MAOIST STANDING COMMITTEE TO MEET TO RESOLVE PARTY DISPUTE

MAOIST SPECIAL COMMITTEE MEET SATURDAY

Kathmandu, 3 Sept.: A delayed Maoist standing committee is scheduled to meet and discuss Saturday the handover of keys and containers with Maoists weapons to a special committee headed ex-officio by the prime minister.
The weapons were verified and stored by UN, which withdrew 15 January after a failed four-year Nepal mission, but keys were handed over to Maoists.
The handover—the first move by Chairman Prachanda and Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai—to get leadership from UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal—has been challenged by a faction led by first Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya
Baidya says the ‘suicidal move’ will disarm and disband PLA before completing the peace process.
The hard-line group said the Prachanda faction took a unilateral decision—a charge denied by the Maoist boss.
Baidya faction came out on the streets Friday protesting the delivery of keys and containers to the special committee .
Protests will continue until the decision is corrected, the group warned.
The Baidya group even threatened to stay away from the Bhattarai cabinet.
The party established faction has asked people and party workers not to be swayed by an unofficial party decision.
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MADESHBADI FRONT FINALIZING CABINET LIST SATURDAY

Kathmandu, 3 Sept.: A front of five Madeshbadi parties is expected to finalize its government team Saturday following agreement overnight with Prime Minister Babauram Bhattarai on sharing of ministries overnight.
Five constituents of the front are meeting Saturday to finalize the name list for delivery to the premier.
Cabinet is expected to be announced Sunday seven days after installation of Bhattarai with Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachedhar.
Gachedhar is chairman of MJFL, one of five constituents of the front.
Two more ministries are being formed by splitting ministry of physical planning and agriculture and cooperatives to complete a delayed cabinet expansion to accommodate demands of the terai parties .
There’ll be 28 ministries after the splits.
The front will get control of one more ministry; 11 ministers were set aside for the front
Maoist Chairman Prachanda was present at a meeting between Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattari and a front of five Madeshbadi leaders Friday to resolve differences on ministry sharing.
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

ABB, SFCL ANNOUNCE MERGER

Kathmandu, 3 Sept.: Annapurna Bikash Bank (ABB) and Suryadarshan Finance Company Limited (SFCL) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for merger Friday.
ABB Director Balkrishna Neupane and SFCL chairman Dan Bahadur Tamang signed the merger encouraged by Nepal Rashtra Bank
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NPC VICE-CHAIRMAN RESIGNS

Kathmandu, 3 Sept.: In a routine move, National Planning Commission (NPC) Vice-chairman Dr. Dinesh Chandra Devkota resigned with the installation of Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai.
Members Prem Kumar and Ram Kumar Sharma also resigned.
Subod Narayan Jha, an appointee of one constituent of a five-party Madeshbadi morcha in govrnmet with Maoists, didn’t resign.
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ECONOMIC CELL IN PMO

Kathmandu, 3 Sept.: A cell to monitor the economy will be established in the Office of the Prime Minister
Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai conveyed his decision at a meeting with the FNCCI Chairman Suraj Baidya Friday.
The cell will be opened in one month.
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NEPSE INDEX GAINS 4.58 POINTS

Kathmandu, 3 Sept. Nepse index gained 4.58 points and closed at 341.73 points at the end of weekly trading Thursday.
Altogether 318,880 shares valued at Rs 83.195 million were traded in 4,430 transactions; trade volume increased 12.33 percent compared to the previous week.
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SPORTS

SAUDI U-16 SOCCER TEAM ARRIVES

Kathmandu, 3 Sept: A 41-member Saudi U-16 soccer team arrived Friday to participate in Group-A AFC U-16 championship in the capital 12 to 20 September.
Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Bangladesh and Maldives are in Group A..
Finalist and runner-up will qualify for the final round.
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RIGHTS BODIES DECRY MAOIST, UDMF DEAL

Kathmandu, 3 Sept : A group of human rights organizations have urged Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai to honor the commitments made by both the government and the Maoist party to hold perpetrators of human rights abuses during and after the country´s armed conflict accountable before the law, Republica reports.

