MAOIST POBITBUO MEET ONLY ON 14 NOV.

Kathmandu, 9 Oct.: A Maoist politburo meet was rescheduled for the third time Saturday by a meeting of party office bearers.
The meeting will now be conduced 14 November after chatt festival.
It was to have met in Gorkha 29 October.
The meeting has been rescheduled because Chairman Prachanda is visiting China to attend the closing ceremony of the Shanghai Expo, the party said.
President Dr Ram Baran Yadav is also scheduled to attend the closing ceremony.
The politburo meet was first scheduled to be held in Chitwan where a dengue outbreak caused by mosquito has killed more that a dozen people.
The disease outbreak hasn’t been contained.
The meeting has been convened as a political deadlock to select a successor of Prime Minister continues for more than 100 days.
Maoists accuse foreign intervention and regressive elements for the deadlock to obstruct the peace process and draft a constitution.
The politburo will discuss future party strategy where an integrated political document will be presented incorporating suggestions of Prachanda and Vice-Chairmen Mohan Baidya and Dr Baburam Bhattarai.
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ARMY CHIEF CONTINUES UK VISIT

Kathmandu, 9 Oct. Army Chief Gen, Chatraman Singh Gurung Friday visited the 2nd battalion of the Royal Gurkha Rifles, the British embassy said.
The army chief currently visiting UK observed training being imported to Gurkhas being deployed in Afghanistan in April 2011.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“All should unite to institutionalize a republic.”

(President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, Kantipur, 9 Oct.)
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UNMIN submits details to govt

Kathmandu, 9 Oct.: The United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) has started the process of submitting to the government the detailed information of all verified Maoist combatants, Phanindra Dahal reports in The Kathmandu Post.
On Wednesday, the UN political mission handed over the compact discs containing the names, addresses and age of all 19,602 combatants verified by UNMIN in December 2007 to the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR). The information was shared in response to a letter sent by the MoPR to UNMIN early this week.
Earlier, UNMIN had turned down the Madhav Kumar Nepal led government’s unilateral request demanding the information on the Maoist combatants. The fresh move comes following the Oct. 2 agreement between the UCPN (Maoist) and the government in the Special Committee to acquire details of combatants living at the UN monitored cantonments.
“We have started the process of sharing information on the Maoist army personnel as per the request made by the Ministry of peace and Reconstruction,” said UNMIN Spokesperson Kosmos Biswokarma. “Sharing of all the details on individual combatants will be complete by next week.”
Joint Secretary to the Ministry of Peace Bishnu Prasad Nepal confirmed that the government has received basic information about all the combatants. “In response to our demand for the names, addresses, age and photographs of all the combatants, UNMIN has sent us a reply with basic information of all 19,602 combatants,” he said. “It has informed us that it will provide detailed information with photographs within the next three or four days,” added Nepal.
The UNMIN has informed the government that it has prepared a single page form with basic information and photographs of each of the combatants who passed its verification process conducted in all 28 Maoist cantonments.
The mission, in its reply sent to the Peace and Reconstruction Ministry has said that the delay in handing over the information at once was due to technical reasons in compiling all the 19,602 pages.
Earlier, office of the Prime Minister had written a letter asking the Ministry for Peace and Reconstruction to demand information on the combatants from UNMIN.
Official at the UNMIN maintain that the mission was not able to submit all the information at once as many officials were engaged in the the UN Under Secretary General B Lynn Pascoe’s visit that ended on Thursday.
The six-party Special Committee overseeing the Maoist combatants has agreed to maintain a fresh update on the number of Maoist combatants living in cantonments for the last four years.
In her briefing to the UN Security Council on Sept. 7, UNMIN chief Karin Landgren had said there was an agreement with the UCPN (Maoist) that UNMIN’s arms monitors will conduct a fresh headcount in the cantonments in the near future.
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Major parties trying to pass the buck to CC

Kathmandu, 9 Oct.: A 15-member study team under CA member Agni Kharel submitted a combined report to CA chairman Subas Nembang with over 200 questionnaires on seven thematic panels last Saturday, Arjun Bhandari reports in The Himalayan Times..
KATHMANDU: Leaders of the major political parties have suggested sending reports of all thematic committees of the Constituent Assembly to the Constitutional Committee (CC) after they failed to iron out differences on key issues. But some CA members from within the parties say the idea of sending these reports to the statute-drafting panel is aimed at “covering up incompetency” of the parties concerned.

