BORDER WITH BIHAR SEALED

Kathmandu, 20 Oct.: Nepal’s border with the Indian state of Bihar where the 1st phase of legislative sate is being held Wednesday was sealed by Nepalese authorities for 36 hours from six in the morning.
The border was sealed at the request of Indian authorities.
Indian home ministry has asked local administration to stop campaigning for legislative elections over radio and FM broadcasts, Nagarik reports from Biratnagar,
Letters have been written by local administration to broadcast stations to stop campaigning of behalf of candidates for legislative elections.
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MAOIST OFFICE BEARERS’ MEET CONTINUES

Kathmandu, 20 Oct. A meet of Maoist office bearers continued for the second consecutive day Wednesday as Chairman Prachanda prepares to leave for China to attend the closing ceremony of the Shanghai Expo.
The office bearers are discussing the prolonged political deadlock, government formation, Prachanda’s China trip and government efforts to present a delayed annual budget which hasn’t been presented even three months after the beginning of the financial year.
Maoists insist a caretaker government can’t bring a full budget.
Finance ministry officials said government has only Rs 8 billion remaining in the current account to run the administration and the country is heading towards a financial crisis without a complete budget.
Maoist Spokesman CP Gajurel said his party could consider alternatives for releasing government fund for prisoners and hospitals, though.
Office bearers decided to be as flexible as possible for drafting a constitution and help a task force headed by Prachanda to push the constitution drafting process, Vice-chairman Narayan Kazi Shrestha said after the meeting.
The party also discussed preparations for this month’s plenum in Gorkha, he added.
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SUB-COMMITTEE ON CONSTITUTION DRAFTING MEETS WEDNESDAY

Kathmandu, 20 Oct.: A sub-committee consisting of representatives of major parties to assist a task force pushing the drafting of a constitution is meeting later Wednesday to assist the Prachanda-led body which met Tuesday amid claims of progress.
But MJFN Chairman Upendra Yadav, who is a member of a seven-member task force headed by Chairman Prachanda minimized Tuesday’s agreement reduce differences on the system of governance. .
“This could be a beginning, But there’s still no agreement on important issues, There has been agreement only on small matters,” Yadav said Wednesday.
A seven-member task force headed by Chairman Prachanda Tuesday agreed on nine out of 11 points on which there were differences in a subject a committee on the system of government.
The task force meets again Thursday to discuss differences on another theme,
The task force was formed by 27 political parties in the constituent assembly (CA) to discuss 230 contentious points to be included in a constitution to institutionalize a declared republic.
No progress has been recorded in drafting a constitution even more than four months after the two-year elected mandate of the CA was extended for one more year 28 May 2010.
Only eight of 11 subject committees have submitted their recommendations to the main constitution drafting committee.
The task force agreed to have legislatures at the local level as well.
The Prachanda task force also agreed the executive, legislative and judicial rights of a provincial government.
“Eleven questions have been limited to two only. “We’ve settled all points, except the from of governance and election,” said Law Minister Prem Bahadur Singh, who is also a task force member,
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GOVT. OFFICES REOPEN

Kathmandu, 20 Oct.: Government offices reopened Wednesday after a six-day holiday for Dasain.
Newspapers also hit the newsstands Wednesday.
The country is limping back to normalcy.
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ANOTHER SHOOTING INCIDENT IN SARLAHI

Kathmandu, 20 Oct.: Sodi Lal Shah, 50, was shot dead in Sarlahi overnight.
He was shot in the head.
Three suspects have been arrested.
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NEPALIS KILLED IN SAUDI ARABIA IDENTIFIED

Kathmandu, 20 Oct.: Nepali railway workers Lal Babu Baitha, Pradip Mukhiya and Sanjay Gangain were moved by a passenger train near Riyadh Monday in Saudi Arabia.
Nain Singh Khadka laws injured.
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KIDNAPED GIRL DEAD

Kathmandu, 20 Oct.: A five-year-old kidnapped girl dead died Tuesday while undergoing treatment At Bheri Zonal Hospital.
She was abducted Sunday from Dhadjbar-6, Bardiya and raped.
Three suspects have been arrested.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, in the Maoists, leads a faction that wants to move ahead with the king. Baburam Bhattarai desired to move with democrats.

(Shekhar Koirala, Nagarik, 20 Oct.)
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DEMINING OPERATIONS TO RESUME

KATHMANDU, 20 Oct.: The government is resuming demining operations from next week after nearly four months of halt, with a plan to complete the task of clearing off all the conflict-time minefields in the next eight months, Kiran Chapagain reports in Republica..

"The works on clearing the landmines was stopped in June due to monsoon," said Bishnu Prasad Nepal, joint secretary at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, who works as a focal point for mine action plan of the government. "The work is going to be restarted from October 25."
The government has set a new deadline of June 2011 -- before the start of next year´s monsoon -- to defuse all the 53 landmines planted by the Nepal Army (NA) during the Maoist insurgency period.

Both the government and the UCPN (Maoist) had committed in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to defuse all landmines and other explosives used during the 1996-2006 Maoist insurgency period, within 60 days of the signing of the historic document on November 21, 2006.

"Four demining teams from the Nepal Army are being deployed at different landmines sites simultaneously so that the remaining landmines will be cleared by the set deadline," Nepal told Republica.

The UCPN (Maoist) claims it laid no landmine during the conflict period, though the party had used improvised explosive devices during the armed conflict that ended after the signing of the peace agreement.

When the demining operations were halted on June 30, the Nepal Army´s specially trained three teams, with support from the United Nations Mine Action Team (UNMAT), had cleared off 33 minefields.

A new demining team will also join the old mine clearance squads of the Nepal Army once the operations resume next week, according to the Peace and Reconstruction Ministry.

