FURTHER DETAILS OF BHATTARAI'S CONDITION

UPDATE ON CONDITION OF KRISHNA PRASAD BHATTARAI

Kathmandu, 4 March: Condition of former Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai continues to be serious, doctors who examine him Friday morning said.
There’s no improvement in his condition, doctors said.
Results of Friday morning tests haven’t come in yet, a team of doctors treating Bhattarai said.
Maoist Chairman Prachanda accompanied by Vice-chairman Dr. Baburam Bhattarai visited the ailing leader at hospital Friday morning.
NC President Sushil Koirala also went to the hospital Friday to inquire about Kishunji’s condition.
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MAOIST STANDING COMMITTEEMEET BEGINS

Kathmandu, 4 March: Maoist standing committee meet began Friday morning to finalize the party’s team in government under the leadership of standing committee member Krishna Bahadur Mahara.
Mahara will lead the 11-member team as senior deputy prime minister and communication minister in the government of Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal who is also UML chairman.
The prime minister couldn’t expand his four-member cabinet Thursday after Maoists failed to finalize its government team.
The Maoist chief Thursday still laid claim to the home ministry which Khanal is expected to hold.
Tussle over the ministry between Maoists and UML has delayed government expansion for nearly one month.
A right faction in UML is stopping Khanal from delivering the home ministry to Maoists described as a security-related ministry which shouldn’t be given to UCPN (Maoist) until the peace process is completed.
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HISHILA YAMI PARTICIPATES IN INDIAN SEMINAR

Kathmandu, 4 March: Hishila Yami is participating in a four-day seminar on Nepal sponsored by the Indian foreign ministry in Varanasi that began Thursday.
India conducts such discussions when the going tough in Nepal where Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal has yet to assemble a full government even more than one month after assuming office.
NC and UML aren’t represented at the seminar with their top leaders as in the past.
It’s almost certain a constitution won’t be promulgated even by the second extended 28 May deadline.
NC central committee Thursday set aside constitution drafting until completion of the peace process by integrating and resettling 19,000 plus Maoist combatants is completed and an environment created for constitution drafting.
Four months has been set aside for discussion in parliament and public on a proposed draft of the constitution, according to legal experts.
Only 85 days retain to announce a basic law.
“The constituent assembly (CA) has met only five times in nine months.
Parties are only engaged in power grab. NO substantial discussions have been held on constitution drafting,” a lawyer said.
Discussions have centered around a task force and now a sub-committee headed by Chairman Prachanda when the CA should be discussing it, the constitutional expert said.
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THREE FAMILY MEMBERS KIILLED IN NUWAKOT

Kathmandu, 4 March: Three family members were apparently murdered at their isolated house at Bhadrutar-VDC-6 in Nuwakot.
The bruised bodies of Bishnu Thapaliya, wife Bhairabi and son Shyam, 45, were found by police who entered the house.
Police entered the house when neighbours reported the family hadn’t come out of the house.
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SEARCH FOR MISSING BULGARIAN PARAGLIDER

Kathmandu, 4 March: Nepal Army (NA) and a paragliding company will launch a joint search for Bulgarian paragliding pilot Kamren Kumanov,40, who went missing from Tuesday after a takeoff from Sarangkot in Kaski.
He was working with Paranova Nepal Paragliding Company.
Paragliding is gaining popularity in Nepal.
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UML STUDENT LEADER EXPELLED

Kathmandu, 4 March: All Nepal National Free Student Union (ANNFSU), the student wing of CPN-UML, suspended its treasurer Deepak Gautam for his involvement in drug smuggling saying he was involved in drug smuggling in collusion with his maternal uncle Tashi Lama, RSS reports.
ANNFU expulsion comes after the police arrested Gautam with brown sugar and Rs 2 million on Feb.13.
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NEPALI WOMAN PEACEKEEPER KILLED IN HAITI

Kathmandu, 4 March: UN says one of its peacekeepers has died in an apparent accident in a town north of the capital, AP reports from Port-Au--Prince.
A spokesman says the 26-year-old soldier from Nepal was standing outside her unit’s base when a truck struck and killed her Spokesman Vincenzo Pugliese said the driver jumped out of the truck and fled the scene on foot after hitting the soldier. The incident is under investigation.
The incident occurred Tuesday near the central plateau town of Mirebalais. There are about 1,000 Nepalese peacekeepers in Haiti.
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

INFLATION WILL RISE BY 9 PERCENT

Kathmandu, 4 March: Inflation this year will rise by 9 percent although the target was to limit it to 7 percent, Nepal Rashtra Bank (NRB) Governor Dr. Yuvaraj Khitawada said Friday.
Gross domestic product at producer’s price will expand by 5.5 percent, the NRB governor said.
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MEDESH FRONT ON PEOPLE’S REVOLT

