NO MENTION OF COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING IN CONSTITUTION

NO COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING

Kathmandu, 20 May: There’ll be no mention of compulsory military for youth above 18-year-olds in a constitution.
Maoists pushed for its inclusion in a proposed constitution that won’t be promulgated by the second 28 May deadline.
An agreement was reached Friday at a sub-committee headed by Chairman Prachanda to resolve differences on 30 contentious articles to be incorporated in a basic law.
The sub-committee agreed Thursday the title of a proposed basis law will only be : Nepal Ko Sambidhan.
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LAWMAKER BISHWANATH PRASAD YADAV FREED

Kathmandu, 20 May; Suspended lawmaker Bishwanath Prasad Yadav Thursday belatedly paid a Rs.1.5 million bail slapped by a special court and was released
Yadav didn’t initially settle the bail last Sunday and was sent back to confinement. with woman lawmaker Gayatri Sah who settled the paid for her release one day earlier
They’ve been charged by CIAA for misusing their diplomatic passports against two persons absconding persons attempted unsuccessfully to enter Australia via Abu Dhabi.
Police are investigating widespread misuse of passports by lawmakers.
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FURTHER DETAILS OF BRAHMIN SAMAJ STRIKE

Kathmandu, 20 May: Brahmin Samaj strike has disrupted normal life in the 16 western districts Friday.
The Samaj has demanded restoration of a Hindu state.
Chetri Samaj has lent support to Friday’s strike./
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NAC COMMITTEE TO PURCHASE AIRCRAFT TO OPERATE INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS

Kathmandu, 20 May: State-owned Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has formed another committee to probe purchase aircraft to operate international flights.
The 10-member committee of directors is coordinated by Dr.Kiran Poudel Chhetri.
The body is recommending amendment of public procurement act for aircraft acquisition.
CEO Sugan Ratna Kansakar was cleared of CIAA charge he along with some executives irregularly advanced money to European aircraft manufacturer Airbus to acquire two aircraft.
Kansakar hasn’t resumed work after his successor put hurdles to resume his seat at NAC headquarters; barely two months remain before Kansakar’s contractual appointment lapses.
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UML DEMANDS PM’S RESIGNATION
Kathmandu, 20 May: A CPN-UML taskforce has sought Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal’s resignation as a key condition to extend the Constituent Assembly term by a year as proposed by the government. The three-member taskforce comprising party General Secretary Ishwor Pokhrel, politburo member Pradip Gyawali and central committee member Bhim Rawal has mentioned the Khanal’s resignation as one of the prerequisites in its nine-point proposal for CA term extension. ‘Resignation of the prime minister to pave the way for the formation of a national unity government,’ reads the document titled ‘Tasks to be completed before voting on the bill on Constituent Assembly’s term extension’. The proposal document, leaked to THT, is yet to be made public though, Lekhnath Pandey writes in The Himalayan Times.

Most of the UML preconditions are similar to that of the main opposition Nepali Congress. In its 10-point preconditions, NC has

also sought the prime minister’s resignation ‘to pave the way for

the formation of a national unity government’. However, on number of Maoist fighters to be integrated, UML has kept mum.

The proposal has sought settling of outstanding issues related

to state restructuring, forms of government and election system

within a month. It states that the first draft of the new constitution

should be ready in two months and the constitution should be

promulgated in six months from the date of extension of the CA

term. Like NC, the UML has also asked the government to bid

farewell to all the combatants who had participated in the

Maoist Palungtar Plenum in November. UML echoes NC on ending dual security system to Maoist leaders by removing PLA fighters and handing over the weapons used by them to the government.

