NC LEADER KB GURUNG UNGERGOES HEART BYPASS SURGERY

Kathmandu, 11 Oct.: Former NC General Secretary KB Gurung Sunday underwent heart bypass surgery at Sahid Gangalal Heart Center.
He’s the oldest NC leader and was elected central committee by the just concluded 12 party general convention.
The procedure was conducted by Dr. Yadav Bhatta.
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SAARC FOREIGN MINISTERS’ MEET RESCHEDULED

Kathmandu, 11 Oct.: A meeting of foreign ministers of eight SAARC member states scheduled to he held in Thimpu will now he held from 5 to 9n February 2011, Director of SAARC secretariat Dr Niranjan Man Singh said.
Bhutan’s decision was conveyed to Nepal government Sunday.
The meeting was scheduled to be held 5 to 9 December this year.
Host Bhutan and current chairman of the South Asian regional organization will be busy with the International Climate Summit, COP-16 in Cancun, Mexico.
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NRN MEET IN POKHARA MONDAY

Kathmandu, 11 Oct. Non-resident Nepali Association (NRNA)
is celebrating NRN Day in Pokhara Monday
NRNA is promoting Nepal Tourism Year 2011 to attract visitors.
NRNA representatives met Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Sunday and pressed dual citizen citizenship of NRNs.
Representatives from more than 50 countries are participating.
Nepal was non-committal.
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NEPAL IN SEMI-FINALS OF WOMEN’S CRICKET TOURNAMENT

Kathmandu, 11 Oct. Nepal Monday entered the finals of the ACC U-19 Women’s Cricket Championship defeating UAE by 81 runs in Singapore.
Nepal bowled out UAE for 76 runs.
Nepal batted first and scored 156 runs in 25overs for the loss of three wickets setting a target of 157 runs for UAE to win.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“If lawmakers can’t contribute anything for peace and constitution drafting, it’s not necessary to honour them with the title honourable.”

(Pokhara judge Om Prasad Subedi, Nagarik, 11 Oct.)

MAOIST CONDITION FOR INTEGRATION

Kathmandu, 11 Oct.: The special committee for the integration, resettlement and supervision of Maoist combatants last Saturday formed a task force and decided to finalize in four days to a schedule, Kantipur reports.
UML General Secretary Ishwor Pokhrel, Maoist Barsha Man Pun and NC Ram Sharan Mahat are members of task force.
Pun, who is military in-charge and member of the party standing committee, has presented three proposals for integration.
The first proposal is to create an industrial security force, border security force and special commando with only Maoist combatants.
The second is to create a separate force half of which will be manned by Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force personnel; Maoist combatants will constitute the other half of the unit under Maoist command.
The third proposal is create a separate unit in Nepal Army at brigade level with Maoist mass integration.
A brigade consists of nearly 4,000 to 4,500 persons under a brigadier general.
Nepali Congress has rejected the proposals.
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Paudel justifies umpteenth bid at prime ministerial post
Kathmandu, 12 Oct.: Nepali Congress leader Ramchandra Paudel said today

that his continued participation in the prime ministerial polls is for a larger cause,

and that he was ready to quit if a solution were found to break the stalemate, The Himalayan Times reports..

Talking to The Himalayan Times after the 12th fruitless attempt to elect a new prime minister, Paudel said he was fighting for a cause despite knowing too well that any future voting will not bear fruit unless the CPN-UML changes its stance.

“If I quit now, the situation will become even more complicated,” he said. “There is

no point in quitting unless there is a clear idea about the issues of consensus, including how the next PM is going to

be selected, or who is going to be the next PM.”

Paudel pointed out two ways out of the impasse: either the CPN-UML refrains from its “neutral” position or the UCPN-Maoist agrees to categorically discuss the agenda put forth by the NC as a basis for consensus.

The leaders of the three largest parties met today and agreed to hold one-on-one and joint meetings to thrash out a collective solution by Dashain. “There can be no solution unless the Maoists agree to peace and multi-party democracy,” Paudel said. “The Maoists must decide whether they want multi-party democracy or an authoritarian system.”

NC has outlined four points as the basis for the formation of a joint national government: fulfilment of the remaining tasks of the peace process; agreement on the fundamental principles of the new constitution; clarity on power sharing; and agreement on who is going to lead the next government.

NC is skeptical of Maoist lip-service to democratic constitution and peace commitments. “UCPN-Maoist wants neither peace nor democracy,” Paudel claimed. “Unless we resolve the issue of the Maoist arms and armies, there is no guarantee that the new constitution will be respected.”

He added that other parties, particularly the CPN-UML, are helping the Maoists by not taking the issue of peace and democracy seriously. A section of the UML has turned a blind eye to the UCPN-Maoist’s latent intention of capturing power, he said. “The Maoists have been diverting talks away from real issues and agenda to the question of power and leading the government. It has become very clear that they want to capture power, not obtain power through democratic processes,” Paudel said.

