SUMMIT OF BIG THREE KICKS OFF

SUMMIT OF BIG THREE KICKS OFF

Kathmandu, 19 June: A delayed summit of the Big Three kicked off Sunday morning—the first dialogue of the Maoists, NC and UML after the three-month extension of the constituent assembly on 29 May.
A scheduled meeting couldn’t be held Saturday without the presence of Maoists.
Main opposition will push the simultaneous implementation of five-points of the tripartite accord between the Big Three, including the immediate resignation of the Khanal government to pave the way for a national government
The agreement facilitated the extension of assembly tenure.
implementation of points in the agreement has hit foul weather.
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NC BOYCOTTS BAHRAT MOHAN ADHIKARI MEET

Kathmandu, 19 June: Main opposition NC Sunday boycotted a meeting sponsored by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari to collect support for the annual budget for the fiscal year 2011.12.
NC Chief Whip Lawman Ghimere said a meeting with the finance minister will be held only after a Three-party summit.
The meeting proceeded without the presence of NC representatives.
The economy has been adversely impacted without the timely presentation of the annual budget for two consecutive years.
NC has linked its support for the budget to the formation of a national government.
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ABORTION UNDER GOVT.INITIATIVE IN 10 DISTRICTS





Kathmandu, 19 June: The government has scaled up medical abortion (MA) in 10 districts, The Rising Nepal reports.
Abortion by using medicine is very easy to adopt and less costly, Dr. Naresh Pratap K.C., director of the Family Health Division (FHD), said.
The FHD is scaling up medical abortion in Dhading, Chitwan, Tanahu, Kavre, Lalitpur, Surkhet, Kailali, Jhapa, Dhankuta and Kaski districts.
The service is available in health posts of the concerned districts at Rs. 500. About 127 nurses were trained and mobilised for MA.
As its preliminary report is encouraging, the government is planning to start the services in all 75 districts in the near future, Dr. K.C. said.
According to Dr. K.C., it has only 1.6 per cent complication while there is normally two per cent complication in Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA).
The MA is effective for up to nine weeks’ pregnancy, Dr. Anjana Karki of BNB hospital, said.
In the process of MA, a tablet is given to eat and after 24 hours four more tablets are administered either orally or for putting in the vagina. It takes around two hours to two weeks for complete abortion, Dr. Karki said.
Similarly, the government has asked service receivers to take the services from trained or listed providers at the listed sites within the legal conditions and only with the concerned women’s consent.
The government has allowed to use only Combipack brand’s Medabon medicine produced by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, India for MA which was registered in Drug Management Division.
Senior Pharmacist of Drug Management Division Vabha Shrestha said that the medicine was available in 42 listed dillers. The needy women should visit the government’s designed centre to buy the medicine. No one else was allowed to sell the medicine to anybody, she said.
She asked not to use from another dillers or another brand’s medicine.
According to Demographic Health Survey 2006, maternal mortality rate is 281 per 100,000 live birth and 44 per cent of the population is using contraceptives methods for the family planning. The unwanted pregnancy is about 33 per cent in the country.
As 25 per cent female die due to the unsafe abortion, the government legalised the abortion service in 2002. The service was started at first from Thapathali Maternity Hospital in 2003.

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HOME MINISTER MAHARA ASKS POLITICAL PARTIES TO STOP PROTECTING CRIMINALS TO FIOGHT CRIME





