MORE DETAILS ON PM, PRACHANDA TALKS

MORE DETAILS ON PM, PRACHANDA MEET

Kathmandu, 8 March: Prime Minister Jhalanatha Khanal and Maoist Chairman Prachanda Tuesday agreed to push the peace process and convene a meeting of the special committee headed by the prime minister for integration and resettlement of 19,000 plus former Maoist combatants.
The prime minister is ex-officio head of the committee which will meet for the first tiome under Khanal.
NC parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Paudel Monday called for the effective command and control of former fighters who were formally brought under the committee.

The chairmen of UML and Maoists also agreed to hold discussions with smaller parties to bring them into government dominated by the two largest communist parties.
Prachanda pushed for the early expansion of the government.
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44 INDUSTRIES IN HETAUDA INDIUSTRIAL ESTATE CLOSED DOWN

Kathmandu, 8 March: Forty-four industries, including some multi-national companies, closed down at the Hetauda industrial estate following demand by a Maoist trade union for increased wages.
The union is demanding minimum Rs 400 for daily wage workers and Rs 10,000 for permanent employees.
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REGIONAL OXFAM MEET BEGINS

Kathmandu, 8 Mach: A three-day regional summit of Oxfam GB began Sunday in the capital with the slogan “Together for Change”.
A campaign to reduce social acceptance violence against women, especially domestic violence through self-reflection and change in individuals leading to changes in norms and practices at community level was launched 2004 in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bagladesh and Sri Lanka. .
“The main approach of the campaign is to make people feel that violence in any form is unacceptable and should not be masked in silence on he pretext of perpetuating social norms,” said Audrey Bronstein, Deputy International Director of OxfamGB said.
Representatives from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Conge and Nigeria are also participating.
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PAKISTAN EMBASSY CONDOLES KISHUNJI’S DEATH

Kathmandu, 8 March: Pakistan embassy has condoled the death of former Prime Minister Kirshna Prasad Bhattarai’s death.
“We have learned with a sense of profound sadness and sorrow about the demise of Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, the two-time prime minister of Nepal. He has been an icon of strength in the democratic movement of Nepal.
“He played an important role in the political development of Nepal and his passing away is indeed a loss of for Nepal,” the embassy said in a statement.
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HELICOPTER PILOT AWARDED FOR BRAVE RESCUE

Kathmandu, 8March: Helicopter pilot Capt. Sabin Basnet has been awarded with Eurocopter Golden Hour Award for a brave rescue by plucking a climber from the 809 meters high Annapurna 29 April 2010.
A joint rescue operation was conducted by Fishtail Air and Air Zermatt.
Basnet died in a chopper crash on the 6812 meters high Ama Dablam last autumn while attempting to rescue a stranded Japanese climber.
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‘PARTY TIES MUST TO MEET BASIC LAW DEADLINE





Kathmandu, 8 March: Chairman of the Constitutional Committee under the Constituent Assembly Nilambar Acharya Monday said that the country would not be able to get even a draft of the new constitution within the stipulated timeframe if the political parties did not improve their relations, The Rising Nepal reports.
"If the present situation continues, let alone the promulgation, even the drafting of the new constitution within the timeframe will be impossible," Acharya said at a talk programme orgainsed by the Reporters’ Club on the skills applied by late Krishna Prasad Bhattarai while drafting and promulgating the constitution of 1990.
He said that it looked unlikely that the country would get the new constitution considering the behaviours of the parties and lack of a statesman like Bhattarai who took the country and political parties in joint footsteps.
Giving reference to late former prime minister Bhattarai’s remarkable job for being able to give new constitution within seven months in 1989, by taking all leftists, democrats, and even defeated royalists into confidence, Acharya said he had been missing such a personality in politics who

really had the capacity to move the state ahead.
Acharya stressed joint and written commitment and statements from three big political party leaders for promulgating the new constitution within the timeframe.
He also opined that if late Bhattarai had not been defeated in the 1991 elections, the country would not see Maoist’s revolution and violence.
Late Bhattarai had to be sidelined from the mainstream politics of Nepali Congress when his different political ideology and thought could be accepted by many other NC leaders during the time and when the country turned into Federal Democratic Republican State after popular uprising of 2006, Acharya claimed.

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WIDOWED DAUGHTER-IN-LAW MARRIED OFF BY IN-LAWS


Kathmandu, 8 March: A family from Mulpani, Kathmandu has married off its widowed daughter-in-law to a man in Simara, Bara on Monday, Upendra Lamichhane writes in Republica from Simara.

