NO NEGOTIATION OF 7-POINT PACT SAYS MAOIST CHIEF

SQUATTERS ALONG BAGMATI RIVER BEING EVICTED
Kathmandu, 4 Dec.: The taskforce formed to implement the plan envisaging forced eviction of squatters residing on the banks of Bagmati River has decided to use force to vacate the encroached land within three days, The Kathmandu Post reports.
Holding a meeting on Saturday, the taskforce decided to forcefully evict the squatters after the latter snubbed its last five-day ultimatum issued on Tuesday. A meeting among the government bodies, including Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), Ministry of Physical Planning and Works and Ministry of Environment under the coordination of Home Minister Bijay Kumar Gachhadar on November 27, had formed the 17-member taskforce.
According to Mahesh Bahadur Basnet, chairperson of High Powered Committee for Integrated Development of the Bagmati Civilisation and coordinator of the taskforce, a team comprising around 3,000 police personnel—both from Nepal Police and Armed Police Force—led by their respective DIGs is ready to swing into action.
Bulldozers and trucks are also in the ready position to demolish the huts and drive away squatters. “All preparation to this effect has been completed,” Basnet said. “We are for using minimum force to avoid injuries.” The forceful eviction will kick off once the Kathmandu District Administration Office gives go-ahead. He hinted that the eviction plan will start either on Tuesday or Wednesday.
In the first week of November, the committee had directed the squatters to leave their huts by November 24. However, the latter ignored the fiat, saying that they won’t leave the place unless they are provided with appropriate alternatives, which later prompted the committee to seek MoHA’s help. Following a request from the MoHA, the committee extended the deadline issued to the landless squatting alongside Bagmati from Tilgana to Thapathali.
Basnet said that eviction is a must as the committee faced stiff resistance to execute its second phase of the project due to dense settlements on the Bagmati banks. It has already awarded a contract worth Rs 230 million to launch a sewage management programme from Tilganga to Minbhawan. Twenty-meter area on the either side of Bagmati, Bishnumati, Hanumante and Manohara is recorded as public land.
Amid authorities’ preparation to force landless to leave their huts, an alliance of five squatters’ organisations, however, has threatened to launch stern protests if they are forcefully evicted. “We will shut down Kathmandu Valley if the government uses force,” said Raju Tamang, secretary of Nepal Settlement Protection Society and vice-chairperson of the alliance. He claimed that the act of driving away poor slum people without any alternative is an extreme human rights violation. “The slum people are living from hand to mouth with no place to go.”
Basnet, however, contradicts Tamang’s views. He said the government study shows only some people are the real squatters.
According to a source, Narayan Parisharmi and Hari Datta Joshi, central committee members of General Federation of Nepalese Trade Union, including Tanka Poudel of Nepal Rastriya Bank, are also living on the encroached land. Squatters’ associations, however, say there around 23,000 landless residing in 64 settlements inside the Valley and an estimated 1,400 people live in 248 houses from the Tilganga to Thapathali area.
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STATE-OWNED LAND GROSSLY MISUSED BY ORGANIZATIONS AFFFILIATED WITH PARTIES
Kathmandu, 4 Dec.: In the past 15 years, the government has authorised several government and non-governmental organisations to occupy as much as 6,000 ropanies of state-owned land for free, Bhadra Sharma writes in The Kathmandu Post..
A study carried out by the Ministry of Land Reforms and Management (MoLRM) following a CIAA directive shows that there are altogether 151 such organisations, including hospitals, governmental and non-governmental organisations, schools, trusts, and other non-profit institutions, which acquired “occupancy right” over state-owned land in different areas.
Following reports of misuse of the state-owned land, the CIAA last week directed the ministry to stop granting such right to any organisations.
It is complained that most of the organisations, which received occupancy right over thousands of hectares of public land, have been misusing the property for profit-oriented businesses against the law.
“Our record shows that most of these organisations are found to have been misusing the land granted for free,” said Lalmani Joshi, secretary at the MoLRM. He said the ministry would come up with the details of the misused land within a month. Land Revenue Offices across the country are mobilised for this purpose.
The study shows that organisations close to the political parties have secured most public land.
The government had started granting occupancy right over state-owned land to non-profit organisations some 15 years ago. The first organisation to receive such right was Pushpa Lal Memorial Institute that acquired occupancy rights over 124 ropanies of land in Kathmandu.
The last one to receive such right is Janamaitri Hospital, which received 86 ropanis of public land in Jitpur VDC, Kathmandu. Other 68 applications demanding occupancy rights have been pending at the ministry.
