SUSHIL KOIRALA ALSO CRITICAL OF UN

Kathmandu, 9 Jan. NC President Sushil Koirala is the latest political luminary to criticize last UNMIN Chief Karin Landgren’s last report to the UN security Wednesday’s presenting a grim political situation in Nepal.
report.
She says there were possibilities of a renewed people’s war already threatened by Maoists, presidential and even military rule.
Koirala said conjectures in the report, the last to council before UNMIN withdraws from Nepal after three years, were baseless amid political uncertainty.
Questions are being asked what will happen to containers with Maoist verified weapons in seven cantonments as UN arms monitors started returning home last week.
UNMIN says it can’t handover the containers and logistics to the government which wants them to be monitored by a special committee headed by the prime minister; the special committee has Maoist representatives.
Maoists have proposed a separate body of Nepal Army and Maoist representatives to monitor the verified weapons.
UCPN (Maoist) through a majority vote in the central committee has already adopted a strategy to renew people’s movement if a constitution isn’t promulgated by 26 May and the peace process has run has also hit a roadblock.
No substantive discussion has been held in the last six months to complete a draft of a constitution to institutionalize a republic declared by a self-appointed unelected parliament.
Parties have concentrated their attention only in power grabbing.
Reaction of political parties to the Landgren report has been almost hysterical with parties not even ready for self-criticism for their adventurism n the last four years that has created the present t crisis and uncertainty.
President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, who is supposed to be a ceremonial president, is already criticism at home for intervening on behalf of
18 political parties to retain an army chief sacked by an elected government although the procedures adopted were questionable.
Seed of presidential rule was sown by the president and 18political parties.
The way the president has bee conducting public activities doesn’t
Indicate he’ll limit himself to a purely ceremonial status as envisaged in the constitution.
Landgren was scheduled to return to base from New York to close down operations after three years in Nepal.
Nnnn


RECALL RUKMA S. RANA SAY PARLIAMENT
COMMITTEE

Kathmandu, 9 Jan.: Parliaments international and human rights committee Sunday directed government to recall Ambassador to India Rukma S. Rana
The committee concluded Rana, as a managing director of Dabar Nepal, shouldn’t continue in office while the Indian joint venture in being investigated by CIAA for management shortcomings, Padma Lal Bishwakarma said.
Rana is only a shareholder of the company without daily management responsibilities.
The committee also directed the foreign ministry to investigate alleged misappropriation of compensation of Nepali workers by Ambassador Hamid Ansari.
Nnnn

UML CENTRAL COMMITTEE RESCHEDULED

Kathmandu, 9 Jan. The 6th central committee of the UML that was
to begin Sunday has been postponed, the party said.
The meet to discuss agenda items not covered by the last central committee meet.
The meeting was postponed for discussions with other parties, standing committee member Amrit Bohara said.
The party is deeply divided between pro-Nepali and Anti-Maoist camps ahead of parliament’s winter session which begins Sunday.
nnnn



NINE NAXALS KILLED IN ORISSA

Kathmandu, 9 Jan. Nine Nawals or Maoists were killed by Indian security forces in an operation in a thick jungle in Raighad, Orissa state, where huge caches of arms and ammunition were also recovered, radio reports said Sunday.
Naxals reportedly have 19 bases in the state.
nnnn


NO AGREEMENT ON ELECTION SYSTEM

Kathmandu. 9 Jan. A meeting of 28 political parties to discuss form of future governance was inconclusive Sunday.
Differences of election systems to be adopted were also inconclusive.
The parties in the constituent assembly are trying to narrow down
differences on 83 contentious issues.
The parties took over the responsibility from an empowered task force led by Chairman Prachanda.
Nnnn

.


MORE DETAILS ON WINTER SESSION





Kathmandu, 9 Jan.: The Government has registered two new bills and four ordinances to be tabled at the regular winter session of the Legislature-Parliament to begin tomorrow [Sunday] RSS reports.
The Finance Ordinance, Appropriation Ordinance, Ordinance to Raise Public Debt and Credit and Deposit 18th Amendment Ordinance, 2011 has been registered for ratification by the regular session of the parliament, according to spokesperson of the Legislature-Parliament, Mukunda Sharma.
It may be noted that the Government had presented the budget for fiscal year 2010/11 through an Ordinance.
Likewise, the Government has also registered the Bill related to Contempt of Court and Public Procurement Bill (first amendment).
All preparations for tomorrow’s session has been completed, Sharma said while adding that nearly two dozen bills and ordinances have been included in the agenda of the session that has been called with a priority on the election of the Prime Minister.
Likewise, there are 48 bills presented for the Bill session of Parliament, including the NGO bill. Of them, nearly 11 have been registered, six have already been presented and 18 bills are under consideration at the Legislation Committee.
Likewise, previous bills including the Bill related to the formation of Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Disappearance of Persons (Crime and Punishment) Bill and Investment Board Bill are also under consideration at the parliament, the Secretariat has said.