Kathmandu, 4 March: United Loktantrik Madesh Morcha declared a poplar revolt to push its demands, Rajesh Sharma reports in Annapurna Post.
The front said its objectives will met through peaceful popular struggle, mass movement and popular revolt.
A meeting Thursday decided all fronts on the street, parliament and government will used for the popular revolt.
MJFN Chairman Upendra Yadav said the decisison was laughable.
The MJFN is not in the front.
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PRACHANDA STILL DEMANDS HOME





Kathmandu, 4 March: - UCPN-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ Thursday said sustaining the government was also his party’s responsibility as the party had played a vital role to form it, The Rising Nepal reports from Gulmi.
Inaugurating the first Gulmi Cultural and Tourism Festival, the chief of the largest party urged all the other parties to support the government saying unless all the parties come together, the peace and constitution writing process would not be concluded meaningfully.
The Festival is organised by Social Development, Tourism Promotion and Environment Conservation Centre.
At a press meet jointly organised by Federation of Nepalese Journalists and All Nepal National Independent Students Union (Revolutionary), the chief of the main supporter of the government made it clear that without support and good will of the other parties including the Nepali Congress it would be impossible to accomplish the task of promulgating a pro-people constitution by May 28.
He said that the seven-point agreement undertaken between his party and CPN-UML was a part of effort to accomplish the historic tasks.
The former Prime Minister said that his party would participate in the government. He said the party’s foreign department chief Krishna Bahadur Mahara would lead the team of his party which would hold 10 ministries for the time being while the UML would hold 8 ministries. He said his party would also hold Home Ministry after some time as the ministry was presently being held by the prime minister himself.
There are around 65 stalls in the festivals where local agricultural and domestic products have been put for display. The orgniser has expected around a hundred thousand visitors from neighbouring districts like Palpa, Pyuthan, Kapilvastu, and Baglung before the festival concludes on Sunday.
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WESTERN PRESSURE ON PM NOT TO INDUCT RIGHTS VIOLATORS IN GOVT.

Kathmandu, 4 March: Western countries have expressed concern over the possible appointment of politicians with questionable human rights records as ministers in the new government and cautioned the Maoist leadership that such appointments would not be acceptable, Kiran Chapagain writes in Republica.

Kathmandu-based Western ambassadors conveyed this message to the Maoist leadership recently after media reported that Agni Sapkota, who faces a human rights violation charge, was one possible Maoist pick for ministers in the Jhalanath Khanal government.

“As media recently reported that Sapkota was a probable Maoist minister, Western ambassadors met Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to convey their message that anyone becoming a minister from his party should have a clean human rights record,” a diplomatic source privy to the meeting told Republica.

Dahal had assured the visiting envoys that he would take their concerns seriously.

As the names of would-be Maoist ministers came out on Thursday, some Western embassies were busy checking their human rights records.

“We will not accept persons with a questionable human rights past,” one Western diplomat had told a meeting of human rights defenders last week.

According to another diplomatic source, as news about Sapkota becoming a minister came out, one European ambassador even sent a text message to someone close to Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal, voicing his expectation that the prime minister would appoint only those who have not come under question.

Sapkota has been accused in the murder of one Arjun Lama during the conflict period, and the Supreme Court in 2008 ordered the authorities to file a criminal case. The court order is yet to be implemented.

The human rights community is equally concerned over possible appointment of human rights violators as ministers.

“We demand that those implicated should not be given such responsibility,” said Sushil Pyakurel, a former member of the National Human Rights Commission.

Subodh Pyakurel, chairman of INSEC, a human rights NGO, told Republica last week that he has asked the prime minister not to appoint human rights violators to his cabinet.

But Surya Thapa, the prime minister´s press advisor, said the party involved should take this concern into consideration while recommending names for ministers.

“The prime minister will have little discretion to stop such a person from becoming minister if the party concerned recommends that person,” said Thapa.
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LOANS CRUSH LIBYA RETURNEES
Kathmandu, 4 March: Two dozen youths who had left the district sometime ago for the now strife-torn Libya with dreams of making money have returned safely, but empty-handed. Many of these youths sold family property for loans to get a job placement. They are happy to return unharmed, but are crushed by the weight of loan, Dilip Poudel writes in Republica from Baglung.

“Till I was in Libya, my prime concern was how to return to Nepal,” said Bipin Gharti, of Argal-5.
“The worry now is how to pay back the loan,” he added. Gharti reached Libya five months ago and was employed by STFA, a Turkish company, at Sabrahat town west of Tripoli.

He had spent around Rs 200,000 to find the placement. But he returned virtually empty-handed. Even his cell phone was robbed by thugs in Libya. “We were not paid salary for the past five months,” Gharti said. “The company gave each of us just 280 dollars before we left.”

