SPECIAL COMMITTEE MEETS FOR THIRD TIME TO FIND A RESOLUTION

SPECIAL COMMITTEE FOR INTEGRATION MEETS FOR THIRD TIME
SUNDAY

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 18 March: Special committee for the integration of 6,500
Maoist fighters in Nepal Army (NA) meets for the third time Sunday under chairman ship of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai after two inconclusive rounds of discussions.
The premier, who’s also vice chairman of UCPM (Maoist) has proposed fresh integration plans for former PLA combatants for integration and completion of the peace process and constitution drafting.
Maoist bottom line for an agreement with opposition parties and breakthrough in a stalemate is appointment of a brigadier general opposed by opposition willing to offer former rebels only a major rank in the separate directorate.
Friday’s meeting of the special committee was inconclusive.
Opposition parties rejected Premier Bhattarai’s proposals first make public last Tuesday on integration bypassed military rules and regulations and was an attempt to create a new unit outside NA.
Balananda Sharma, Coordinator of the Secretariat of a special committee headed by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai said Sunday morning remaining 15 of 28 cantonments and satellite camps housing remaining 9,500 plus Maoist combatants can be closed down in another two months.
‘They can be closed down in the next two months after 3,500 fighters are given a farewell.
“There has been an agreement on how to bring down numbers from 9,500 to 6,500 not more,”: Sharma told Radio Nepal.
The 15 cantonments and satellite camps can be closed down after 6,500 former PLA fighters are selected for military training for integration in Nepal Army.
“The special committee has to decide how to bring down the number of former Maoist fighters ‘to 6,500not more from 9,500 plus.
“The process was started Friday.’
The secretariat of the special committee for integration and supervision under Prime Minister Bhattarai has taken over the security of 13 satellite camps housing former Maoist combatants for security, Sharma told Radio Nepal Sunday..
“Their security is being looked after by
Nepal Army and Armed Police Force,” he said.
“The integration process will start after a formal decision.
“We have received telephone calls for voluntary retirement [even after fighters opted for integration].
“Can’t say all will be integrated,” Sharma said.
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GOVT. INITIATIVE TO END GURKHA RECRUITMENT
Kathmandu, 18 March: The government has directed Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and other concerned ministries to implement the recommendations of a controversial report that among others, seeks to eventually stop Gurkha recruitments in foreign armies, Kosh Raj Koirala writes in Republica..

The Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) sent separate letters to various ministries on March 9 directing them to start implementing recommendations of the report -- Nepal´s Foreign Policy in Changed Context: 2068 BS --saying it was endorsed by a House panel.

The report unanimously endorsed by the Parliamentary Committee on International Relations and Human Rights on December 26, 2011, was later presented in the Legislature Parliament.

The report has drawn sharp criticism from various Ex-Gurkha organizations who have warned of protests if Gurkha Recruitment Centers are shut down in Nepal.

The parliamentary report argues that although the Gurkha recruitment gave the Nepali youths limited employment opportunity, serving with foreign military had not allowed the country to hold its head high.

"Nepal´s government is put on further loss after the Britain decided to provide citizenship to Gurkha soldiers, and the time has come to evaluate Nepal´s foreign policy in regards to Gurkha recruitment," says the report, adding: "Since the Gurkha recruitment will have to end eventually, it is necessary to create alternatives to move forward the process."

The OPMCM directive came amid continuing difference between the House panel and the MoFA over another recommendation that would not bar inter-ministerial service change and transfers of "deserving" government employees to foreign services.

The House Committee Chairman Padam Lal Bishwakarma expressed happiness over the government´s willingness to implement the report. "The report has paved the way for inter-ministerial service change and transfers of deserving candidates serving in other concerned ministries to foreign service," he said.

Bishwakarma said the report had suggested making the inter-ministerial service change or transfers through ´due procedures.´ Asked what do ´due procedures´ meant, Bishwakarma said, "Government employees serving in other ministries should also get chance to compete in internal examinations of foreign service conducted by public service commission. Obviously it implies competitive examinations."

Among other things, the report recommends that ´deserving´ officials from any other related ministries are eligible for ambassadorial positions from among 50 percent quota reserved for ´career diplomats and professional experts´. Remaining 50 percent quota of ambassadorial positions are reserved for political appointees.

The MoFA has also registered its reservation over the proposal to include officials from other ministries in the 50 percent quota ambassadorial quote reserved for career diplomats.
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NEPAL TRADERS CONTINUE TO FACE PROBLEMS IN TRADE WITH INDIA
Kathmandu, 18 March: Officials from India and Nepal are yet to address problems that have surfaced after scrapping of the duty refundable procedure (DRP) on March 1. The delay has added financial burden on traders who are importing goods like industrial raw material and vehicles from India, Republica reports.