Kathmandu, 19 June: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Krishna Bahadur Mahara Saturday said that the government was trying to end the criminal activities which were promoted under the protection of political parties, according to The Rising Nepal, The Rising Nepal reports.
Talking to the Gorkhapatra Daily (a sister publication of The Rising Nepal), he said that the political parties should end the culture of protecting criminals to wipe out crimes from the nation and urged the parties to support the government to bring the criminals into the arms of law.
He said that the five-point pact had three major sprits; peace process, first stage draft of constitution and prime minister’s resignation after a national consensus for the new government, so the prime minister would resign after finding the new consensus.
DPM Mahara said that the peace process was moving in a positive way after the five-point pact and added that the Maoist leaders had ended their dual security arrangements for leaders after the deal.
He said, "The sub-committee was trying to conclude the disputed matters of constitution to conclude the first draft of constitution and nearing consensus on disputed issues."
In another context, he said that the prime minister was serious about arresting the attackers of journalists and the Home Ministry was searching for Parshuram Basnet.
Talking about Sudan corruption case, he said that the politics and legal procedures were interlinked with each other and the courts would find out the reality behind the involvement of leaders and other officers.
He clarified that the Home Ministry had made a clear provision to transfer police officers and added that he was trying to establish a system in the Home Ministry.
He said, "The Maoist combatants management and integration will be concluded by political consensus and it would be finalised by a clear modality."
He added the government succeeded to arrest two attackers of journalists and was

trying to arrest others who were involving the attack. "The government never compromises when it comes to establishing law and order in the nation."
Mahara said that his party had succeeded to transform itself and stressed that it had prioritised peace and constitution for transformation of the political system in Nepal.
He said that the party was trying to end its intra-party rifts and added that the duty of all leaders was to take the party to a new height.
He said, "All leaders should understand national politics from a new vantage point in the context of a transition and set out to resolve the political crisis. It’s a duty of all parties to conclude the peace and constitution writing within the three months of the extended timeframe of the CA."
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A WEEK’S BREATHING SPACE FOR CASINO OPERATOR
Kathmandu, 19 June: Finally, the government has decided to scrap the operating licence of Nepal Recreation Centre (NRC) that runs four casinos in the country if it fails to clear its outstanding royalty dues within a week, The Kathmandu Post reports.
The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) on Thursday took a
decision to this effect.
The ministry, issuing a notice on Saturday, gave the seven-day ultimatum to NRC to clear its dues. According to the notice, if NRC fails to clear the dues within the stipulated time, its operating licence will be cancelled. “Since the licence was issued by the ministry, it will annul the licence if NRC fails to pay its outstanding royalty dues,” said Ranjan Krishna Aryal, joint-secretary at the ministry. The government’s decision has come amid NRC’s repeated refusal to clear the dues. NRC, in a letter to the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) two weeks ago, had said hotels housing the casinos should own the responsibility of clearing the royalty dues.
In the letter, NRC had stated that it will only clear dues other than royalty, according to the department. In a bid to persuade NRC to clear its dues, DRI has frozen bank accounts of its two casinos-Casino Everest and Casino Tara-although they have already settled their dues. NRC also said in its letter that DRI can recover dues other than royalty from these two casinos.
Two of the NRC’s casinos-Casino Nepal and Casino Anna-have to pay Rs 130 million and Rs 110 million, respectively, as of now. The government has already frozen NRC’s bank accounts and assets.
With NRC owner Rakesh Wadhwa on the run ever since the government initiated action against his company and not showing interest to pay the dues, the DRI had initiated the auction process for NRC’s property. NRC has around 3.5 ropanies of land and a house in Kalimati.
The Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Dec. 28, 2010, had directed the government to cancel the licences of casinos failing to clear their dues within 35 days. Only two casinos-Casino Everest and Casino Tara-had cleared their dues when DRI formally wrote to the ministry in this regard. The DRI on Feb. 14 had formally requested the ministry to take against eight casinos failing to clear dues within the stipulated time.
However, four additional casinos—Casino Rad, Casino Venus, Casino Grand and Casino Shangri La—cleared their dues and royalties later. Casino Anna, Casino Royale, Casino Nepal and Casino Fulbari are yet to clear their dues.
With the ministry’s latest decision, NRC’s two other casinos—Casino Everest and Casino Tara—that have already cleared their royalty could also be closed down. With Wadhwa still absconding, Casino Nepal, stationed at Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza, has not paid salary to its staff for the last six months. The trade unions at Casino Nepal had tried to persuade Wadhwa to either clear royalty dues or hand over the responsibility of the casino’s operation to its licence holder.
In a bid to regulate and control casinos, the government has finalised a draft amendment to the Gambling Act with provisions of stringent action against Nepalis indulging in gambling in casinos. The draft act, which will replace the Gambling Act-2020, provisions one-year imprisonment to Nepali gamblers.
Until now, Nepalis arrested in casinos can get released by paying a fine of Rs 100. PAC had directed the government to amend the existing Act after a series of cases of Nepalis entering casinos surfaced.
As per the draft act, Nepalis are not allowed in casinos and operators have to keep records of every person entering their casinos for gambling. It has also asked the operators to provide details of losers and winners in casinos.
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FACTIONALISM IN UCPN-M SPILLS OUT ONLINE
Kathmandu, 19 June: That the intra-party rift in the Unified CPN-Maoist has widened like never before is undeniable, though the top brass has switched to damage-control mode trying hard to allay the fears of the party rank and file, Tika R.Pradhan writes in the Himalayan Times..

