SPECIAL SESSION THURSDAY

Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: A special session on parliament adjourned last Sunday meets Thursday.
The meeting will discuss Maoist proposal for the election of a prime minister to replace Caretaker Government Chief Madhav Kumar Nepal who resigned 30 Jun on Maoist but continues without in office without election of a replacement even in 16 rounds of voting in parliament.
Maoists have also introduced a resolution to amend parliamentary procedures to adopt a new procedure to elect a prime minister.
No amendment proposals were registered in parliament on pending resolutions Wednesday by parties that failed to negotiate an outlet to the prolonged crisis even in four days set aside for negotiations,.
Speaker Subash Nemwang set aside Thursday and Friday for debate on resolutions introduced Maoists and six other parties.
NC, UML and Madesh parties have decided to vote against Maoist resolutions in the legislature.
Without a majority, Maoist moves in parliament will be folied.
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MAOISTS ASK ENVOYS TO HELP EXTEND UNMIN STAY

Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: Maoist Chairman Prachanda Wednesday asked ambassadors of five permanent members of the UN security council to help extend the tenure of UNMIN that ends 15 January 2011.
The council at thee previous joint request of government and Maoists decided to withdraw from Nepal four years after coming to the Himalayan state to help conduct constituent assembly elections in April 2008 and help conclude the peace process that has hit a roadblock.
Ruling parties-- NC and UML—oppose extension of the tenure
without changing the he terms of the mandate to take Nepal Army off the UNMIN watch.
Prachanda held discussions with ambassadors of USA, Russia, China, Great Britain and France.
NC and UML have decided to reinforce the special committee headed by the prime minister for integration, resettlement and supervision of former Maoist combatants.
UNMIN Chief Karin Landgren held discussions with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and discussed departure and impact on peace process after UNMIN withdrawal.
UNMIN asked the premier to help in a convenient departure and asked government to prepare an environment for departure.
Nepal asked Landgren to handover UNMIN logistics to help continue integration and resettlement after the agency’s departure.
“I stressed the heed for creating conditions for the smooth departure of UNMIN. We don’t want to see any complications when the mission closes on January 15.
“We want to do the maximum for UNMIN’s side to have a smooth and orderly departure with no complication on January 15,” she told reporters after meeting Nepal.
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INDIAN ARMY CHIEF RETURNS HOME THURSDAY

Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: Indian Army Chief Gen. Bijaya Kumar Singh returns home Thursday after concluding a three-day official visit.
Singh was conferred the rank of honourary general of Nepal Army (NA) by President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav Wednesday.
Singh’s Nepali counterpart Gen. Chatraman Singh Gruung, has
Already been appointed honourary general of Indian Army reflecting normalized ties between the two Asian countries and their armies.
Singh held separate discussions with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Defence Minister Bidya Bhandari Wednesday.
The visiting army chief told Bhandary India will help Nepal in military support.
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LANDGREN IN BURUNDI

Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: UNMIN Chief Karin Landgren is being appointed head of the UN mission in Burundi.
She conveyed this to Prime Minister Madav Kumar Nepal at a meeting Wednesday, according to Rajan Bhattarai, Foreign Advisor of Nepal.
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

NEPSE GAINS

Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: Nepse gained 3.48 points Wednesday and closed at 394.84 points on the fourth day of five-day weekly trading,
The market gained a marginal 0.39 points Tuesday.
Altogether 93,000 shares were traded for Rs 20.76 million in 1,799 transactions.
Shares of commercial bank, hydro power companies and industries gained.
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GUNA AIRLINES TO ACQUIRE BEACHCRAFT-1900

Kathmandu, 23 Dec. : Guna Airlines Pvt. Ltd is acquiring an 18-seater Beachcraft-1900.
The airline will expand its services when the fourth aircraft joins the fleet.
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REVENUE FLYING SQUAD

Kathmandu, 23 Dec,: The launch of a revenue flying squad was announced Thursday by the finance ministry,
Complaints from individuals and institutions have been sought over hotline,
Phone: 01-4211334; Fax.: 01-4211605.
Revenue collected following complaints will be shared according to law.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

‘They [ambassadors of five permanent members of the security council] told us that yet another renewal of UNMIN’s mandate would not be possible as the government had requested the security council for a final extension in last September.”