Scrapping of the DRP paved the way for Nepali traders to receive goods at ex-factory rate (devoid of excise duty) and government to collect excise duty at customs points. But soon after the new arrangement was made Indian exporters said Nepali importers should make payment in the US currency if they are to get the supply on ex-factory rates. The problem was settled and Nepali traders are importing good in Indian currency.

But less than three weeks after the new arrangement came into place, traders are faced with yet other problems.

First, Nepali customs officers are imposing 10 percent extra valuation on goods imported from India instead of making the valuation of consignments at ex-factory rate. And second, Indian exporters have been asked by the customs office to dispatch consignments to Nepal only after keeping a collateral of 10 percent of the value of goods.

Shiv Shankar, an Indian customs officer, said the collateral amount has to be arranged by Nepali traders to ensure goods enter Nepal. "The money will be refunded to the Nepali importers later," he said.

To settle the problem, Nepali traders had approached the Indian embassy in the first week of March. But so far Indian officials haven´t communicated with Nepal´s Ministry of Commerce and Supply (MoCS).

"We haven´t heard anything from the Indian side," Naindra Prasad Upadhaya, MoCS joint secretary told Republica on Saturday. However, he said that he had received information from different customs points that imports of excisable goods, like industrial raw material and automobiles, have normalized in the last few days.

"But problems in valuation of imported goods at Nepali customs office remain intact," Pashupati Murarka, vice president of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) told Republica on Saturday. This has forced traders to pay extra customs duty since goods worth, say, Rs 100 are being taxed at the rate of Rs 110.

After much problems and hindrance in import of excisable goods, Morang Chamber of Commerce and Industries (MCCI) organized a program in Biratnagar, where customs officials from India and Nepal including Shankar and Binod Kunwar, cusotms chief of Rani Custom´s office of Nepal were present.

"Importers have problems while importing industrial raw materials after scrapping of DRP system," Dinesh Golchha, president of Morang Industry Association (MIA), said during the discussion.

Abhinash Bohara, president of Morang Merchants´ Association (MMA) said: "Customs offices from Nepal and India should work efficiently to clear the confusion that created hurdles in import of excisable goods after scrapping DRP."

(With contribution from Ajit Tiwari in Biratnagar)
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UNESCO OBJECTS TO BUDDHA STATUE INSIDE LUMBINI MASTER PLAN AREA
Kathmandu, 18 March:: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), today [Saturday] objected to the plan to erect the biggest Buddha statue inside the Lumbini Master Plan containing major components of New Lumbini Village, Cultural Centre/Monastic Zone and the Sacred Garden, Bishbu Prasad Aryal writes in The Himalayan Times.

The government had formed Lumbini Development National Directive Committee under Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to develop Lumbini, the birth place of Buddha. Dahal has been advocating development of Lumbini as per the plans of a Chinese company.

Beijing Zhongtai Jinghua Investment Co (BZZH Inc), has plans to develop five big projects including a five-star hotel on the land of Lumbini Development Trust (LDT). Dahal is one of co-chairs of Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation that forwarded documents in the name of BZZH Inc to Nepal Government with a plan worth billions to develop Lumbini into a Buddhist ‘Mecca’.

According to the Ministry of Federal Affairs, Constituent Assembly, Parliamentary Affairs and Culture (MoFACAPAC), the five projects include the world’s biggest 80-metre high Buddha statue, archaeological landscape garden, a five star hotel with 120 guest rooms, Buddha museum and research centre and electric transportation and boating canal on the land under the Lumbini Master Plan. However, the master plan does not allow building hotel in the area.

“UNESCO has also strongly objected to erecting the statue and hotel inside the master plan area,” said undersecretary Rishi Kesh Niraula, chief of the cultural section at MoFACAPAC. “In the many rounds of talks, UNECSO rejected the plan every time. As a result, the process has halted,” he said.

The United Nations Development Programme contributed nearly one million dollars to prepare a Master Plan for development of Lumbini.

The plan, designed by Japanese architect Kenzo Tange and completed in 1978, aims to develop about 7.7 square km as Lumbini Garden with an additional area of 64.5 km to be developed in its support.

“The government had approved the plan in principle,” said MoFACAPAC officials. “However, the Cabinet is yet to approve the plans of the Chinese company, which go against the spirit of the Master Plan.” UNESCO can enlist Lumbini in the endangered list if the plan is approved.”

MoFACAPAC documents show the proposal was submitted to Culture Minister Dr Minendra Rijal in 2009. The cabinet then granted permission on October 23, 2009 to move ahead with the project. MoFACAPAC issued a letter of intention on November 7, 2009 regarding the BZZH proposal and decided on November 17 to allow the process.