The Nepal Army, with the support of UNMAT, has trained 179 demining personnel, according to Mary Sack, program manager at UNMAT. International donors such as UK, Australia, and Switzerland have donated deminingequipment to the national army, said Sack.

International community through the United Nations has invested over $ 6 million for mine clearance in Nepal, according to Robert Piper, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nepal. This figure excludes the cost of the labor contributed by the Nepal Army.

In the meantime, the government has prepared a national standard for management of landmines, aimed at ensuring that the landmine clearance works meet international norms, according to Joint Secretary Nepal.

In addition, the ministry has also readied a three-year strategy for mine action which comprises clearance of landmines, mine risk education, advocacy for mine-threat-free society, assistance to mine victims and destroying stockpiles of mines.

According to Nepal, Nepal Peace Trust Fund, a multi-donor fund managed by the government, has approved a project worth Rs 22.60 million to carry out mine action programs.
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GURKHA SUFFERING CANCER COMMITS SUICIDE IN UK [EXCERPTS]

Kathmandu, 20 Oct.: The family of a Gurkha veteran who stabbed himself to death revealed that he couldn’t bear to live any longer with throat cancer, Kentonline reports from England.
Sangdup Tamang, 70, repeatedly knifed himself in the chest with the regiment’s traditional khukri knife in an alleyway behind his flat.
He was also upset over the Ministry of Defence refusing to pay army pensions to retired Gurkhas like him.
Tamang, dressed in just shorts and a jumper, had staggered out of his home, in Cheriton, near Folkestone,Kent into the alleyway.
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PASCOE DOESN’T SEE UNMIN TERM EXTENSION
Kathmandu, 20 Oct.: United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe, said there is no more appetite in the UN Security Council to extend the tenure of United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) beyond mid-January. In an interview to the Post, Pascoe said in the absence of tangible progress in Nepal, there is little incentive to extend UNMIN’s tenure.

“The Security Council can always do what it wants. But the truth is that the Council has made very clear it is not interested in maintaining UNMIN there, frankly because they don’t see any progress,” said Pascoe.

He said that the lack of concrete results has been a major concern for the international community.

“I think the real concern here is the result, not talks. From the Sept. 13 agreement, a month has gone..,” he said. “Several people assured me when I was in Kathmandu, this (completion of the peace process) could be done before Jan. 15 and my answer is: Great, let’s do it, not only say we can do it, let’s get together and roll up our sleeves and do the work.”

Pointing at the failure to make substantial progress in the peace process, Pascoe said there is little willingness to compromise. “If the political leadership does not compromise and does not strike a deal and move forward, other forces develop and they can take control. That’s very dangerous,” he said.

On Thursday, Pascoe briefed the UN Security council on the outcome

of his observation visit to Nepal through Oct. 6-7.

“There is no doubt that the January 15 deadline for UNMIN’s withdrawal has created a new sense of urgency among the parties, and more

focused thinking on how to end the prolonged stasis is taking place,” Pascoe told the Council.

“It is still possible for the parties to meet their targets in time, but, as I stressed to all those I met during my visit, it will require translating this new-found sense of urgency into decision-making and concrete action,” he said.
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CONSENSUS MANTRA FAULTY
Kathmandu, 20 Oct.: Chairman Jhalanath Khanal’s oft-repeated consensus mantra — only a joint national government will pave the way for logical conclusion of the peace process and writing of the constitution — is faulty Ajaya Bhadra Khanal writes in The Himalayan Times..

Khanal’s assumption is that only a power sharing arrangement can resolve the current deadlock. One hopes that, like NC leader Girija Prasad Koirala before him, Khanal is not using “consensus” as euphemism to veil his desire for power.

By now, it has become common knowledge that the central causes of the current political stalemate are: desire for the post of prime minister, internal conflict in major parties, and trust deficit among parties.

The concept of national government won’t resolve any of these issues. On the other hand, the idea of consensus allows the parties to override democratic norms of government formation and heightens internal conflict within parties.

Most importantly, it does not help end lack of trust among parties because it heightens internal rift and glosses over the need for more intense dialogue.

The air of mistrust is partly due to the internal dynamics within the UCPN-Maoist. Prachanda and Dr Baburam Bhattarai, while asserting that they must lead the government, persistently flaunt the threat of Maoist extremist ideology and the “ghost” of revolt. The said “extremist” Maoist group is rarely in dialogue with other parties, and so far, Prachanda, with his boundless ambition and guile, has played the role of sole arbiter. The Mohan Baidya group in the UCPN-M, frequently labelled extremist, is willing to abide by democratic norms and respect the new constitution, given that there is a respectable solution to the army integration issue. The group, unlike certain others, is not insisting on power in exchange for cooperation on the army-integration and constitution-writing agendas.

It is unfortunate that the question of governance has been linked to the issue of army integration. As has been made clear by some Maoist politicians, a section in the party hopes to tweak the question of standards and modalities for army integration once it comes to power.

The key issue, as UCPN-M Vice Chairman Mohan Baidya said, is a psychological one, and NC must be bold and flexible to resolve the integration conundrum in a way that appears sincere and respectable to the Maoists. There is no doubt the Maoists need due recognition for their role in institutionalising political change, and any resolution must portray them in a respectable light. The NC must come up with a more mature Maoist policy and hold dialogue with all the key factions in the UCPN-M to build trust.

But most importantly, the parties must learn to rule and be ruled according to democratic principles. As UNMIN intends to withdraw and ensure a seamless transition by January 15, political parties must come to a mutually agreeable solution regarding the army integration issue. Before that, they must separate the issue of integration from that of government formation. Only mutual trust, and honesty, can make that possible.
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