Records show that Ganesh Man Singh Memorial Garden occupies 148 ropanis of public land in
Bhaktapur, Tanka Prasad Acharya Memorial Institute occupies 2.4 ropanis in Bhaktapur; Parijat Memorial Institute owns 1.4 ropanis in Kathmandu, Martyrs Institute has 69 ropanis in Kaski, and Madan Bhandari Industrial University has received 336 ropanis in Baluwa VDC, Kathmandu.
Besides MoLRM, the ministries of Education, Health, and Agriculture have also been granting occupancy rights over state-owned land to different organisations. “Expensive public land is being misused in the name of occupancy rights. If this goes unchecked, soon there won’t be any public land at the
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INTERVIEW
MAOIST CHIEF SAYS NO RENEGOTIATION ON SEVEN-POINT PACT
Kathmandu, 4 Dec.: UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Saturday said that separation of the combatants into different groups will commence shortly and that national consensus government will be formed at the earliest. Dahal also said he was committed to completing peace and constitution-writing processes without regard for his own political future, John Narayan Parajuli, Kamal Dev Bhattarai report in Kathamandu Post. .
In an interview with the Post on Saturday morning, Dahal exuded confidence that the peace and constitution-writing processes would be completed in the next six-months and elections would be held within a year.
Perhaps for the first time, he publicly acknowledged that many of the ex-combatants, especially those in senior positions, had been transferred to the YCL at the outset of the peace process and that addressing their fate was very important for the party.
Throughout the interview, he frequently referred to his personal sacrifice—calling for ‘honest’ scrutiny of his contribution and trying to impress that his commitment to peace and constitution was genuine.
Trying to dispel doubts about his party’s strategy, he said the Maoists weren’t seeking to renegotiate the terms of the seven-point agreement that formed the basis of the progress on integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants. Speculation is rife that the Maoists could push for renegotiation after the ranks of those seeking to be integrated swelled, and Maoist leaders including Dahal publicly called for accommodating the excess number in other security forces.
“We will hold discussion with other parties to solve few problems that have emerged, but we don’t intend to renegotiate the terms of the seven-point agreement,” said Dahal during a 45- minute interview at his residence in Naya Bazaar. He said the news reports about those opting for integration had been exaggerated. The number will come down as we go through the process as many injured and disabled have signed up too, he said. On the allegation that party pocketed the money received on behalf of the ‘deserters’, he said no money had been misused by the party, arguing that all the sum the party collected had been used for the upkeep and maintenance of the camps and combatants, including those deemed ‘disqualified’ by UNMIN.
“The combatants weren’t living a life of luxury and improving basic conditions in the cantonments didn’t come cheap,” said Dahal. “I understand many may have left over the past five years unable to withstand the hardship and uncertainty, but I wasn’t aware of the exact number.”
When asked about the fear that the party will keep a significant portion of the retirement package offered to the ex-combatants, Dahal said the party won’t keep a penny of it.
“I am aware of it, but let me clarify it through this interview that the party won’t take a penny of it. If some commanders have said differently, I urge our friends to notify it to the party headquarters,” Dahal said. Dahal said that the party had to address the fate of the ‘disqualified,’ and also the senior PLA commanders who were transferred to the YCL, but he said they won’t be seeking help from the government or other parties.
On returning the seized property, he expressed his commitment to abide by the agreement with other parties, but admitted that the issue was much more complex than it appeared to be.
Describing relations with other parties as excellent, he said a national unity government was essential in taking the processes to its conclusion. “Ideally, we would like to lead the government until completion of the peace process, but we won’t insist it to the point of affecting the environment for consensus,” Dahal said. On Nepali Congress ‘claim to lead the next government, he said the NC had a legitimate claim.
In the event there was an agreement on national unity government under the Maoist leadership, he said Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai would continue. He dismissed suggestions that he was in the race to become the PM. “I am not interested in becoming the prime minister until the peace process is completed,” he said.
On relations with India and China, Dahal said a balance was necessary and that he was neither pro this or that. “Indians would look after their own interests, so will the Chinese, and that is understandable. But as Nepalis we will also have to look after our own interests.” When asked if he was trying to establish himself as a statesman, he said he hasn’t done any grand planning and whatever he is doing is based on his conviction and the need of the hour.
“I haven’t over-analysed this. As a leader of the largest party, I have felt that it is my responsibility to fulfill public aspirations for peace and constitution.” Dahal said. “Some have raised the possibility that if I play the lead role in completing the peace and constitution-writing process, others will gang up to isolate me. And I have told them, so be it.”
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