The whole nine yards

• Deploying joint monitoring teams of security forces, civil servants

and Maoist representatives at all Maoist cantonments

• Merging Maoist ex-fighters living at satellite camps into the seven main cantonments

• Announcing an outline and work schedule for integration and rehabilitation of the ex-fighters by settling the outstanding issues on norms, method and numbers of combatants to be integrated as

per constitutional provision and past agreements

• Giving farewell to all combatants who had participated in the Maoist

Palungtar Plenum

• Handing over all the weapons to the government

• Ending duel security guards to Maoist leaders by removing PLA

fighters and handing over the weapons used by them to the government. Taking back vehicles used by Maoist leaders

• Announcing return of all the properties seized by the Maoists during and after the conflict. If no initiative is taken, the overnment shall return the properties to the concerned by using force

• Settling outstanding issues related to state restructuring, forms of

government and election system within a month; bringing the first

draft of the constitution within two months and promulgating the new statue within six months

• Resignation of the prime minister to pave the way for the formation of a national unity government
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PROTESTS GALORE AROUND CA MEETING SITE





Kathmandu, 20 May: With the term of the Constituent Assembly coming to its close, a number of pressure and protest groups are making their presence felt. With each passing day, the number of tents and banners are increasing in front of the CA building in New Baneswore, Bishnu Gautam writes in The Rising Nepal.
When only ten days are left for the extended term of the CA, which was originally elected for two years in 2008 to draft the new constitution of Federal Republic of Nepal, to expire, eight various groups and individuals were staging their sit-ins and demonstrations separately Thursday.
Of the eight, two are not directly linked with the CA term extension albeit they are there to pressurize the CA to meet their demands.
Four of the seven groups/individuals have erected tents to stage their sit-ins. Nepal Loktantrik Tharu Sangh is the latest group to erect its tent. It is demanding that the CA should promulgate the new constitution by May 28 ensuring peace and an autonomous Tharuhat state.
Next to the tent of Tharu Sangh, a forum of former lawmakers has been staging relay hunger strike since 16 May demanding that the CA should meet the demand of peace and constitution within a stipulated time.
Thursday, seven former women lawmakers—Sushila Sharma, Sushila Nepal, Shree Maya Thakali, Sharada Pokharel, Goma Devkota, Kashi Poudel and Jayanti Rai were staging a hunger strike with their face towards the CA building.
"Our protest will continue till 28 May," said Shanker Nath Adhikari, general secretary of the forum. Former Speaker Tara Nath Ranabhat leads the forum.
Near the tent of the former lawmakers sits Nun Prasad Dangal of Hattilet, Hetauda, with a plastic laminated document hanging down his chest. It reads ‘missing constitution notice’. The silent man attired in cream-coloured traditional shirt and trouser and white hat is attracting attention from the onlookers.
A few yards north from the Tharu group, are four groups, two under tents and two in the open.
The first group comprises women in blue sari staging the sit-in under the banner of ‘Women Pressure Campaign for Constitution’. Three women’s organisations—Land Rights Forum, Women’s Rights Forum and Pressure Group for Women’s Security—have been staging the sit-in under their tent. They offer visual treat to onlookers as they dance and sing. Their tent displays the main points of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2006.
Probably the biggest crowd puller is the sit-in organised by the Kshetriya National Movement. The people there seem to be listening to academicians Jainendra Jivan and Prof. Dr. Dil Bahadur Kshetri, the coordinator of the movement. Kshetris are launching the movement

to ensure their rights in the new constitution.
Next to the Kshetris is one lone Mukunda Ghimire with a stretched banner reading ‘National Campaign for Republican Constitution’.
"When people like you join me tomorrow, this will also be a crowded point," Ghimire says.
Next to Ghimire is a protesting group of displaced vendors with their banner ‘National Industry and Commerce Association’.
When the road west to the CA building was occupied by the demonstrators, the southern road was almost under the control of the RPP-Nepal leaders and cadres Thursday afternoon. They were there to stage a two-hour sit-in demanding dissolution of the CA and a fresh poll to it.
When CA meeting inside cannot progress in the absence of the minimum quorum and the participants of the protest and pressure groups outside it are increasing, the leaders who have been bracing for the extension of the CA term must be feeling the heat.
"CA has been like an NGO and its members want to churn out more (both legally and illegally) by extending its term," an angry gentleman was heard saying in the crowd.