There were 84 Nepali workers in the company that employed around 1200 workers from countries like Pakistan, Vietnam, Sudan, Egypt, Morocco and Turkey. All the 84 Nepali workers who have returned had not got their salary for the past five months.

A total of 26 Nepali workers reached their home in Baglung and Myagdi on Thursday. They had left for Libya not more than seven months ago. Gam Bahadur Pun of Amarbhumi, said, “Bad luck pursued me even in a foreign land. How will I pay back the loan I took?”

Another youth said though it is said the government of Nepal made an effort to rescue workers, they would not have made home without the employer´s assistance. “After we exerted pressure, the company made arrangements to send us home,” said Gham Bahadur Pun of Myagdi.

These youths returned to Nepal via Qatar. According to Tirtha Lal Gharti, locals in Libya broke into camps of Nepali workers and robbed eleven of them of their cell phones.

“Many hadn´t eaten for weeks,” he said. “Many were stranded at camps and at airport. Even those who had money couldn´t get air tickets. Only after reaching Nepal did we hear that the government has started a rescue effort,” he added.
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COME CLEAN ON RIGHTS RECORD US TELLS NA
Kathmandu, 4 March: A month ahead of the Chief of Army Staff Gen. Chhatra Man Singh Gurung’s official visit to the US, the US government has publicly asked Nepal Army to come clean on its rights record, Phanindra dahal writes in The Kathmandu Post..

US Ambassador to Nepal Scott H. DeLisi called on the Army leadership to cooperate with civilian courts and authorities to hold accountable all its personnel who violated human rights and international law of war in the past. In a speech, that appears to be a continuing American policy to effect improvement in rights records through sustained engagement with armed forces, the ambassador urged the Army not to condone individual failings.

“If the Army protects these violators, then the perception becomes that it was not an individual who committed the violations, but the institution itself which condoned them. If there are failures or mistakes in judgment that raise questions about the Army’s commitment to human rights, they must be acknowledged and addressed—not hidden or covered-up with the belief that those who exercise power need not be accountable,” DeLisi said at the Nepal Army Staff College, Shivapuri, on Tuesday.

The State Department has put a rider on military assistance to Nepal Army expressing serious reservation on the Army’s human rights record, the improvement of which, according to US officials, is fundamental to ending the constrains on the lethal support. The US aid to Nepal Army is currently limited to support in trainings, peacekeeping operations and improving the disaster responding capacity of Nepal Army personnel.

In his speech, the US ambassador stressed that reforms within the Ministry of Defence and the Nepal Army are crucial for ensuring civilian control over the military. “I commend the Army for its respect for the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and continued support to the current civilian government, particularly in what are sometimes trying circumstances.

I also hope and expect that the Army will continue to be just as loyal to all the democratically elected governments of the future,” the ambassador said. He urged the civilian government to understand the sensitivities of the military while leading the Nepal Army. A first step, according to DeLisi, should be the creation of a “strong Ministry of Defence” with both career bureaucrats and Army officers serving.

The US government, at the request of the Ministry of Defence, has initiated a process to include Nepal in its Defence Institution Reform Initiative Programme. The Embassy is organising a seminar in May to promote dialogue among stakeholders in the security sector.

Meanwhile, the US has said it’s International Military Education Training Programme worth $1 million for the Nepal Army will grow to $1.1 million next year. Last year, the State Departement had increased $100,000 and funded $900,000 to support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief equipment for Nepal Army.

Last week,the Pacific Command GPOI team completed the installation of computers and equipment for the Peace Support Operations Collaboration Centre for the Nepal Army worth $2 million. Nepal Army officials and the US Embassy here confirmed the CoAS’ visit and said they were finalising the details. General Gurung is a 1985 graduate of the Command and General Staff Course at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and will be honoured on April 7th, with his induction into the Hall of Fame to recognise his success as a distinguished alumnus, the US Embassy here said.
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NRB GETS TOUGH ON LOANS TO UNPRODUCTIVE SECTOR
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Kathmandu, 4 March: One has to make a large down payment for purchasing a motorcycle or four-wheeler henceforth, Prithvi Man
Shrestha writes in The Kathmandu Post..

In a bid to discourage banks from lending in unproductive sectors, the mid-term review of the monetary policy has provisioned that people willing to invest in such sectors have to manage a huge portion of the fund on their own. The central bank will also be stringent in the provisioning of such loans.

In the realty sector, banks and financial institutions (BFIs) can lend only up to 60 percent of the average collateral value. In attractive projects, banks have been lending up to 80 percent of the total project cost.