Nnnn


SHRINKING HABITAT THREAT TO WATER BIRDS





Kathmandu, 9 Jan. 8 - Various species of water birds traced during 25 years of counting were facing massive threats, experts said, Purusottam Khatri writes in The Rising Nepal.
Shrinking habitats, shortage of preys and illegal poaching led to decline in the number of water birds in Nepal.
Mid-winter water birds, which count to around 200 species in Nepal, were facing acute threat from loss of proper habitats, shortage of their preys, outer disturbances to their habitats, illegal hunting and poaching led to massive reduction in their number every year, ornithologists said.
Dr. Hem Sagar Baral, senior ornithologist, talking to The Rising Nepal on the occasion of 25th Water Bird Count Day Saturday, said regular counting of different species of water birds was going on in Nepal for the past 25 years.
Dr. Baral, who is also the National Coordinator of Mid-winter Water Bird Count for Wetlands International, said that they had managed more than 200 volunteers across major wetlands of Nepal for proper counting of the birds.
Dr. Baral said the water birds counting will last for two weeks. He said the report of the counting of water birds from each wetland would be published in the statistics of water birds found in Nepal by Mid-April.
According to him, Nepal counted water birds every year in the month of January.
Dr. Baral said three to five species of water birds were not found in Nepal during their counting every next year.
He said the first counting of water birds was started from Ghodaghodi Lake Saturday. Some 200 volunteers will count water birds in various wetlands like -- Koshi Barrage Area, Rapti and Narayani rivers in Chitwan National Park, Bish Hajari lake, Gaindahawa lake in Lumbini, Jagadishpur wetland, Koshi Tappu wetland areas, Karnali and Badhaiya rivers in Bardiya National Park, and Suklaphanta wetland.
Counting of water birds in Kathmandu areas at Taudaha and around Bagmati river will also be held, Dr. Baral said.
Similarly, water birds of Pokhara’s 10 areas, including some major seven rivers and ponds, will also be counted.
Dr. Baral said water birds were especially declining in Koshi Tappu wetland areas, possibly because of various reasons like lack of proper habitats, shortage of preys

and disturbances to their habitats, climate change and breeding problems.
Water birds ratio, however, has been stable in Ghoda Ghodi lake, and Chitwan’s Narayani and Rapti rivers.
Asked about counting, mistakes and repetition, Dr. Baral said they had given one week training to local volunteers of the concerned areas to count birds led by a bird count leader.
The objectives of carrying out counting of water birds were to study and know the situation, their statistics, species and problems they had to encounter.
The report of the statistic of birds, and their situation and species would also be submitted to government when asked.

Nnnn









OPINION

UNMIN's EXIT GOOD FOR NEPAL

Kathmandu, 9 Jan.: The fear about a military coup or Maoist revolt expressed by Karin Landgren, the outgoing chief of the United Nations Mission to Nepal (UNMIN), at the UN Security Council and statements from several Maoist leaders in Nepal manifest how deeply they are about the mission shuttering its door soon, as the government has decided not to seek its extension. While the mission’s departure might look premature to many, there is reason to panic. It might actually prove to be coup de grace to obstructionism, which is dragging the peace process, and help us take the process to the finish line faster, writes Murari Sharma ,a former foreign secretary and ambassador to UN and United Kingdom, in Republica.

I had read an instructive and interesting story as a student in India about coup de grace. A family fell into hard times after the breadwinner father died. Rather than working to make a decent living, his three sons sold their property and lived on the proceeds. At last, they only had their house and a legume tree in their backyard left. They lived in poverty on the meager income from the sale of the legumes. Once, their father’s fast friend came to visit them. In the evening, the mother cooked all the rice they had which was not enough for more than two people.