Reports of factionalism have surfaced of late with party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and vice-chairman duo Mohan Baidhya and Baburam Bhattarai calling separate meetings and training. What’s more, the trio’s mouthpieces are adding fuel to the fire.

A case in point: A few days ago, nepaleverestnews.com, a newly setup pro-Dahal portal, carried ‘breaking news’ claiming ‘artistes affiliated to the Maoist-aligned cultural group, Samana Pariwar, were kidnapped as per the directives of standing committee member Hit Man Shakya. Hours later, the Maoist official news portal krishnasennews.com rubbished the allegations.

The ward of words between the two portals spilled all over the dailies. The pro-Dahal portal has been updating the news related to Samana, while media outlets of other factions have been giving their own colour to the story.

Since the closure of Janadisha daily, the party’s official mouthpiece, the party leaders have launched their own newspapers and magazines, making the war more intense.

Of late, Dahal and Bhattarai have teamed up for the cause of ‘peace and constitution’, while Baidhya has been pitching for ‘respected integration of Maoist fighters and pro-people constitution’, maintaining that the party should not surrender in the name of flexibility.

According to Maheswor Dahal, chairman of the Revolutionary Journalists’ Association (RJA), the party’s media policy has never been consistent since it joined mainstream politics.

Maheshwor, also the secretary of the party’s Publicity Department headed by Bhattarai, said leaders were busy investing in the media and influencing experts and businessmen to fulfil their personal interest.

Former minister Gopal Kirati, who is close to chairman Dahal, took the Maoist media war to a new height on May 6 when he seized the copies of Koshi, a monthly news magazine, accusing it of going against the party establishment. Interestingly, Koshi editor Indra Raut is close to Baidhya.

Yet another act that threw the party into disgrace was when Bhattarai had his interview ‘forcefully’ published in the party’s official weekly Janadesh a few months ago, leading to the resignation of its editor Komal Baral, another pro-Baidhya leader. The paper had even published a special editorial taking strong exception to the party establishment, only to publish an apology — ‘self-criticism’ — later on. Since the fortnightly Samachar began to hit the newsstand with wide networks and circulation among the party’s rank and file besides the general public, the Baidhya faction came up with his own venture — the weekly Dayitwobodh — to counter the party chairman Dahal. Bhattarai followed suit, launching ‘Ankur’ monthly on June 15 to counter both the factions.

Pro-Dahal

• Lal Rakshak weekly

• Samachar fortnightly

• nepaleverestnews.com

Pro-Baidhya

• Dayitwobodh weekly

• Samayabaddha bimonthly

• thenextfront.com

Pro-Bhattarai

• Janadesh weekly

• Ankur monthly

• Greatway magazine

• Sansleshan monthly

• greatwaymag.com
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NEPAL OFFICIALS FAIL TO BROKER PEACE WITH STUDENTS IN BANGLADESH
Kathmandu, 19 June: Nepali students at the University of Science and Technology in Chittagong (USTC), Bangladesh are still living in terror as the foreign ministry official´s bid for a conciliatory meeting between the victims and attackers failed after the scared victims did not turn up Saturday, Prem Dhakal reports in Republica..

Joint Secretary Hari Kumar Shrestha, who heads the SAARC Division at the foreign ministry, was sent to Bangladesh by the ministry to settle the matter. Shrestha had met the victims and friends of the assailants and tried to hold the meeting Sunday morning.

