OPERATION TO CLOSE DOWN 13 OF 28 CANTONMENTS, SATELLITE CAMPS TO BE COMPLETED MONDAY

OPERATION TO CLOSE DOWN 13 OF 28 CANTONMENTS, SATELLITE
CAMPS TO BE COMPLETED MONDAY

Kathmandu, 12 March: Operation to close down 13 of 28 cantonments and
satellite will be completed Monday with close down of two camps at Sindhuli and Kailali, Balananda Sharma a retired Nepal Army general who worked with the
UN peace force in Lebanon and now coordinator of a secretariat under a special committee headed ex-officio by the prime minster said.
The remaining cantonments will house 9,900 plus former Maoist fighters; 6,500 among them are being integrated in the state army amid haggling between ruling and
governing parties in terms.
The integration in more thanfour yearswill mark a major sep in the completion of a peace process.
Maoists are pushing immediate integration while opposition is advocating a
package solution.
The special committee meets Tuesday to discuss integration.
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DETAILS OF PM CHARGE AGAINST OPPOSITION WHICH REACTED WITH IMMEDIATE DENIAL

Kathmandu, 12 March :Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai has vowed that he will not be distracted from the supreme tasks of peace and constitution though party leaders were out to make the government under his leadership a failure, The Rising Nepal reports.
Addressing a meeting of the Constitutional Committee at Singha Durbar on Sunday, Bhattarai urged the party leaders to create a conducive environment for the government to perform.
Dr Bhattarai lashed out at the tendency of not performing as well as not allowing others to perform. He asked the leaders to stay away from the game of toppling the government or making it a failure.
"I have stated two tasks of priority- peace and constitution. I will not falter until these tasks are concluded," said a member of the CC quoting the Prime Minister as saying in the meeting.
Prime Minister Dr Bhattarai said that the opposition leaders were out to hinder constitution writing on the pretext of the peace process. "I will not step aside from my responsibilities. History will make my evaluation," said a CC member quoting the Prime Minister. According to the CC member who wanted not be named, the Prime Minister predicted a bleak situation if he shirked from his historic responsibilities.
Political leaders are more responsible than the government for the conclusion of the peace process and writing the constitution, the Prime Minister said. He pledged that he is ready to take toughest of steps if right environment is created.
Talking to reporters after
the meeting, CC chairman Nilambar Acharya said that the possibility of promulgating the constitution by May 27 has exhausted. He, however, said that there is still the possibility of promulgating a preliminary constitution if political leaders strike an agreement for that.
"There is no possibility to promulgate the constitution by May 27. The situation can be reversed by bringing change in the tendencies of the political parties and the way in which agreements are forged," Acharya said.
If new environment of agreement does not emerge, getting a new constitution has slim possibility even after May 27, said Acharya.
Nepali Congress vice president Ramchandra Poudel said that Dr Bhattarai had put blames on the opposition parties for not creating a suitable environment in the meeting. However, Poudel said that opposition parties are ready to cooperate with the Prime Minister if past agreements are honestly implemented.


"It is the attitude of the government that has landed itself in difficulty," said NC leader Poudel.
CPN-UML leader Bhim Bahadur Rawal said that the Prime Minister had spoken in the tone of threat and worry at the meeting. He said that he had made it clear to the Prime Minister that the opposition parties had not created any roadblocks for desirable performance of the government.
"No one has acted in a way to create obstacles for the government. The obstacles have surfaced with the failure to implement the past agreements," Rawal said.
Ruling and opposition sides expressed their views candidly but there was no progress towards finding a point of agreement, Rawal said. He agreed with the view that there is no possibility of promulgating new constitution by May 27
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OPPOSITION NC, UML PRESS INTEGRATION DETAILS

