PRESIDENT RETURNS FROM INDIA SATURDAY TO SWEAR-IN KHANAL GOVT.

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 5 Feb.: President Dr Ram Baran Yadav will swear-in the first lot of ministers of the Jhalanath Khanal-led government Sunday after returning home Saturday concluding a 10-day official, private cum religious India pilgrimage with his family members.
Khanal was elected this week in the absence of Dr. Yadav from the country when Maoist Chairman Prachanda suddenly and surprisingly withdrew his candidacy at the last moment in favour of the UML chairman.
The prime minister-elected hasn’t yet announced his government yet amid speculation TMLP-Nepal and MJFN may join the Khanal government.
Three other Madeshbadi parties opted Friday to stay in the opposition bench.
Khanal and Prachanda drew up a secret deal even as the ceremonial head of state held extensive discussions with Indian political leaders, including Prime Minister Mamohan Singh and President Sonia Gandhi of the ruling Indian National Congress leading the federal government in New Delhi.
The end to the protracted seven-moth deadlock surprised Indian officials and Nepal watchers in the Indian capital.
Prachanda withdraw his candidacy in favour of Khanal amid stiff internal opposition from UCPN (Maoist) led by 51 Maoist lawmakers, including Vice-chairman Dr. Baburam Bhattarai.
It’s come to light Khanal made a major concession to Prachanda to secure his support by agreeing to form a separate unit with former 19,000 plus Maoist fighters in 28 cantonments and satellite camps previously under the watch of UNMIN which withdrew from Nepal 15 January after a four-year failed presence.
Point three of a seven-point agreement says on integrating Maoist combatants in security forces says Maoists and UML agreed to form either a separate force of Maoist combatants or a combined force of Maoist combatants and other security forces, giving continuity to the ongoing works of the peace process.
The secret UML/ Maoist deal first came to light Friday one day after Khanal’s election by a majority vote in parliament.
The UML chairman has gone to great pains to allay fears that communists will dominate his government emphasizing instead his team will be a democratic republic force.
Those were Maoist demands opposed by current Defence Minister Bidya Bhandari from UML, Nepal Army and NC and Madesh parties represented in a special committee headed by the prime minister.
Group integration of Maoist fighters was opposed by the outgoing government of Madhav Kumar Nepal.
It’ll be difficult for the Khanal government to push the scheme through the special committee where major parties, including the NC, are represented.
Decisions at the committee are made on consensus and NC will oppose group integration.
Relations between UML and NC have soured following Khanal’s election, with NC President Sushil Koirala accusing UML of ‘deception’.
The Army will be skeptical of the deal as well.
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TWO KILLED IN SAPTARI BUS CRASH

Kathmandu, 5 Feb.: Two persons—a passenger and driver-- were killed Saturday morning at Sitapur, Saptari, when a bus slammed against a bridge.
Four of the 25 injured are in serious condition.
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DAILY LOAD-SHEDDING INCREASED TWO HOURS

Kathmandu, 5 Feb. : Daily load-shedding will be increased by two hours from Monday from 12 to 14 hours, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) said Saturday.
NEA said power production declined with receding water levels in
Rivers.
Most of the power is generated by run-off-river type hydro plants.
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INDIAN QUAKE LEFT IN JHAPA

Kathmandu, 5 Feb. A quake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale that
rocked the north Indian state of Manipur Friday was felt in Jhapa in southwest terai.
The epicenter was 30 miles north northwest of Imphal, near the border with Myanmar.
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ELECTIONS IN NMC

Kathmandu, 5 Feb.: Counting of votes in Friday’s election for office bearers of the Nepal Medical Council (NMC) will begin in the capital Saturday.
Dr. Kiran Shrestha and Dr Nanda Prasad Sharma are contesting from the democratic and progressive panels respectively.
Only50 percent of 3,100 eligible voters cast their ballots.
Ballot boxes from districts have been brought to the capital for counting.
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WEN GREETS KHANAL

Kathmandu, 5 Feb.: Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has called for growth of China-Nepal comprehensive partnership of cooperation in a congratulatory message of Prime Minister-elect Jhalanath Khanal.
Wen recalled Nepal-China have more than five decades history of
cooperation.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

‘I never scolded you [senior government officials]. But I was misquoted by the media.”