Sanju Aryal, who was widowed 18 months ago after the death of Prakash Wagle just six months into their marriage, was married off to Yadav Lamichhane of Narabasti, Simara by her in-laws. “I have handed to you not my daughter-in-law but my daughter.

Sacrilege it will be if you kill her and holy if you look after her,” uncle of Sanju´s husband Maheshwar Wagle said after handing her over to Lamichhane as per the Hindu tradition.

Sanju was living as a widow with her parents in Simara after the death of her husband Prakash and Maheshwar had performed the wedding rituals as Prakash´s parents are not alive. “We were pained to see her live in gloom in lack of a partner and married her off for her happiness,” Maheshwar said, unable to hold back his tears, before returning to Kathmandu later in the day.

The new groom was elated in getting Sanju as his wife. “I am glad to get my childhood friend as wife,” Lamichhane said adding, “I will keep her happy.”

“Life has to go on. I am happy that he has accepted me as his wife,” Sanju said. Yadav´s father Chandrakanta said the marriage was organized with consent from all three families involved. “We are happy with our son´s happiness.” Chandrakanta added.

Sanju´s father Hari Prasad Aryal was overcome after the second marriage of his daughter. “I had cried even during her her first marriage and my eyes are moist today also,” Hari Prasad said and thanked the new groom´s family for accepting his daughter as bride and the former in-laws for giving consent for the marriage.

Priest Ramhari Sapkota, who performed the wedding rituals, expressed pride in being involved in such a rare wedding in his 30 years of practice and the guests too were happy for being part of it.
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THOUSANDS OF NEPALIS TRAPPED IN SAUDI ARABIA

Kathmandu, 8 March: Some 70,000 to 80,000 Nepali migrant workers may be ‘trapped’ in the blistering heat of Saudi Arabia under critical working conditions, according to Nepal Embassy officials in Riyadh. The number accumulated over the years as the illegal migrants continued to wait for the Saudi government and employers’ permission to return home, with Nepali authorities in the dark. A big chunk of them is waiting to return home since five years.

According to officials, the Saudi government is not granting them “exit visas” because of their “illegal” status. Officials said though most of them entered the country legally as unskilled labourers, they were automatically rendered illegal when they fled their first employer for various reasons, including exploitation, torture and low payment.

“We don’t have exact official data, but rough estimates show there could be around 70,000 to 80,000 unskilled Nepali migrant workers who are willing to return home but are unable to do so due to strict immigration laws, which require employer’s approval for exit,” Charge d’ Affaires of Nepali Embassy in Riyadh Paras Ghimire told the Post over phone. “Our efforts to get exit permits for them have been in vain.”

According to Saudi Arabia’s kafala system, migrant workers cannot leave the country without the written permission of their employers. A recent study by US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) concluded that the kafala system has “contributed to workers getting trapped in abusive conditions” and urged the Saudi government to scrap the law.

The law, according to HRW, has subjected thousands of migrant workers to employers’ abuses such as non-payment of wages, forced confinement in workplace, confiscation of passports, excessive work hours with little rest, physical and sexual abuse, and forced labour including trafficking. Appeals by HRW and other organisations to the Saudi government to scrap the kafala system have been ignored.

In March, the King of Saudi Arabia announced granting exit permits to all illegal immigrants who arrived on visit or tourist visas, but this does not apply to Nepali workers who arrived here on working visa.

Asked whether the Nepal Embassy could help trapped workers return home, embassy officials said they can only issue travel documents to those who come into contact but that is not sufficient to get an exit permit.

The Nepali authorities virtually stand helpless in this case. “I don’t think we could convince the Saudi government singly. It may be possible if a delegation of all representatives of labour supplying countries here made a joint request,” said Ghimire.

Statistics at the Nepal Embassy at Riyadh show that there are roughly 500,000 Nepalis unskilled labourers currently working in Saudi Arabia and around 20 percent of them are illegal.

Foreign Affair ministry officials in Kathmandu said they don’t have enough information about the number of trapped Nepali workers.

OHCHR Nepal Chief Jyoti Sanghera said Nepal has not taken measures to protect migrant workers’ rights despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of its young women and men are migrant workers in Asia and the Gulf States, and contribute millions of dollars via remittances to keep the economy of Nepal afloat.

