PARTIES TO DISCUSS STATE STRUCTURE TUESDAY

Kathmandu, 4 Oct. Parties in the constituent assembly (CA) Sunday agreed to send the reports of seven subject committees to the main constitution drafting committee by 17 October.
They agreed to send the reports at a meeting of political parties convened by Chairman Subash Nemwang.
Only three of 11 thematic committees have sent their suggestions
to be incorporated in a constitution to institutionalize a republic.
Work on drafting a constitution has been stalled for nearly seven months.
Political parties will Tuesday discuss the report of a committee on system of government.
Maoists are pushing for a presidential system while NC and UML have proposed a prime ministerial system with a bicameral legislature.
Political parties agreed to hold regular discussions to resolve differences on more than 200 issues.
The suggestions have to be sent to the main constitution drafting committee chaired by Nilambar Acharya by 15 November to write a draft of a constitution.
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ARMY CHIEF BEGINS UK VISIT MONDAY

Kathmandu, 4 Oct. Army Chief Gen. Chatraman Singh Gurung begins His official tour of United Kingdom Monday.
This is Gen. Gurung’s third foreign trip after assuming office two years ago.
Nepal Army (NA) said human rights won’t be discussed during the visit adding there’s zero tolerance to human rights abuses in NA which has punished violators.
NA said this amid calls on Britain from some rights groups not to provide military assistance to Nepal.
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AUSPICIOUS TIME FOR TIKA

Kathmandu, 4 Oct. Auspicious time for tika on Bijaya Dashimi this year is at 10.43 Sunday 17 October.
This was stated by Nepal Panchayan Nirnayak Samiti.
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WRIT AGAINST ELECTION COMMISSION

Kathmandu, 4 Oct.: A writ was registered at the supreme court challenging the decision of the election commission not include persons who don’t have citizenship cards in a digitalized voter’s list.
Advocate Sunil Ranjan Shah demanded an interim order to stop the process until a court verdict.
Shah said millions of people will be denied their right to vote if persons without citizenship aren’t included in the digitalized voters’ list.
Election commission said at least five million non-citizens voted in the April 2008 constituent assembly election swept by Maoists.
Terai-based parties are obstructing the latest process to register voters to prevent fraudulent voting in the next general election.
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JAPANESE SATELLITE RCEIVING STATION

Kathmandu, 4 Oct.: The first Japanese satellite signal receiving station in South Asia was inaugurated at the head office of the International Center for
Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Sunday in the capital.
Shinichi Mizumoto from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Jose Achache, Executive Director of Group on Earth Observation and ICIMOD Director General Andreas Schild jointly inaugurated the station.
“The commissioning of the Japanese satellite signal receiving station will augment our ability to access satellite dada on a real-time basis and process them for rapid response mapping support in the region.” said Basanta Shrestha of ICIMOD.
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SPORTS

NEPAL PLAYS HONG KONG

Kathmandu, 4 Oct. In its first outing, Nepal will meet Hong Kong Monday in the ACC U-19 Women’s Championship being hosted by Singapore.
Nepal is in Group A along with Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuwait and Qatar.
The tournament concludes 12 October.
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BILAM LAL RECOGNIZED

Kathmandu, 4 Oct.: Bilam Lal Shrestha has become the second Nepali to FIDE Master (FM) after winning the final round game in the 39th Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk Sunday.
Manish Hamal is the first Nepali FM.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“Only an agreement between UML and Maoists isn’t understanding. Only an agreement between all parties is national understanding.”