(Outgoing PM Madhav Kumar Nepal bidding farewell to bureaucrats,
Republica, 5 Feb.)
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CANCER A MAJOR PROBLEM

Kathmandu, Feb 4 - Cancer is becoming a major human killer among other non-communicable diseases across the world, The Rising Nepal reports.
Cancer is dealt with a lot of seriousness. Yet the incidence of the disease is rising rapidly in Nepal, The Rising Nepal reports.
Cancer is a life threatening disease, although 40 per cent cancer cases can be cured if they are detected at the early stage, Bhaktaman Shrestha, executive director of the BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, Bharatpur (BPKMCH), only a referral hospital of the nation for cancer patients, said.
However, around 90 per cent people visit hospital very late when minimum chances remained for being cured, said Dr. Shrestha.
As cancer treatment is a long term process and costly too, poor nations like Nepal should focus their attention towards raising awareness about the disease and its preventive aspect, said Ishwor Shrestha, chairman of Nepal Cancer Relief Society (NCRS).
He said that 75 per cent people have no access to cancer treatment as it was very costly.
As 90 per cent cancer depends on our daily habit, like tobacco consumption, eating habits and environment, the government should ban tobacco use in public places and food adulteration should be controlled, Prof Dr. Agani Bhushan Jha, founder chairman of NCRS said.
However, Nepal government has no policy to prevent the disease though the treatment of cancer is expensive and many people living in the remote areas have no access to the treatment, Dr. Jha said.
The government has so far not taken initiative to collect the data of cancer patients, said Dr. Shrestha said. The patients visiting the hospital are increasing day by day, he said.
Amid this, the World Cancer Day was observed Friday with the slogan of "Cancer can be prevented." The NCRS, Cancer Society and BPKMCH focused on awareness generating programmes.
In the context of Nepal, cancer has a relatively low curable rate. It is because cancer patients come to the doctors at a late stage when cure becomes impossible and also because cancer treatment is expensive.
The death rate caused by the cancer is higher than AIDS and TB. According to World Health Organization estimation around 84 million people would be dying due to the cancer between 2005 and 2015.
Among all death cases, cancer covers 13 per cent causes. Of them 70 per cent deaths are in developing countries like Nepal.
Around 35,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every year in Nepal.
Presently, around 10 million new cancer affected patients are found across the world daily.
According to the hospital report, the cases of lungs cancer and uterine cancer are very high in Nepal, particularly among the women.
The main symptoms of cancer are change of voice, delay in healing of wound, difficulty in swallowing food items and appearance of tumours in the body.
Just a decade ago, cancer treatment was impossible in Nepal. People were compelled to go to India or other countries for both screening and treatment.
Cancer can be cured by surgery, chemotherapy, bracey therapy and radiotherapy. All types of facilities are available in Nepal.
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DELHI UNDECIDED ON NEW GOVT.

Kathmandu, 5 Feb.:Attaching “highest importance” to its relations with Nepal, India has said it is looking forward to working together with the new government in a way which benefits both the countries, Mahesh Acharya reports in The Kathmandu Post from New Delhi

In a felicitation to Prime Minister-elect Jhala Nath Khanal on Friday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed readiness to partner with the Nepali government on the basis of equality.

“I have always held the belief that potential for our cooperation is vast,” Singh said. “India stands ready to partner with Nepal to exploit this potential to its fullest on the basis of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit.” Noting that the selection of the new prime minister comes at a critical juncture in Nepal’s history, Singh offered his best wishes to Khanal to build upon and consolidate the gains of democracy achieved by the Nepali people.

Though the readiness of the Indian establishment to work together with the new government in Nepal comes as “business as usual,” New Delhi is now confused as to how it should respond to the Khanal-led government, say Nepal watchers and political leaders here. As Khanal has been elected with the backing of the Maoists, India seems anxious to find out how the Prime Minister-elect will approach such core issues as the integration of former combatants of the Maoists and relationship with India.

“The UML-Maoist partnership to elect the new Prime minister is a setback for the Indian establishment as it was working against the Maoist inclusion in the government,” says Siddharth Varadarajan, strategic affairs editor of The Hindu. “India does not have a very good option, rather than to cooperate with the new Nepali government,” Varadarajan, who closely follows Nepal, says.

Similar views were expressed on Thursday by The Times of India. “…. it was more a defeat for India than the two losing politicians (Ramchandra Poudel and Bijay Gacchhdar),” said the newspaper.

“Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao’s recent visit to Nepal had not envisioned the possibility of such an opportunistic poll alliance between the Maoists and the communists and as Puspha Kamal Dahal indicated in his exit speech, it was an act of defiance against ‘Indian interference’.”