A 15-member study team under CA member Agni Kharel submitted a combined report to CA chairman Subas Nembang with over 200 questionnaires on seven thematic panels last Saturday.

Nembang has been holding talks with leaders of the 27 parties on the Forms of Governance for four days. But the parties have not been able to settle differences on the contentious issues .

The parties are required, among others, to forge consensus on the political system, election system to be followed in the federal and provincial legislatures and local bodies, formation of the council of ministers and delineation of the constituencies.

Today’s meeting saw the parties debating on the election system of provincial legislature and local bodies. They also discussed whether a party needs to obtain a certain percentage of votes to get national-level status.

“We discussed these issues but could not make any headway,” said Bhim Acharya, the CPN-UML chief whip, who attended the 27 parties’ meeting chaired by Nembang. Acharya said they advised the CA chairman to send reports of all the thematic committees to the CC to settle them.

But Kharel, who is a UML CA member, objected to the idea of sending the reports to the CC without settling the contested issues. “How can the CC settle all contentious issues when the top-level leaders of all the parties cannot sort them out by themselves?” Kharel questioned. He warned that promulgating statute would not be possible if the parties failed to mend ways.

The CA regulations state that parties and CA full House have to settle contentious issues by forging consensus and then send them to the CC with required “suggestions and direction”.

Kharel argued solution to all the disputes must be found at the high-level party meetings. CC’s only job is to draft the statute as per CA full House’s suggestions and direction.
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GOVT. FUNDING FOR REHABILITATION

Kathmandu, 9 Oct.: Amidst final preparations to start the proposed integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants, the government is mulling to fund the rehabilitation from Nepal Peace Trust Fund (NPTF), a multi-donor trust fund managed by government, Republica reports.
“ A concept note that the rehabilitation should be funded from the NPTF has been endorsed,” said Minister for Peace and Rehabilitation Rakam Chemjung, speaking to Republica about financing the rehabilitation of combatants.
As of now, a technical committee is working on packages to be offered to Maoist combatants who opt for rehabilitation in their respective communities.
A draft of the package—which the Maoists are yet to agree to—says that combatants who opt for rehabilitation will by offered six options: formal education, vocational training, skill-based training, domestic and foreign employment , small income-generating enterprises and others.
The number of combatants to be rehabilitated and the kind of rehabilitation package to be developed will determine the size of the funding required. Minister Chemgunj said the government will approach other donors.. those that have not joined the NPTF yet—if the funds available at the NPTF turn out to be insufficient for the rehabilitation project.
The government has contributed about Rs 5 billion to the fund while five donors—Denmark, Finand, Norway, Switzerland and the UK—have poured approximately Rs 3 billion into the fund that has been supporting implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and subsequent agreements related to the peace process. The European Union and Germany are also joining the NPTF by the end of the year.
Asked whether the government is planning to give out the rehabilitation work to some other agency much in the way the rehabilitation of disqualified combatants was given to the UNDP, Chemjung said,: The government itself will do the job.”
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BHUTANESE REUGEE SHOT, INJURED IN MORANG

Kathmandu, 9 Oct.: Bhutanese refugee Tarabir Kadriya, 27,was seriously injured when he was shot by an unidentified group at Sanischere refugee camp in Morang Thursday night, Gorkhapatra reports from Damak.
Two suspects have been arrested while two motorcycles have been impounded.
Drugs have been recovered from a suspect.
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PATAN GETS NEW KUMARI

Kathmandu, 9 Oct.: Samita Bajracharya, 8, has been selected Patan’s new Kimari, Nagarik reports.
She is the daughter of Kul Ratna and Purna Shoba Bajracharya and is the third grade student at Universal Secondary School.
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AUSTRALIAN WEBSITE TO HELP PREVENT FRAUD
Kathmandu, 9 Oct.: Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship Wednesday launched an online consumer protection resource to help people protect themselves from immigration scams.
Australia’s Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Bowen launched the resource sites http//immigration.gov.au/contacts/forms/services/services-form.htm and http//www.immi,gov.au/migration-fraud.
”It is vital that people are aware of fraudsters’ tricks before handing over money for immigration assistance which is never provided.
“ The Protest Yourself from Immigration Fraud information kit includes victims’ stories, tips to stay safe online, information on how to identify non-genuine websites and fraudulent emails, links to consumer resources and a video testimonial, said the Australian minister, according to the Australian embassy.
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