Issuing a letter, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Commission of Jurists and Advocacy Forum, made the appeal to the prime minister.
"The letter was issued in reaction to the four-point agreement between the UCPN (Maoist) and the United Democratic Madhesi Front," read the statement issued jointly by the four organizations. The agreement calls for the withdrawal of criminal cases committed during the country´s armed conflict.
Mandira Sharma, director of Advocacy Forum, said the proposal to withdraw criminal cases against people accused of human rights abuses and grant them amnesty would deprive the victims who suffered at their hands of fundamental rights, including the right to an effective remedy. "This agreement would threaten the principles of constitutional supremacy, judicial independence, and the rule of law," she said.
"We understand the need to forge consensus among the political parties to bring the peace process and constitution writing process to a satisfactory conclusion," the statement quoted Sam Zarifi, the Asia director at Amnesty International as saying. "However, this should not be done at the expense of justice and safeguarding the rights of Nepal´s people."

The four organizations called upon the prime minister to issue a clear and unambiguous statement that the government will not seek to end investigations prematurely, withdraw charges or grant amnesties in the cases that involves serious human rights violations.

They also called upon the government to set up an independent legal and institutional framework to ensure that the criminal justice system and transitional justice institutions, such as the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission, can work effectively to end impunity.

"To be consistent with Nepal´s international obligations, any withdrawals or other actions affecting the rights of victims must be made as part of an independent and impartial process conducted in accordance with the rules set down by the Supreme Court," the statement quoted Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

PM pledges to stop impunity

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has denied that any agreement to acquit the culprits has been reached.

The state-news agency, RSS, reported that Dr Bhattarai, at a meeting with the human rights activists at the UCPN (Maoist) central office on Friday morning, said, "Decision was made to acquit only those implicated by the state on fake charges during the People´s War, and Madhes, Tharuhat and other movements."

Bhattarai also said that the bills on Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Disappearance Commission will be given final touches soon. He pledged action against human rights violators and an end to impunity.


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NOC BLEEDS NEPAL

Kathmandu, 3 Sept : Nepal suffered a net oil loss of Rs 5.59 billion in the fiscal year 2010/11 as the government continued to brush aside long-committed reforms of state-monopolized petroleum business, including adoption of automatic pricing mechanism, Republica reports.
Worse was, the apathy siphoned away well over Rs 4 billion from the state coffer, supposed to be invested in crucial social sector and development programs as the government during the year doled out funds to finance imports, instead of taking rational decision.
"We (NOC) imported a total of Rs 70 billion worth of petroleum products during the year, and unfortunately, low retail rates compared to import rates caused us suffer a net loss of about 8 percent," said NOC Spokesperson Mukunda Dhungel.

According annual average profit and loss figure for different petroleum products, the corporation suffered losses in all major products. The maximum loss came from diesel, followed by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and petrol.

As a result, the corporation has estimated its negative net worth to have crossed Rs 10 billion during the year. "Our outstanding loans liability too jumped to Rs 17.02 billion," said Dhungel.

Of the total outstanding loans, the corporation has loans due worth Rs 10.49 billion to the government. Its outstanding loans liability to Employees Provident Fund stands at Rs 4.90 billion, Citizens Investment Trust stands at Rs 1.13 billion, and Everest Bank at Rs 500 million.

During the year, the international price of oil jumped to as much as US$ 127 per barrel. Even though the government allowed it to adjust prices for six times, it was barred from raising the prices substantially, which was needed to plug in gaps on major loss making products diesel and LPG.

The government believed that raising the prices of these two products would leave inflationary impact, hurting general consumers, particularly as inflation during the year remained closed to double-digit.

As a result of such unscientific pricing management, it still suffers a net loss of Rs 7.14 per liter on diesel and Rs 297.97 on every cylinder (14.2 kgs) of LPG.

"Together, these products are still inflicting us a monthly loss of Rs 506 million," said Dhungel.

Amid such dismal financial outlook, the corporation has said it would against need an instant loan of Rs 750 million if it is to maintain stock and ensure normal supplies during the upcoming festival season of Dashain and Tihar.

In this connection, it recently pushed the government to pledge a fresh tranche of loans. However, after the Ministry of Finance denied such favors, Dhungel said the corporation is taking fresh initiatives to take loans from banks.

Officials blame the political leadership for not showing eagerness to address the pricing problems. So far, the state-administered ad hoc pricing mechanism, which is largely determined by the political interest of the government, has inflicted the country an oil loss of well over Rs 25 billion over the last eight years.

If the government did not take up pro-active role in dealing away with the problem, NOC cautions the country will face still more serious fiscal problems in days ahead, and urged the government to correct its behavior immediately.
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