(UML leader KP Sharma Oli, Naya Patrika, 4 Oct.)
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AMID PROTEST, GOVT. FOILS VOTING OF TIBET GOVT- IN- EXILE

Kathmandu, 4 Oct.: Nepali authorities Sunday foiled the primary polls organization by Tibetan refugees in various locations in Kathmandu Valley to nominate candidates for the post of prime minister and members of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Kosh Raj Koirala reports in Republica.
Officials of the Home Ministry said police personnel were mobilized to foil the voting to nominate the successor of Samdhong Rimpoche and 44 other members of the Tibetan government-in-exile at Syambhu, Baudha and Jawalakhel areas as ‘it violated Nepal’s foreign policy and existing laws of the host country’.
Hundreds of Tibetan refugees living in Kathmandu Valley had gathered in Syamghu, Baudha and Jawalakhel to take part in the voting that began at 9 am. While the voting in Syambhu and Baudha were halted after police seized the ballot boxes, the refugees leaders had agreed not to conduct voting in Jawalakhel following police intervention.
However, no arrests were made in connection with the incident.
According to Superintendent of Police Ramesh Kharel, chief of Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, police seized 10 ballot boxes from Baudha and eight others from Syambhu to foil the voting. The refugees had dispersed themselves after the seizure of the ballot boxes.
The Tibetan refugees gathered at Jawalakhel likewise halted their voting program after police personnel reached the venue, said Bikram Thapa, chief of Metropolitan Police Range Office, Lalitpur.
‘The refugees gathered dispersed on their own after police team reached there,” he said.
A text message received by this scribe from a Tibetan refugee leader in Kathmandu said that the Tibetans were bared from going inside the election spot to cast their votes and ballot boxes were seized.
‘It is totally against human rights as we believe all people should be allowed to vote,” said the text message.
The Home Ministry in a statement Sunday evening said the voting act of Tibetan refugees to organize ‘so-called election’ violating Nepal’s foreign policy and existing laws of the land of the host country has drawn serious attention of the ministry.
The statement says Nepal always respects sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbouring countries and that it is committed no tto allow any activities that are detrimental to their interests on its soil.
According to the election commission of the Central Tibetan Administration, altogether 79,449 people registered to vote for the prime minister and members of the Tibetan government-in exile. This includes some 20,000 Tibetan refugees living in Nepal.
The election commission originally planned to complete the preliminary rounds held on Sunday in a month from Tibetan settlements all over India, Bhutan and Nepal and from North America,.
The general election, according to Tibetan refugee leaders, attaches greater significance as it will elect new leadership that will have crucial responsibility to lead Tibetan movement since aging Dalai Lama, 73, has already signaled his retirement anytime soon.
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NAGA LEADER MISSING AFTER LANDING AT TIA

Kathmandu, 4 Oct.: The Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights (NPMH) has accused the Nepal Government of colluding with India’s intelligence agency RAW in enforcing an involuntary disappearance of Anthony Shing aka Ningkhan Shimray from Tribhuvan International Airport since Sept. 27, The Kathmandu Post reports.

He is the Head of Foreign Affairs of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM). NSCN-IM has been holding peace talks with the Indian Government since 1997, read a release issued by Gina Shangkham, secretary general of NPMH.

“Shing went missing after he landed on Sept. 27, 2010. He was on his way to India to attend the next round of peace talks scheduled to start

on Sept. 29,” the statement further read.

He was to take the flight to New Delhi on the morning of Sept. 28 to join the peace talk team on time. He flew from Bangkok with Nepal Airlines flight number AR 402.

“Two acquaintances and the driver of the hotel’s pick-up service waited for him at the airport for hours, but he did not appear nor did he get in touch with the hotel or anyone else of his contacts in Kathmandu,” the statement added.

“Investigations initiated by a human rights group in Kathmandu shows that he landed at the airport and crossed the immigration without any problem but was abducted/arrested by the Research and Analysis Wing (an external intelligence wing of India) in collusion with the Government of Nepal inside the airport,” mentioned the release.

When asked about the incident and alleged involvement of Indian intelligence agency, spokesperson at Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, Apoorva Srivastava expressed ignorance.
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FULL TEXT OF AN INTERVIEW OF ACTING CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSIONER NILKANTHA UPRETY WITH THE KATHMANDU POST MONDAY


The Election Commission is in the middle of a nationwide campaign to prepare a new digitised electoral roll to replace the old paper-based roll, which it believes is erroneous. The Madhesi parties have been demanding that the new roll be prepared on the basis of the old roll instead of citizenship certificates. Acting Chief Election Commissioner Nilkantha Uprety has been strongly defending creating the new roll on the basis of citizenship certificates even as cadres of Madhesi parties have disrupted the campaign in some Tarai districts. Biswas Baral and Pranab Kharel of The Kathmandu Post talk with Uprety about the need to make citizenship certificates the basis for new roll, possible alternative arrangements and the challenges for the current campaign.