Kathmandu, 12 March :A meeting of the three major parties Sunday made some progress in relation to formation of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission on Investigation of Disappearance, The Rising Nepal reports.
The meeting of the top leaders of ruling UCPN-Maoist and opposition Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, however, remained inconclusive as usual in relation to army integration and disputed issues of the constitution.
Leaders who informed the reporters after the 3-hour long meeting at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction in Singha Durbar repeated that they discussed all the issues pertinent to peace and constitution.
"We decided to hold another meeting after the meeting of the Special Committee and Dispute Resolution Sub-Committee (under the Constitutional Committee). The Sub-committee’s meeting is scheduled for tomorrow and the special committee’s meeting will be held the day after tomorrow (on Tuesday)," UML chairman Jhala Nath Khanal said after the meeting.
Although he observed that army integration was the crucial point, Khanal said the issue of rank determination was not picked up in the meeting as everything needful had been clarified in the 7-point agreement signed on Nov 1 last year.
"We discussed on formation of commissions in detail, including the report presented by the taskforce. And we found ourselves close to agreement. We are going to conclude this issue in the next meeting," former Prime Minister Khanal expressed hope.
Energy Minister Post Bahadur Bogati, who is also the Maoist secretary, confirmed the parties were close to agreement on formation of commissions. However, unlike Khanal’s statement, Bogati said the meeting also dwelt on army integration and the leaders agreed to hold discussions in their respective parties on the issue as a preparation for next round of discussion on the same.
When asked about the reasons for negotiations on army integration in the context of 7-point agreement, Bogati said, "There are issues to be discussed in that pact although it does not mean that we need to add one more point to it."
Vice-president of Nepali Congress Ram Chandra Paudel informed that the parties had yet to conclude what kinds of crimes should be enlisted in relation to TRC.
"We argued for giving priority to army integration and moving ahead whereas Prachanda argued that all the points of the 7-point agreement should be dealt with simultaneously," Paudel said.
He complained that although NC was for holding the meeting of the Speical Committee first and then the meeting of the sub-committee, the meeting decided that the sub-committee meeting should be held first.
Paudel said no disagreement arose in relation to maintaining the standard criteria of the Army for army integration. He said rank determination should be done as per the 7-point agreement. "In the meeting, Prachanda even urged the Special Committee to move the army integration process ahead."
Although leaders said they would meet next meeting of the parties have, however, not been scheduled.
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SPEAKER’S SHORTCUT TO PEACE, CONSTITUTION
Kathmandu, 12 March: Constituent Assembly chairman Subas Chandra Nembang Sunday urged the leaders of the three major political parties-UCPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress and CPN-UML to cut down the procedures of constitution drafting, The Rising Nepal reports.
In a meeting called by him at his Singha Durbar office, Nembang said that the new constitution could not be promulgated by May 27 deadline if the constitution drafting calendar was not amended.
He informed the leaders that the promulgation of the new constitution would be impossible within the deadline by following the existing calendar.
Talking to journalists after the meeting, Nembang said that he told the leaders to shorten the constitution drafting procedures in order to conclude the task within the deadline.
He said that the Article 70 of the interim constitution should be bypassed and the timetable be cut down to make the timely promulgation of the constitution possible.
Nembang said that by following the current timetable promulgation of the constitution by May 27 would be impossible even if the political parties forged consensus.
"But it can be promulgated by the deadline by cutting down the procedures," he said.
He also urged the leaders not to leave Kathmandu Valley before May 27.
Stating that promulgating of the new constitution by May 27 was the best option,