(Maoist Vice-chairman Narayan Kazi Shrestha, Republica 23 Dec.)

“Is a foreign national staying legally or illegally? His [Rubel Chandhary] activities should be investigated. It’ll be good when questions have been raised.”

(NC General Secretary Prakash Man Singh, Kantipur, 23 Dec.)


“What special role does Sujata Korala think her family holds in Nepali society. What is the meaning of her remark aimed at Paras Shah, ‘a person who has the nerves to shoot at the daughter of the deputy prime minister can murder a citizen. Are her family members bt general citizens? Shah may be at fault, but Koirala’s implying that her family are above the general citizenry shown that there are other problems.”

(Keshab Puskar, The Kathmandu Post, 23 Dec.)
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FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIALS TRAINED IN INDIA





Kathmandu, 23 Dec. : - Parliamentarians at the meeting of the International Relations and Human Rights Committee of the Legislature Parliament seriously debated the issue of sending section officers of the Foreign Ministry to India, The Rising Nepal reports.
Moreover, the Maoist lawmakers demanded rethinking on the subject of sending the section officers of the Foreign Ministry to train them in India as foreign affairs was a serious issue.
However, lawmakers of other political parties said that the section officers should not be stopped going to India if the training was to be fruitful for their empowerment in terms of international relations as well as for the ministry itself.
The parliamentarians could not come to a conclusion despite holding three-hour long discussions.
The meeting, held under the chairmanship of Padma Bahadur Bishwokarma just agreed informally on sending foreign ministry staff to take specialized training that cannot be organized in Nepal, and could not make any formal decision.
The parliamentarians decided to ask about the curriculum and purpose of the training.
The UCPN-Maoist lawmakers Chandra Parasad Gajurel, Shivram Yadav, Jog Bahadur Mahara and Shanta Bahadur Nepali demanded for the rethink of the foreign ministry decision while parliamentarian Binda Pandey and others said that they should be barred without any study as they were going for gaining knowledge.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Madan Bhattarai said that the Ministry had already given training to the newly appointed 28 section officers.
The Ministry decided to send the staff to India with an aim of producing skilled manpower in the international affairs, Bhattarai said.
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INDIA READY TO SUPPLY MILITARYLOGISTICS; INDIAN ARMY CHIEF





Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: - Supreme Commander of the Nepal Army President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav Wednesday evening conferred the rank of ‘Honorary Chief General of the Nepal Army,’ on visiting Indian Army Chief General Vijay Kumar Singh amidst a special function held at President’s Office, Shital Niwas, The Rising Nepal reports.
President Dr. Yadav conferred a sword, insignia and a cap on him during the function.
Minister for Defence Bidhya Devi Bhandari and other ministers were also present.
At the function, high level Nepal Army officials including CoAS Gurung and Indian Army officials were present.
After receiving the honorary title, General Singh paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal at the latter’s office in Singh Durbar. .
Bishnu Rijal, press advisor of Prime Minister Nepal, said that the meeting was purely for a courtesy call. "The meeting did not focus on any specific issues," Rijal said.
On the occasion, Gen Singh thanked the Nepal government for honouring him with the rank of honorary Army General of Nepal and said it reflected the close ties between Nepal and India.
It has been a cultural practice to confer the honorary title on the Indian Army chief General during their goodwill visit after the diplomatic relationship between Nepal and India in 1950s was established.
The Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Chhatra Man Singh Gurung received a similar rank during his India visit from Indian President Pratibha Patil.
Likewise, General Singh called on Defence Minister Bidhya Devi Bhandari at Singha Durbar this afternoon.
During the meeting, General Singh assured that India was ready to assist Nepal with all kinds of security logistics as demanded at any time.
"India is ready to assist Nepal with military assistance including all logistics required by the NA," Defence Minister’s press advisor Subash Devkota quoted Gen Singh as saying.
"At first I think Nepal’s proposal or demands must reach the Indian government seeking weapons for strengthening of NA’s structure only then India could supply all required security related logistics at any time Nepal asks for," Gen. Singh told Bhandari in their half-an hour meeting.
NA, however, has not received required security logistics from neighbouring countries after the signing of Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the government and the UCPN (Maoist).
Devkota said that Gen Singh thanked the Nepal government and NA for inviting him to Nepal and gave special thanks for conferring the honorary title of the Chief General of the Nepal Army on him from the hands of Supreme Commander of NA President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav.
While talking to journalists, Gen Singh said that as Nepal and India enjoyed long bilateral and cultural relationships with both the government of Nepal and Nepal Army, Indian Army was willing to send its army officers at