The central bank, in its mid-term review of the monetary policy for current fiscal year, said loans and their quality will be seriously affected if banks lend in unstable sectors and sectors having a very little value addition. “This may lead to instability in the financial sector and affect the fiscal stability, as the country will be marred by low investment and high cost,” said the monetary policy review made public on Thursday.

However, bankers say that sectors such as hire purchase may be affected if the central bank imposes condition that BFIs cannot lend more than 50 percent of the project value. “It will be better if NRB keeps it up to 70 percent,” said Sashin Joshi, CEO of NIC Bank.

As the review has stated that BFIs will have to make more provisioning of such lending, a senior NRB official said the central bank may direct BFIs to make provisioning of loans even before the expiration of the repayment deadline. International Monetary Fund has also been suggesting the NRB for adopting similar measures.

As per the existing provision, BFIs will have to make 1 percent provisioning of good loans. If they fail to recover loans within three months after the expiration of the repayment deadline, they should make provisioning of 25 percent of the loans. In the event of BFIs’ failure in recovering loans within six months after the running out of the repayment deadline, they should make provisioning of 50 percent of the loans and 100 percent if they fail to recover even within one year after the ending of the deadline.

In order to the encourage lending in productive sectors, the central bank will ease the procedures of re-financing, given that banks are not taking re-finance from the central bank to lend to productive sectors. “We are ready to extend the repayment period of re-financing through a rollover, even though the NRB Act allows us to give refinancing only for six months,” said NRB Governor Yubaraj Khatiwada. At a time when the manufacturing and export sectors are suffering from higher interest rate on lending, the central bank has opened the window of refinancing, under which these sectors can get loan at 10 percent interest rate.

The central bank will also ease home loans. “A directive with an easier provision for getting home loans will be issued soon,” said Khatiwada.

The central bank announced that it will give certain relief to the stock market by easing the margin call related provision, repayment deadline of loans given against shares as collateral and renewal of such loans. Banks have been demanding that the central bank should allow them to renew good loans. As per the existing

provision, banks can renew such loans only after borrowers pay 25 percent of their loans in addition to the interest.

The NRB’s commitment to give some relaxation to the stock market and realty sector has invited mixed reactions from the banking sector. Nepal Bankers’ Association President Ashok Rana welcomed the NRB move to relax these sectors, saying that the central bank addressed their concerns. “The NRB telling us to reduce the cost of funds and increase deposits is good,” said Rana. Governor Khatiwada had asked bankers to go for merger to reduce operational cost. He was also critical of bankers for keeping interest spread rate higher by charging higher interest to borrowers against depositors.

However, bankers are not happy with the governor’s comments. “Talking about increased spread rate when the rate is decreasing is a mistake on the part of NRB,” said a banker.

The mid-term review has the made an upward revision of the inflation to 9 percent from 7 percent.
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Kathmandu, 4 March:: In a precedent-setting verdict, the Supreme Court today rejected the divorce granted by a US court and decided in favour of the wife in relation to obtaining property from her, The Himalayan Times
reports husband.

A three-member special bench of Justices Bala Ram KC, Bharat Raj Upreti and Kamal Narayan Das issued the verdict rejecting the divorce between Dr Pushkar Raj Pandey and Sabina Pandey granted by Pontotoc County Court of Oklahoma State. “She has rejected the jurisdiction of the US court from the start. Besides, she did not get easy access to justice there due to difficult visa regime. Besides, her husband is not a US domicile, therefore rejecting her right to move the court would deprive her of access to justice,” the court stated.

On September 24, 1998, the US court had granted divorce based on the lawsuit filed by Dr Pandey. Sabina had moved Kathmandu District Court as Dr Pandey’s wife demanding property rights.

Upholding the status, the SC bench said her claim on property was rightful as per Husband and Wife Chapter and Property Chapter of the Country’s Code, 1963. The bench was responding to Dr Pandey’s review petition challenging the verdict issued by a division bench of Justice Tahir Ali Ansari and Sharada Shrestha, on March 18, 2008.

The apex court also directed the government to set up a committee to study judgments issued by foreign courts and to promulgate Foreign Judgment Recognition and Enforcement Act as Nepal could not be separated from the world. The bench, however observed that private international law must develop on the basis of public policy of every state; and as such, a public policy could not be codified in any Act developed on the basis of due process adopted in relation to factors like fair trial and access to justice in the domicile country and the legal system of such a country.

After tying the knot on December 13, 1996 Sabina went to the US, but Dr Pandey filed for divorce on January 9, 1998 a few days after Sabina returned to Nepal following conflicts between them. She had filed a suit in Kathmandu District Court seeking property from Dr Pandey, while the latter registered a lawsuit in the US court. Kathmandu District Court had rejected her claim to property, but two years later, Patan Appellate Court had upheld it.
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