What is the main aim of the new campaign?



The Election Commission is in the process of making a new electoral roll. The new roll will be the basis of voter IDs with

photos of the voters. In the process, we have to meet each voter personally and take their electronic photos. We also scan finger prints. The reason for these provisions is to ensure that one person can only vote once from one constituency. The aim is to make the voting, as I like to call it, ‘genuine’. For us to hold genuine elections, we need a genuine electoral roll or voter list that consists of both voter photo and their fingerprints. Our main objective is to create an environment for free and fair elections in the future.



Why have you made citizenship certificates mandatory to obtain the new voter ID?



The old electoral roll has neither the voter photo nor the fingerprints. It is also inaccurate. It consists of names of non-existent voters, those who have shifted places or even those who have already died. A single person has registered multiple times inflating the number of voters. Previous elections could not be as free and fair as they could have been. We reached a decision to issue new voter IDs with photographs after extensive consultations with national and international observers and deliberations within the Election Commission.

In light of the various inconsistencies I have mentioned, it was felt that the basis of voter registration should be an identification card with voter photo. Ideally, the card should certify that a person is a Nepali citizen, has reached the age of 16 (or 18 to be eligible to vote) and clearly mentions their ancestry. As a citizenship certificate meets all these criteria, we have asked for it. If any other document made these things clear, those too could have been considered. Right now a citizenship certificate is the strongest basis for the identification of a Nepali citizen. Since there is no alternative document in Nepal which comes close achieving that objective we decided to make citizenship certificates the basis.



The Madhesi parties are in favour of issuance of new voter IDs on the basis of the old electoral roll.



Yes, they have asked for the old

electoral roll to be used, to which, they propose, we add new photos. There have

also been proposals for prompt distribution of new citizenship certificates. But if we try to move ahead by standing on the foundation of inaccuracies, there will be more inaccuracies. If the input is flawed, the output too is bound to be flawed. Besides, we have to be extremely careful as the country is still in a state of transition. We have to exercise extreme care that the decisions now made do not in any way hamper the country’s future.

All the national and international stakeholders have clearly said that the electoral system in Nepal needs improvement. But that cannot happen so long as we start with an inaccurate document. We have already seen how effective making citizenship certificates the basis for voting can be in the 2009 by-elections, which have been judged by both national and international observers are more free and fair compared to the 2008 CA polls when there was no such provision.

The government reportedly wants to make the new voter IDs the basis for issuance of national identity cards. Is this also the reason why you have been insisting on citizenship certificates?



That is true. We have had to be extra careful in voter registration as the government has made new voter IDs the basis for national identity cards. These identity cards are not only for electoral purposes. A person will need that for any job that involves

identifying themselves as Nepalis throughout their lives. It will replace citizenship certificates as their main source of identification. It is important that the new database be as error-free as possible for the preparation of a database for such an important document.

Interestingly, after the success of the 2009 by-elections there was widespread consensus among the parties on the need for voter identification on the basis

of citizenship certificates. It was this consensus that set the ball rolling for the current campaign.



How do you evaluate the resistance to the campaign in parts of the Tarai?



I don’t see why there should be such resistance. This campaign has been initiated to secure people’s right to free and fair voting. As I said, we started this campaign after extensive interaction with (and subsequent support of) the political parties—all the parties. We have successfully tested it as a pilot project and also evaluated its benefit by learning from international experience. But despite this, some political parties have been creating hurdles in some parts of Tarai, especially in Kapilvastu, Nawalparasi, Rupandehi and Banke. They are now saying that either we make the old electoral roll the basis of registration or only start the voter ID campaign after all the people now without citizenship certificates get them.