he said that the situation in the country would be worse if the new constitution was not
promulgated.
Nembang also held a separate meeting with UCPN-Maoist chairman Puspha Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and urged him to become ‘Messi’ (renowned Barcelona striker) in the peace and constitution writing processes.
Nembang said that Prachanda, during the separate meeting, expressed his commitment to take the contentious issues of peace and constitution ahead hand in hand. According to Nembang, the leaders of the three
parties took the meeting positively.
Talking to reporters, UML leader Surendra Pandey informed that during the meeting, Nembang urged the leaders to postpone all their programmes scheduled outside the valley and reach a consensus by applying ‘give and take’ formula.
Prachanda, NC vice-president Ramchandra Poudel, UML chief Jhalanath Khanal, vice-
chairman Bam Dev Gautam, Surendra Pandey and others were present in the meeting.
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MORE ON ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERNG
Kathmandu, 12 arch: Money laundering refers to the washing clean of illegal property; washing the dirt off to make black money white. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental global anti-money laundering body, has defined it as “the process by which large amounts of illegally obtained money (from drug trafficking, terrorist activity or other serious crimes) is given the appearance of having originated from a legitimate source”, Gauri Bahadur Karki writes in The Kathmandu Post.
The nexus between illegally earned money, terrorist activities and the arms trade suddenly came to the fore in the aftermath of the terrorists attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001. The campaign against money laundering was intensified since then.
The government of Nepal formed a five-year strategy to eradicate money laundering on Nov 14, 2011. It has made a work plan on money laundering. The strategy shows that Nepal is moving forward to realise its commitments in this sector. The Special Court has been assigned to look into the cases falling within the ambit of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Weak investigation None of the cases filed, or cases in which arrests have been made, have been initiated with the help of intelligence provided by the Department of Money Laundering Investigation and Financial Information Unit (FIU) of Nepal Rastra Bank. The organisational structure of the department has to be strengthened, it should have stronger investigation and inquiry capabilities. There are no deep and extensive studies on the source of property. Hence, the government should focus on addressing the weaknesses of the present organisation.
The investigator not only requires knowledge of the issue but also adequate resources. The structure of the department reveals a dominance of revenue officers who have so far been involved in issues relating to taxes, customs and duties. Given that the people accused of crimes of money laundering may have prior connections with these people, it might impact the investigation. Hence the department should be developed as an independent constitutional body.
The people who work in the revenue department have friendly relations with business people. These relations do not explicitly harm the people but harm the state. Since the people are not directly affected, there are no complaints. Refusing to carry out the tasks ordered by those in power may translate into blockades in terms of career development of the staff. This cannot be denied in the present Nepali context. Only a constitutional provision can empower the staff and office bearers to survive internal or external pressure and nepotism.
Under such circumstances, it is important that this department with more extensive rights than the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) be made independent, neutral, effective and capable.
Recommendations A strong investigation team comprising of experienced, capable, neutral team-mates empowered with modern equipment needs to be set up in the department. There is a need to have a group of technical and judicial experts on electronic transactions, banking and financial systems. The Money Laundering Investigation Department should be somewhat like the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) cell of the Nepal Police. The department should be alert that the criminals are always ahead of government bodies and the police.
The CIB has submitted 36 cases of illegal operations and excessive property to the department for investigation, but none of them has completed the investigation. The Financial Information Unit of the central bank has referred 499 cases to the department as being suspicious businesses, but the department has only investigated 110 of them. High-level police officers complain that the department is not serious about conducting investigations.
In order to investigate the source of information of money laundering cases, Section 9 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2008 has provided for the Financial Information Unit of Nepal Rastra Bank. The act allows the FIU to take information on legal and illegal sources of transactions within the financial bodies of Nepal. They undertake inquiries and if the need be, inform the department.
The Anti-Money Laundering Act has given wide jurisdiction to the department allowing it to enter areas where the CIAA has been denied entry. The controversies concerning constitutional office bearers, judges, army officers, NGO officials and the private sector also fall within the ambit of this act. This act also applies to people who can be impeached under the offence of money laundering.
Since the department’s jurisdiction is very wide, its investigation must be excellent, and the office bearers should also be independent and capable. The department should be beyond the intervention of government bodies, high level officials or politics. A weak organisation cannot live up to the expectation of the law and the constitution of the state. Nepal’s money laundering policy is internationally monitored. The government should ensure that the policy passes the international test.
Constitutional body Since the Money Laundering Investigation Department is under the Ministry of Finance, there is an immense possibility that the prime minister, finance minister, chief secretary, finance secretary or political actors may try to meddle in the work of the department. Since such intervention impact the work of the department negatively, the department should be maintained as an independent constitutional body. Otherwise, it cannot accomplish its stated objectives.
As the department’s jurisdiction is more extensive than the CIAA’s regarding some issues, the government should focus on how to make the Money Laundering Investigation Department more effective. If it is not made a constitutional and independent body, no one can save Nepal from turning into a safe haven for corrupt people. Therefore, a provision for creating a Money Laundering Investigation and Elimination Commission in the form of a constitutional body should be inserted in the new constitution. Nationalising money earned illegally and freeing the country of smuggling and corruption will give life to the agenda of the People’s Movement, hence the anti-money laundering agenda needs to be the country’s major agenda.
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Kathmandu, 12 March:The number of mobile users surfing the internet on their handset has grown remarkably in the last two years, thanks to increased mobile service subscription, reduction in the cost of net-enabled handsets and social networking sites’ craze, The Kathmandu Post reports.
There were half a million mobile-internet or general packet radio service (GPRS) users as of mid-Jan 2010. Now, the number of GPRS subscribers has increased to 3.72 million, contributing to the total data penetration rate by over 92 percent, according to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA).
The internet penetration rate of the country has touched 15.20 percent with the total 4.04 million data users. Although the net users on desktop and laptop computers may not have increased fast, mobile internet users have been increasing significantly along with increased subscription for mobile service, making the GPRS the number one value-added service of the telecom operators.
NTA Director Purushottam Khanal said that the trend of using net in handsets was increasing for gradual decline in tariff, availability of low cost GPRS-enabled handsets, and craze on social networking sites of the students. “The number will increase further in the fast pace in a days with mobile data slowly becoming a necessity like voice service,” he added.
The authority data shows that as of mid-Jan last year, 19.69 percent of the total 10.04 million mobile users subscribed the internet service on their mobile handsets. Exactly after one year, there are 13.60 million people with access to mobile telephony provided by two main operators—Nepal Telecom and Ncell. Of the total mobile users, 27.39 percent users have hooked on to GPRS.
Telecom operators attribute the growth in the GPRS users to the global trend, lower tariff and convenient browsing. Surendra Prasad Thike, spokesperson of the Nepal Telecom said that they had been charging 10paisa per 100 kilobyte data consumption. “GPRS is most popular and number one value-added service now,” said Thike.
Ncell, which has a majority of GPRS users, has been charging Rs2 to Rs6 per megabyte depending up on the data package. “GRPS, the pocket internet has become an easy means globally for using data,” said Ncell CEO Pasi Koistinen.
He said that the increment in the GPRS usages in terms of Nepal had also been supported by lack of sufficient fixed-line internet services in the country, especially in rural areas.
If the users of mobile net are separated from the total subscribers in the country, the penetration rate of the data service provided through dial-up, wireless modem, optical fiber, cable and ADSL would only make up around eight percent. Although the government has also put expansion of high-speed data service across the country on its priority list, work to this effect has not moved effectively.
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