“But the meeting didn´t take place as the victims refused to turn up due to fear,” Consular and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Nepali Embassy in Bangladesh Krishna Chandra Aryal, who had accompanied Shrestha to Chittagong said.

The victims said they did not go to the meeting fearing that the officials were trying to dismiss the case in the name of conciliation. But Aryal claimed the officers did not try to dismiss the case. “Bangla police have arrested three assailants and are carrying out investigations into the incident. We don´t want to, and we can´t even if we want to influence the investigations in any way. We just wanted to broker peace between the victims and the friends of assailants,” Aryal explained.

An armed group of students including Rajendra Dhungana, Shambhu Sen Tumbafo, Ratna Shahi, Dinesh Raj Dahit, Raju Sherchan, Susabin Rai, Durga Gurung and Ghanashyam Rai had attacked the university hostel in the night on June 10 and injured 15 Nepali students. Bangla Police have arrested Dhungana, Shahi and Tumbafo while the rest of the accused are still absconding.

Aryal said joint-secretary Shrestha also met the university authorities and demanded security for Nepali students and suitable environment for study inside the college. “The university has also started its own probe while the police have also been investigating into the incident,” Aryal added. Shrestha will return to Nepal on Sunday and brief the ministry about the incident.

The guardians of injured students and others studying at the USTC have met Foreign Secretary Madan Bhattarai and asked the Foreign Ministry to recall the guilty students saying their children would not be safe as long as the assailants were in Bangladesh. On the other hand, the guardians of the accused have asked the government to consider the future of their children and not recall them.
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MAOISTS ATTEMPT TO HOLD MEETINGS

Kathmandu, 19 June: Unable to solve the party´s factional disputes behind the curtain, the UCPN (Maoist) has been putting off its Standing Committee meeting, which is supposed to set the agendas for the forthcoming Central Committee (CC), according to Republica.

The party is also likely to postpone the crucial CC meeting slated for June 22 due to deepening intra-party factionalism and tussles for power.

Sources say party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal is making attempts to find a middle ground and take the party ahead in a unified manner despite intra-party cracks.

“Why hold a meeting if that doesn´t lead to a solution? It will be easy to solve some problems by simply postponing them,” said Maoist leader Haribol Gajurel who is close to Dahal.

Gajurel, however, argued that the party would go on implementing the five-point deal reached with other parties, even if the party does not hold a CC meeting.

The Maoist chairman has been trapped between his commitment to other parties to complete the major tasks of the peace process within three months and the serious objection from the party hardliners against the party´s acceptance of the PLA integration model floated by the Nepal Army (NA).

“We are very clear on the issue. The NA´s is a DDR model [demobilization, disarmament and rehabilitation] and we will not accept that,” said Maoist leader Kul Prasad KC from the party hard-line faction.

The party´s hard-line faction, led by Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya, has argued that making the PLA a non-combat force would amount to surrender, and defied the decision to end the security details being provided to senior party leaders by the PLA, arguing only the CC can take such a decision.

“There is no formal decision on ending the PLA security details. We will abide by the CC decision. The PLA guards would not return to the cantonments just at the whims of the chairman,” said KC.

The faction has put forward three points: 1) formulation of a national security policy; 2) employment of the integrated force for border security; and 3) PLA leadership in the so-called directorate under the NA.

CC member Khagraj Bhatta said that the party is not likely to hold the CC meeting. “Things would be difficult if the problems are not settled even in the CC. So attempts are being made to find a middle ground,” said Bhatta who is close to Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai.

It is not easy for Dahal to drive the party ahead as per his wish as Baidya and Bhattarai factions have maintained a tactical alliance against Dahal that will reduce the latter to a minority. Dahal is close to Bhattarai on the issue of peace and constitution, while Bhattarai and Baidya have been forging on-and-off alliance to end Dahal´s “monopoly” in the party.

Bhattarai may not support Dahal on all the issues since the latter wants to give continuity to the current government against the former´s wishes.
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