Army Staff College for taking part in various levels of training and programmes.
Earlier in the morning, Gen. Singh visited Birendra Peace Operations Training Centre, in Kavrepalanchwok district.
The training centre is the only one centre to prepare the army personnel for the UN peace keeping mission in different countries.
Talking to journalists Gen Singh commented, "I am sure that the ties between Nepal and India will be further strengthened in the coming days."
On January 21, 2010, Gen. Deepak Kapoor was also conferred ‘Honorary Chief of the Nepal Army’ by Dr. Yadav.
The Indian Army Chief General arrived in the Capital on Monday for a three-day visit at a special invitation of the Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Chhatra Man Singh Gurung.

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Over 50,000 PASSPORTS FORGED IN 6 MONTHS

Kathmandu, 23 Dec 23: The Office of Prime Minister and Council of Minister (OPMCM) has directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to tighten and regulate the passport distribution system at the earliest, suspecting that thousands of forged passports were distributed over the period of last six months, Bimal Gautam writes in Republica.

The number of manual passport seekers had amazingly increased after April 1, 2009, the time since when the government started distributing passports from the capital.

"Our rough estimate suggests more than 50 thousand passports could have been issued based on forged documents within the period as MoFA officials did not follow the proper citizenship verification mechanism before issuing a passport," said OPMCM Secretary Lila Mani Paudyal.

"The MoFA officials briefed us that nearly 2,000 to 2,500 passports were issued each day over the period of six months starting April. They informed us that earlier the total number of passports issued each day from all the 75 District Administration Offices (DAOs) ranged from 1,000 to 1,200," he added.

He however clarified that further investigation is needed to find out the exact number of passports issued during the period. "Forged passports could have serious ramifications to the country in future thus we have to investigate and regulate passport distribution system," he said.

According to him, the document sent by Nepali Embassy in Kuwait to OPMCM is enough to claim that thousands of forged passports were issued in six months of period. "Nepal´s ambassador to Kuwait has sent us evidence of 34 forged passports recently. He found those forged passports in a short period of investigation. He informed us that the number of forged passports could increase," Secretary Paudyal informed Republica. All forged passports uncovered by Nepali Embassy in Kuwait were issued in the six months period.

According to Secretary Paudyal, there are mainly three reasons behind the growing number of passport seekers and subsequent distribution of forged passports.

First, racketeers in various parts of the country are involved in producing forged citizenship card which is essential for passport. Second, foreign employment brokers provoked innocent people to secure hand written passport before the introduction of Machine Readable Passport (MRP) citing various reasons. Third, the government´s weak verification mechanism for issuing passports.

One has to produce citizenship card before government officials to claim for passport. Paudyal fears that some racketeers could have been involved in developing fake citizenship documents in view that they could use such fake citizenships to acquire passport in future by tampering the documents.

According to OPMCM, foreign employment brokers and forged citizenship racketeers could have provoked people to secure a manual passport before the issuance of MRP saying that manual are better for them for future purpose.

"Brokers have been telling people that they can send them abroad by changing photos in their passports if they secure manual passports. Changing photos form one passport to another is impossible in MRP. This could have prompted the long queue outside the foreign ministry," he argued.

According to OPMCM, there is a big variation between the demand of Nepali workers in abroad and the number of passport seekers in capital during six months of period. "This variation doesn´t justify the double issuance of passport," Paudayal added.


MoFA asked to decentralize passport distribution system

Following weak passport distribution mechanism, the OPMCM has asked MoFA to make preparation to decentralize the passport distribution system.

"Documents of those who apply for passport must be cross-verified by respective Chief District Officers (CDOs) because they can instantly verify the seeker´s citizenship. The MoFA can decide whether or not to issue passport based on CDO´s verification. This mechanism will help curb the rise in the number of forged passport," Secretary Paudyal added.

Forensic Unit in MoFA
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set up a separate unit of forensic experts from Nepal Police at its premises to check doubtful documents that could be used to acquire machine readable passports (MRP).