He said contrary to the Maoists’ claim, the country did not have provisions of a multi-party system. “We are having problem because it has become a potpourri. It is neither a multi-party system, which we wanted, nor an authoritarian system, which the Maoists want.”
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ISRAEL STARTS DEPORTING CHILDREN OF MIGRANT WORKERS

Kathmandu, 11 Oct.: Beginning last week, Israel has started deportation of migrant workers’ children who do not meet the country’s residency criteria, The Himalayan Times reports.
But it is unclear how many children have been deported until today [Sunday].
Israeli government decided to deport 400 out of 1,200 children of migrant workers working illegally in the country on August 1, according to the Israeli press reports.
The Israeli government has set five conditions for residency permission to migrant workers’ children earlier this year.
The condition established by an inter-ministerial committee of Israel includes children studying first or higher grade in Israeli school system, has lived for five consecutive years or more in Israel and, if he was not born there, arrived before the age of 13. Currently, from 250,000 to 400,000 migrant workers—30 percent Thai, 18percent Filipino, 10 percent Chinese, six percent Nepali and five percent Rumanian—are currently in Israel as per the government estimate.
Around 12,000 Nepalis are believed to be working im Israel, which stopped hiring Nepali workers 18 months ago.
Over 90 percent Nepalis are women and are engaged in care-giving jobs. Israel has decided to deport migrant workers’ children to safeguard the Jewish identity.
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Bigwigs care two hoots for rules

Kathmandu, 11 Oct.: The anti-graft bodies’ call to public officials to submit their property details to the concerned offices has turned out to be a damp squib. Defiant ministers, lawmakers, top bureaucrats and security officials have turned a deaf ear to such calls for years, while the anti-graft bodies have failed to take any action, The Kathmandu Post reports.

The Department of Civil Personnel Record (DCPR) says out of 75,000 civil servants 40,000 are yet to come clear with their property details till date although the mandatory deadline has already passed.

The country’s law has a mandatory provision that all persons holding public posts should make public their property details within 60 days of the start of the new fiscal year.

If they do not submit a statement of their property within the given time they are liable to a fine of Rs. 5,000. On the contrary, they are merrily flouting the rule.

Sources at the DCPR said they are asking the officials to submit the details. “Despite frequent calls it is hard to get details from them,” said DCPR Director General Shri Ram KC.

The DCPR forwarded the details received from the civil servants to the National Vigilance Centre (NVC), which is still compiling the details instead of initiating action against the defiant. The anti-graft body under the direct supervision and control of the prime minister has not forwarded the details for action or fine against them yet. “We are yet awaiting the details,” said NVC Spokesman Sher Bahadur Dhungana. The NVC must forward the details to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for further action.

High level security officials, lawmakers and ministers have not come up with their property details. A source at the Department of Police Personnel Records said over 700 senior officers have not yet submitted their details while 150 lawmakers have violated the rule.

CIAA Spokesman Ishwori Paudyal said the concerned departments have been told to follow the due process on time. “As they missed the earlier deadline we have dispatched letters directing them to come up with details at the earliest.”

Officials at the NVC said the number of defiant bureaucrats, security officials and civil servant is on the rise. “I have noticed that none of the civil servants or others was punished for not submitting property details for the last few years,” said an official. An intriguing aspect is the fact that officials in the anti-graft bodies do not get to see the details if they want to oversee the cases. They merely get the names of officials from the concerned department instead of details.

Last year, over a dozen ministers, 158 lawmakers, 1,202 senior bureaucrats slithered out of the anti-graft body’s noose. None of them was fined for delay. Transport Minister Mohammad Aftab Alam and Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Sarba Dev Prasad Ojha, who have violated the law, are facing corruption charges but cases filed against them are not being taken forward.
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CAMPAIGN IN UK TO SPARE GURKHAS [EXCERPTS]

Kathmandu, 11 Oct.: Senior York councillors are pitting aside party differences to call for Gurkhas at Imphal Barracks to be spared the axe when Government cuts are made, Mike Laycock writes for The Press from York.
Liberal Democrat council leader Andrew Walker has agreed with Labour group leader James Alexander to co-sign a joint letter to Defence Mnister Liam Fox.
They want him not to sacrifice the famous Gurkhas as the Mnistry of Defence attempts to balance the books and plug a massive budget black hole with the Strategic Defence and Security Review.
The barracks in Fulford Road, have been home to the 246 Gurkha Signal Squadron since 2002 as part of the 2 Signal Regiment.
There are currently more than 100 members of the squadron based in Imphal. Tory MP Patrick Mercer, a former Army officer, has warned that the Girkhas could fall victim to the cuts, arguing that they were now more expensive to run after winning a high-profile campaign for better rights.
Coun Alexander said he had recently written to Mr Fox asking for assurances over the Gurkhas at Imphal. “I received a response saying it is very unlikely that any of the services will look exactly the same after the Review,” he said.
“This did not fill me with confidence,” A senior MoD official said in a letter to Coun Alexander that there had been plenty of media speculation about potential measures for reforming the Armed Forces, including the future of the Gurkhas, but at this stage it was just speculation.
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