday charges were being withdrawn without firm evidence against them.
Krishna Sharma, his wife Pabitra Basyal and Parshuram Thapa were released on court order.
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

NEPAL TRADE AGREEMENT TO PROMOTE TOURISM

Kathmandu, 16 Sept. Nepal and Tibet signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Lhasa Tuesday to promote Nepal Tourism Year 2011 an promote tourism.
The MoU was signed by Laxman Bhattarai, joint secretary7 at the Ministry of Tourism, and Wu Ying Jie, vice-chairman of government of Tibet Autonomous Region of China at the fourth meeting of the Tibet-Nepal Joint Tourism Coordination Committee meet.
The last committee met in Kathmandu where foreign tourists intending to visit Tibet can get visas; the committee will meet in Kathmandu November.
Bus service Nepal and Tibet, regular helicopter and charter services to Mansarover area will be operated while more Chinese airlines will fly between Kathmandu and Lhasa.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“Political track should be changed to win the confidence of the people. It’s necessary to change track within a few days.”
(Chairman Prachanda, Kantipur, 16 Sept.)

“I’ll not look into who is involved in criminal activities. Whether they are close to me, UML leaders or party workers, I’ll not spar anyone.”
(PM Nepal, who didn’t act against Madesh lawmakers abusing government officials in public, Annapurna Post, 16 Sept.)

“Don’t make your party [Maoist] a nest for criminals.”

(KP Sharma Oli, Annapuna Post, 16 Sept.)