Citing fake reasons, two elder brothers did not eat. The guest and the youngest son sat down for dinner, but the son ate little pretending that he was not hungry that much. At night, the guest heard the brothers telling a legume buyer that they would accept whatever he gave because they could not bargain much due to the guest’s presence in the house. When the brothers went to sleep after the trade, the guest felled the legume tree and left. Few years later, the same guest came back to see how the family was doing. The family, now prosperous, treated him very well and expressed their gratitude for cutting off the legume tree and forcing them to work to make a living, which had made them wealthy.

Change, always unsettling, is often rewarding. The UNMIN’s impending departure has rattled many nerves, because its presence has been reassuring to many of us in that the United Nations, an institution where Nepal also has a stake and some voice, was watching over the peace process. I have witnessed in the seven years working with the world body, other countries, where UN missions have been closed, have often felt the same way, but become more self-reliant and stronger after the UN mission left, from Cambodia to Mozambique to Guatemala.

That is what I expect to happen in Nepal too. Once the UNMIN leaves, both the Maoists and the other political parties will have to either advance the peace process more diligently on their own or accept facilitation from a country that has more resources and political influence than the UNMIN to lean on the recalcitrant side. Either way, they will have to bridge the wide gulf on such key issues as the integration of Maoist combatants, formation of government and writing of the new constitution and carry the peace process to its logical end.
UNMIN’s departure will be good for Nepal. It will force both the Maoists and other political parties to make new compromises and fulfill old commitments. The Maoists will no more have the mission that has offered a curtain behind which they could continue paying lip service to peace while preparing for revolution.

While the Maoists want all their combatants integrated into the army, other political parties and the military have opposed the idea. Their opposition has further intensified after a video footage of the speech given by Maoist Supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal at the Shaktikhor cantonment outlining his strategy to politicize the army and capture the state, was leaked to the media.

Nepal is heading to break all records of working under a caretaker government, which has already been more than five months. The process of electing a new prime minster has hit a tactical stalemate. Desperate to become prime minister again, Dahal used the UML President Jhalanath Khanal to kick out his own UML colleague Madhav Nepal from the chair. In apparent retaliation, the caretaker Prime Minister Nepal has prevented both Dahal and Khanal from becoming prime minister. And the Nepali Congress and Maoists would not support each other.

It has become increasingly clear that the constituent assembly would not be able to deliver a new constitution within the extended timeframe. While the Maoists want to write a “people’s constitution” and keep their combatants in cantonments until the general elections are held under the new legal framework, other parties want a democratic constitution completed only after the combatants have been disbanded. The technical reasons cited for a lack of progress, some of them serious, seem more to be the Potemkin’s village to hide their real intentions than real obstacles.

Unless these differences are resolved, the fragile peace process will continue to teeter and even collapse. The UNMIN’s reassuring presence was hurting rather than helping the process. For instance, too worried about the Maoist threat to walk away from the peace process, the UNMIN has treated the former rebels with kid’s gloves whenever they have breached their commitments -- including the combatants freely walking in and out of cantonments with weapons on the UNMIN’s watch. This has encouraged the Maoists to maintain Manichean duality between revolution and peace, the latter as an obstacle to their objective. Because of this, the mission has not been forceful in criticizing other parties for their failures, either.

In the neighborhood, neither India nor China looks favorably at UN involvement in resolving conflicts in their backyards. New Delhi feels uncomfortable with the UNMIN because it has sent wrong signals to the Indian Maoists creating mayhem in the red corridor and emboldened those who want greater UN participation in the Kashmir issue. Beijing too is concerned that, taking a cue from Nepal, its troubled minority provinces might wish to insert the United Nations in their affairs. Therefore, both our neighbors would be happy to see the UNMIN’s back.

Whatever the reason, the UNMIN’s departure will be good for Nepal. It will force both the Maoists and other political parties to make new compromises and fulfill old commitments to advance the peace process. The Maoists will no more have the mission that has offered a curtain behind which they could continue paying lip service to peace while preparing for revolution, as their latest resolution has manifested. And other political parties will have to get their acts together to defend democracy and freedom, rather than shifting blame to the UNMIN.

What Nepal needs today is not lingering uncertainty on the UNMIN’s watch but fresh and more vigorous efforts to strengthen peace and protect democracy. Reducing poverty, educating people, and giving more voice to populace must be integral to such efforts. Therefore, let us ask the United Nations to deploy a robust peace-building mission with a well-funded and coordinated development agenda and not shed tears over the impending departure of the utterly ineffective UNMIN.
Nnnn