But in the views of KV Rajan, former Indian Ambassador to Nepal, New Delhi’s concerns don’t centre round particular individuals or political complexion of a government. “What India wants is consensus on core issues, “ Rajan says. Nationalist Congress Party leader D.P. Tripathi said though a protracted stalemate has ended for now, the Khanal-led government will not not be able to solve the problems without the inclusion of NC in the government. Despite the recent confusion in dealing with the new government, the Indian establishment is at least spared the allegation of attempting to form its “puppet government” in Kathmandu, a Nepal watcher said, Mahesh Acharya reports in The Kathmandu Post from New Delhi.
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INTERVIEW


DR. BABURAM BHATARAI DETAILS HOW PRACHANDA WITHDREW CANDIDACY IN INTERVIEW WITH REPUBLICA
REPUBLICA
UCPN (Maoist) vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai spoke to Republica´s Kiran Chapagain and Kiran Pun at his residence, Kupondole Friday evening on current political developments, peace and constitution and the future of the Maoist party. Excerpts

What is the reason for your protesting the party decision to support Jhalanath Khanal and writing a note of dissent?

The standing committee meeting of our party had decided either to form the government under the leadership of our party or to stay in opposition if a government under our leadership was not possible. We thought that decision was right.
There were rumors in the market that our party chairman was going to contest the election as a dummy candidate and throw his support behind Jhalanath Khanal. Constituent Assembly members had questioned the chairman in this regard during the party’s parliamentary party meeting two days ago. He [chairman] had replied to the members at the meeting saying, “I am contesting to win and we are winning. Otherwise we will stay in the opposition. We will not leave the field to others”.

Accordingly, we fielded his candidacy. But he all of a sudden said he would not contest. That was a bit dramatic. It will not be in the interest of the party. Only a government led by the largest party and participated by others can drive the peace process to a conclusion and complete the constitution writing.

His [Dahal’s] sudden change of decision is not natural. Here is a procedural question – why was the decision changed overnight?

Secondly, joining the government with the CPN-UML will neither ensure the conclusion of the peace process nor provide a basis for us to protest [if the peace process is not completed]. While remaining in the government we cannot protest over matters about which we have disagreements. We will be in a situation of being ineffective in government and not being able to launch protests in the streets. Joining a government led by a party with which we compete on the ground will neither help the party build its organization.

The way the largest party has joined the government will demoralize party cadres and bring frustration among them. That is why we protested the party decision. But we acted as per the party decision despite our different opinion since it is the practice of a communist party to follow the party decision taken by a majority.

If he did not want to contest he could have forwarded the name of another to stake claim to the leadership of the government by virtue of your being the largest party. Why did he not opt for that?

He should know. He said he would contest. We also urged him to do so and nominated him accordingly. But the next day he said he would not contest and proposed to vote for others. We found his decision unnatural.

What were the reasons for his changing his mind at the eleventh hour?

He has already spoken in the house about why he changed his mind. He said he did not sleep that night [the night of his nomination as candidate]. He said in parliament that he did not like to be defeated repeatedly, as he had told us. He wept [at the meeting of the standing committee ahead of the parliament meeting] over this matter. He decided to contest the PM race on Wednesday but suddenly withdrew the next day. The secrecy behind such an unexpected decision has yet to be unraveled.

Why did you say that this coalition led by the CPN-UML will not be able to complete the peace process and constitution writing?

The Special Committee cannot take unilateral decisions as its working procedures require consensus for any decision. If all the parties represented in the Committee do not agree on peace process-related issues, the process cannot be moved ahead. Now since the NC and Madhes-based parties are likely to be in opposition, they may obstruct things due to which the Committee might not be able to take decisions necessary to make the peace process move ahead.

So the present coalition will not make any fundamental difference in the current status of the peace process and constitution writing?

The way the present coalition has been formed has raised the danger of the peace process becoming obstructed. We could have cooperated in building consensus while remaining in the opposition. But this could not materialize due to the dramatic decision.
As you know, two-third majority support is required for constitution writing. Unless there is a government capable of securing such support, constitution writing is not going to be possible. We argued [at the standing committee meeting] that with formation of a majority government there was less possibility of concluding the peace process and writing the constitution.

Why do you think your chairman did not decide to support Khanal at the initial stage and block other leaders of your party from aspiring to contest the election?

It is a question that only he can answer. But the way he decided to file nomination one day and withdrew the next day has left room for suspicion. There is no convincing reason why he left the field. But as of now there is nothing to bear out the suspicion.

What will be your role now?

I will accomplish the role given by the party. But I will not participate in the government. I will work for peace and constitution writing.

Will the leaders who support you participate in the government?

We are not interested but the party will decide.

You have registered three notes of dissent following the Palungtar plenum. Where will these steps take the party?

It will take the party in a right direction. It is natural to have discussions and debate in a lively party. Dissenting opinions make the party strong.
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