"The experts started working from Sunday," said an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding that the move was taken to check fraudulent activities.
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CHINA SEEKS WATCH CROSS BORDER
Kathmandu, 23 Dec.:-
The six-member delegation headed by the Director of Public Security Department of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), Li Zhao, has offered to assist Nepal’s security forces being deployed along the Nepal- China border and underlined the need to control illegal immigrants from both sides, The Kathmandu Post reports.

In a meeting with the Nepali team led by Home Secretary Govinda Kusum on Wednesday, the Chinese side pledged to provide Rs. 5 million (0.5 million RMB) to Nepali security agencies for logistic support. The Chinese team also held a meeting with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.

“They raised the issues of illegal drug trafficking and human trafficking across the border” said an official who attended the meeting. During the talks, the Chinese panel sought stern measures to contain the illegal immigration across the border, the official said. “Most Chinese concerns were usual and regular types, and they urged Nepal to watch out for anti-Chinese movement,” he added. The Chinese delegation also held meetings with chiefs of the Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force and the National Investigation Department. “The Chinese side sought Nepal’s firm commitment to one-China policy and Tibetan issue,” the official said.

The two sides also decided to hold a meeting of senior officials to exchange security related matters in July end, the official said.

In last July, the two countries had set up a high-level mechanism to share information on security matters to contain anti-China activities in Nepal. They had also agreed to curb illegal cross-border activities and the Chinese side had assured full support to enhance capacity building of the Nepali security officials to be deployed across the northern border.

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TWO SUSPECTED SOUTH KOREAN SPIES ASKED TO LEAVE NEPAL

Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: Two South Koreans who have been living in
Nepal for 10 years after marrying Nepali women, have been told by Central Immigration Department to leave the country in 10 days, Nagarik reports.
Choi Won Sup and Son Hack Dal activities were auspicious and have been told to leave the country.
Police suspect they are Korean spies.
The South Koreans helped smuggle out a North Korean from Nepal to India who where he has landed in South Korea.
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COLOMBO APOLOGY

Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister for External Affairs Neomal Perera has apologized to Nepal on behalf of Lanka’s government over false claims that Nepal had invited President Mahinda Rajapakse to be a peace mediator a few weeks ago when the two presidents were in Beijing, Republica reports quoting Sri Lanka’s Guardian.
… the Lankan deputy minister pleaded with PM Madhav Kumar Nepal to forgive the Sri Lankan government over the false claim.
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NEPAL AIRLINES STRIKE GROUNDS DOMESIC FLIGHTS FOR 8 DAYS
Kathmandu, 23 Dec.: Four Twin Otter planes that Nepal Airlines Corporation has in operation have been grounded for the last eight days with NAC employees disrupting domestic flights, The Himalayan Times reports.

The employee unions at the national flag carrier are demanding that NAC management and the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation revoke the decision of allowing Air Arabia to fly Kathmandu-Kuala Lumpur route enjoying the fifth freedom right.

The fifth freedom right allows an airline to carry passengers from one’s own country to a second country and from that country to a third country.

“We will not let NAC operate domestic flights till Friday‚” said Nimananda Khanal‚ Vice President of NAC Employees’ Organisation.

Air Arabia flight on the route has also been temporarily suspended.

Three Twin Otters have been grounded in Kathmandu and one in Biratnagar since December 15.

The national flag carrier on average operates 15 domestic flights daily to several destinations with its four of the seven 19-seater DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft. Three Twin Otter aircraft are already grounded due to technical problems. With the flights halted‚ thousands of passengers at different airports have been left in the lurch.

Employees at NAC say the ministry is trying to damage the national flag carrier by allowing Air Arabia to fly on its most profitable route. They claim that letting Air Arabia fly on Kathmandu-Kuala Lumpur route was illegal and that the ministry decided to let it fly on the route without NAC consent.

However‚ the Nepal Airlines Act-2019 states that the ministry ‘may need advice not the consent’. Earlier‚ Parliamentary Committee on International Relations and Human Rights directed the ministry to rollback the decision.

Air Arabia was scheduled to start flying from December 16.

NAC flies six flights a week on Kathmandu-Kuala Lumpur route. However‚ it has been able to operate only three flights as one of its aircraft has been grounded.
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