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UCPN-M ENDORSES NA’s PROPOSAL FOR MAOIST INTEGRATION





Kathmandu, 20 May: UCPN-Maoist has endorsed Nepal Army’s (NA) proposal on army integration modality saying that forming of a directorate under the NA and keeping the mixed force under the directorate is appropriate for moving forward the peace process, The Rising Nepal reports.
A meeting of the Standing Committee (SC) of the party on Thursday took a decision to this effect.
The meeting decided to reach to a conclusion on leadership, rank and file and responsibility of such a mixed force to remain under the NA’s special directorate. The party also decided to hold discussions with the other parties to fix the number of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for the purpose of integration.
The NA was reported to have been submitted its proposal to the government a few months back.
The meeting also decided to deploy monitoring manpower at the PLA cantonments and urge the government and other concerned parties to expedite the process.
The meeting, however, kept up with the party’s earlier decision on the package for those who will go for rehabilitation and voluntary retirement. The party had previously decided that an amount of Rs. 1 million should be provided for those who would opt for voluntary retirement and a package of skill development and income generation amounting equal to that of voluntary retirement could be awarded with for those who desired rehabilitation.
"The meeting concluded that the NA’s proposal that a joint force could be formed to keep under its directorate for army integration process is appropriate," Maoist leader Barsha Man Pun said after the SC meeting.
On the number of the PLA for integration, Pun said that the party would hold discussions with the other parties as it had previously calculated that around 10,000 out of 19,302 PLA would be desirous to go for integration while the remaining might opt for either voluntary retirement or rehabilitation package.
"The point is the integration should be respectable and it should honour the contribution made by the PLA," Pun, who is also the in-charge of the PLA, said.
With the new decisions, the Maoists, a major ruling party, have shown flexibility on army integration as they had earlier floated the idea that the leadership of the mixed force should remain under the PLA and that such a mixed force should have the responsibility of border security while the other parties including the main ruling CPN-UML and the main opposition Nepali Congress had accepted the Maoists’ proposal.
The meeting made it clear that both the army integration process and constitution writing process should go simultaneously and that integration could be carried out once there was guarantee of promulgation of the new constitution.
The new decisions of the Maoists came a day before the Nepali Congress is all set to declare its positions on both the peace and constitution writing process for the first time through a mass meeting in the capital city, and just before a week of the expiry of the deadline for the promulgation of the new constitution, May 28.

(Note: Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya wrote a note of dissent on standing committee decision.)

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LOCALS AROUND BHUTANESE REFUGEE CAMP DEBAR UN VEHICLES FROM ENTRING CAMP -

Kathmandu, 20 May: Local people living around the vicinity of Goldhap-based Bhutanese refugee camp in Jhapa have banned entry to vehicles of donor agencies to the camp site to press for development programmes in the area, Chetan Adhikari reports in The Kathmandu Post reports from Damak, Jhapa..

They have insisted that their demands should be addressed before the camp refugees are relocated. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) plans to shift refugees staying in Goldhap to Beldangi-based camps by the end of June. The relocation is taking place in view of the decreasing number of refugees due to the third country resettlement programme.

The people residing around the Goldhap camp say the UN agency should launch development programmes to recompense what they call the problems they bore from the refugees since they were settled there two decades ago.

Among their demands are blacktopping the gravel road that links Garamani VDC with Goldhap along with Buttabari-Paglibhatti road; constructing an embankment at Deuniya River and building a botanical park in the camp.

Sarita Adhikari of a struggle committee formed by Goldhap refugees said that they were compelled to protest, as both the local administration and the UNHCR ignored their demands.

On Thursday, they thwarted the UNHCR’s plan of relocating 17 refugee families living inside the Goldhap camp. Around 300 refugee families are staying inside there.
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