“A country like Nepal, whose migrant workers constitute the backbone of its economy, should take steps to protect the rights of Nepali migrant workers.” She urged that Nepal should become

party to the UN International Convention on the Protection of all Migrant Workers, which could help secure the rights of its migrant workers. According to the Convention, it is the duty of both countries of origin and destination to protect the human rights of migrant workers and their families.



Nepal Embassy officials in Saudi Arabia say 70,000 to 80,000 are trapped under critical working conditions

Number rose as the illegal immigrants waited for Saudi govt, employers’ permission to return home

Saudi not granting them ‘exit visas’
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BREATHING SPACE FOR NEPALIS IN KUWAIT
Kathmandu, 8 March: -
The Government of Kuwait has granted four months time for illegal workers to either leave the country or apply for legal status, Dinesh Regmi reports for The Kathmandu Post from Doha..

The clemency announcement made on the occasion of Kuwait National Day comes as a boon to the estimated 4,000 Nepali migrant workers who do not possess legal documents for their stay in the Arab nation. The Nepali Embassy in Kuwait has called on the undocumented migrants to utilise the opportunity.

Nepali Ambassador to Kuwait Madhav Poudel said that nearly 1,000 people contacted the embassy after Kuwaiti announced to relax its law against illegal migrants effective from March 1. The amnesty period will expire on June 30.

Among the around 45,000 Nepalis workers in Kuwait, nearly 35,000 are women. The majority of the women Nepali migrants are employed as housemaids. The Nepali embassy has issued notification for the Nepali migrant workers urging them to contact the mission or the immigration office if they are in need of any document to guarantee their legal stay in Kuwait or return home.

The Kuwaiti authorities have held many illegal Nepali migrant workers and deported them in the past. Poudel said 720 Nepalis were deported in the past year alone, while 200 women are still under the care of the embassy. One-third of the Nepali migrant workers in Kuwait entered the country on fake passports, said Poudel.

The Kuwaiti government has announced that the illegal migrant workers who choose to return home during the clemency period will not face any punishment and that they will be allowed to return to Kuwait in the future. Those who fail to procure legal status, will be deported and banned from entering the country in future.
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SURROGATE CHILD RIGHT PROTECTED
Kathmandu, 8 March: In the first verdict of its kind Kathmandu District Court gave the surrogate child a status equal to that of the biological child, The Himalayan Times reports.

A single bench of Judge Tek Narayan Kunwar stated that a surrogate child must get legal security through the promulgation of a separate Act to avoid complications in relation to property, identity of guardianship and maternity as well.

Despite the legal mother’s objection, KDC decided to give property to three-year-old Bina Rana from her surrogate father Ujjawal Rana who artificially donated sperm to Bhaktapur resident Ayushma Nagarkoti.

After Bina’s birth and handover to Ujjwal Rana, the surrogate father as per the contract between him and Ayushma, Ujjawal’s wife Sambhavi Rana moved the court challenging the act of having a surrogate child and giving parental property to the daughter without her consent to having a surrogate child. Legal grandmother Bidhya Rana also objected to giving property to the child.

Rana had cited infertility in his wife Sambhavi for entering into a contract with Ayushma. He had compensated Ayushma for two years and bore all other medical expenses.

In the contract, they had agreed that Rana would provide all basic necessities to the child. Ayushma had to return the child to the father after she attained the age of two and she would have no claim over her.

“Though there is no legalprovision for surrogate parenthood in the country, the verdict was issued after thorough analysis of the prevalent practice in Belgium, Germany and many other developed countries where surrogacy is defined by the law and recognised and there is a separate Act related to the issue,” judge Kunwar said while pronouncing the verdict.

The bench, however, put forward the condition that a childless couple could opt for surrogate pregnancy provided both the husband as well as the wife gave their consent.

Heera Regmi, legal counsel for Sambhavi Rana, termed the verdict as something that had crippled the prevailing legal system in the country. “Though the court has issued the verdict in favour of the surrogate child, there is no provision whatsoever in the existing law regarding this issue. This is certainly a shortcoming in our legal system,” Regmi said, adding, “It is terrible that a child should be recognised without the mother’s consent.”

“This verdict has tried to settle the problem of surrogate child as we do not have a specific Act regulating such activities in our country,” said senior advocate Shyam Kharel who pleaded on behalf of Bidhya. “Since we do not have such a concept therefore we have legitimised bigamy although the law does not allow it. People have exploited the loopholes in the law of the land,” Kharel added.
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