We have since spoken to the political parties and they maintain that the campaign in itself is not bad but first the issue of citizenship should be solved. I don’t see why the issue of citizenship should create a hurdle. Granting of citizenship is a never-ending process. You cannot say I will distribute citizenship to all people at once and be done with it. You will have to keep issuing new certificates for those who come of age every day. You will also have to keep making adjustments to the electoral roll when there is migration or death. If there are genuine Nepalis without citizenship certificates, the government should take steps to provide them with those documents. But why stop the campaign?

If there are new voters we can always adjust them into the electronic roll. If you say that the campaign cannot go ahead unless all the eligible Nepalis are given citizenship certificates at once, you are as good as saying that the campaign should not be started at all.



You say all political parties were taken into confidence before the campaign was started. Why the resistance then?



We have consulted with them many, many times. To be honest, I don’t know what they want. Many of these politicians are themselves in the government or have served in the government in the past. If it is their wish to see citizenship certificates in the hands of each and every Nepali, why didn’t they simply distribute them?

When the campaign has moved ahead with their consent and when so many Nepalis have expressed their confidence in it and are singing up in droves, some parties have shown no shame in depriving these people of their rights. But the same parties are also not committed to getting the citizenship certificates for those who don’t have them. What they have been doing instead is inciting their cadres to disturb the campaign. Instead of solving the genuine issues, the effort seems to be to sabotage this widely accepted campaign. This is not a good sign.



Are you still in talks with Madhesi parties?



Yes, we are in constant touch with all the political parties as well as government representatives. I have been in almost daily consultations with the prime minister and we have his full support. The political parties say they will help us, but also insist that the citizenship issue should first be solved in total. I believe our campaign as well as our consultations will continue in the near future. The problem will soon be sorted out. There is no alternative.
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PM for tabling budget by Oct 27

Kathmandu, 4 Oct.:: Caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal today [Sunday] dwelt on the budget and the nation’s financial health in a meeting with the parties, which have representatives in the Constituent Assembly, and former finance ministers at his office. The leaders were positive on the PM’s proposal to table the budget by October 27 and pass it by mid-November, the Himalayan Times reports.

“The PM has directed us to make preparations to table

the budget in the House between October 24 and 27,” said Rameshwor Khanal, Finance Secretary. “After mid-November basic services of the government, including essential services

at the hospitals and prisons will be halted,” Khanal said.

According to him, development work has already been hampered due to the non-tabling of budget and demand of cement, rods and other construction material has gone down, decreasing their production, which would ultimately hit the financial health of the country.

The meeting was called to forge consensus and seek support of the parties to pass the budget. During the meeting, Governor Yubaraj Khatiwada, vice-chairman of National Planning Commission Jagadish Chandra Pokhrel and Finance Secretary Rameswor Khanal briefed the leaders on the

grim situation of nation’s financial status.

However, representatives of the Unified CPN-Maoist and Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Nepal were not present during the meeting.

Emerging from the meeting, CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal said financial crisis would deepen if the government failed to bring budget by mid-November. “Parties suggested to bring the budget by October 27 after consulting the main opposition party,” he said. Khanal added that the parties would begin discussion on the budget and government formation process. “Caretaker government should be allowed to bring the budget if we fail to form government by then,” he said.

Pashupati Shumsher Rana of the RPP said the parties were for fixing a date — if new government was not formed by then the caretaker government should bring the budget. NC leader Ram Saran Mahat, however, said his party would not create hurdles in bringing the budget. Co-chairman of Rastriya Janashakti Party Prakash Chandra Lohani said the budget should not be obstructed linking it to political agenda.
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Former king visiting India

Kathmandu, 4 Oct. Former King Gyanendra and Queen Komal are visiting India at the end of Kartik [Nov.] on a week-long visit, Jana Bhavana reports.
They’re attending a wedding of their relative.
They are attending the wedding of the son of Maharaja Gaj Singh in Jodpur.
The former royal couple will be transiting New Delhi where no meetings will take place.
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