According to a BZZH letter, the concept, design, report, cost estimate and work plan was submitted on March 16, 2010. All of these projects— archaeological landscape garden, Buddha Museum and research Centre, electric transportation and boating canal were proposed for development on the LDT premises.

The LDT finalised the deal on April 20, 2010, allowing BZZH to use its land for the projects.

Japan, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand among other countries have constructed monasteries in the LDT land. However, hotels have been built on private lands. The LDT and Hekke Club of Japan agreed in 1986 to open a hotel on LDT premises but did not build it.
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TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM UNDER DRI SCANNER
Kathmandu, 18 March:: The Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) has started to put the domestic transportation system under its scanner to control revenue leakages, according to it, The Himalayan Times reports.

DRI, within three months, has confiscated more than 100 vehicles ferrying goods, said deputy director general at the department Rajendra Sharma Laudari. It has accelerated vigilance on internal transport after the government approved regulations regarding it, he said, adding that the department takes control of any vehicle that is carrying goods without legitimate bills and receipts to prove that it is not dodging tax compliance.

“The regulation about domestic transportation clearly seeks reliable bills to control the supply of goods without invoice or goods that are under-invoiced,” he said. “The department can also bring warehouses where the confiscated vehicles were supposed to transport the goods under its scanner.”

DRI will carry out raids at suspected warehouses in the future if it receives tip-offs of misconduct, he said. DRI has revealed that bogus Value Added Tax-registered importers have been selling goods to firms with Permanent Account Number (PAN) to evade tax.

It is estimated that more than 50 per cent outlets in Kathmandu valley have been evading tax by registering at PAN and such outlets sell goods without issuing bills to evade VAT compliance, according to a source at the Finance Ministry.

Traders import goods from customs points and store it in various warehouses, the department said. “Such traders supply goods to different outlets, wholesalers and retailers after they are assured of the safety of their activities.”

Meanwhile, DRI on Friday confiscated three vehicles ferrying various goods from Kathmandu. They had failed to produce proof that they were ferrying legal consignments, the department said. Investigations of those vehicles will be complete by tomorrow.
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OPINION

JOKE IS ON US ALL

Kathmandu, 18 March: Now he tells us, Maila Bajewrites in NepaliNet Book..
The Maoists, according to CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal, had used their fighters, arms and Young Communist League cadres to capture booths during the election to the Constituent Assembly four years ago to emerge as the largest party in the legislature.
Let’s not trivialize Nepal’s remarks just because he made them – of all places – at a talk program organized by the party’s women’s department of the special coordination committee on the occasion of the International Women’s Day. This bout of revisionism must be addressed for what it is: political pusillanimity.
Sure, Comrade Nepal had had his share of grievances with then-king Gyanendra. Like most Seven Party Alliance (SPA) leaders after the April 2008 uprising, Nepal remained suspicious of the motives of the Royal Nepal Army. Allowing the Maoists to keep their fighting force largely intact served, if not the peace process, the imperative of neutralizing the royalists.
But what did our wizards of smart think? That the Maoists would use their armed might to protect the SPA’s so-called ‘hard-won gains’ once they had overwhelmed the first of their two targets?
The former rebels had thought this through. After studying former U.S. president Jimmy Carter’s post-White House political psychology and grasping the depths of his antipathy to the George W. Bush administration’s gung-ho foreign policy, the Maoists encouraged him to certify the elections as free and fair. (Upon departing Nepal, Maila Baje recalls, Carter went on straight to embrace Hamas as a credible partner for peace, which drove the right-wing U.S. media nuts for weeks.)
Meanwhile, Nepal, smarting from his own twin defeat in the polls, found in Carter’s response a convenient way to celebrate the triumph of Nepali democracy over the legacy of royal absolutism. Like the rest of the SPA pack, he continued claiming how the political mainstream, through its moral high ground, had brought the Maoists out of the jungles and would shepherd them along.
Admittedly, it would be unfair to single out Nepal for being so crudely timorous. Former speaker Daman Nath Dhungana claimed the other day that it was civil society that pushed the SPA toward the Maoists’ republican agenda (despite the fact that it was not an explicit part of the 12-Point Agreement underpinning the march toward a new Nepal).
Not that Dhungana broke new ground here. Some civil society leaders had even claimed the presidency in recognition of their role as the ‘conscience of the country’. Perhaps sensing the political opportunism they actually represented, the SPA, to its credit, checked this brazen overreach well in time.
Still, Dhungana can make his claim with a straight face because he is not accountable to the Nepali people for the chaos that his fraternity was complicit in creating. Or shall we say because the Nepali people do not have recourse to holding him and his ilk accountable? The principal civil society cheerleaders for the Maoists can today get away by claiming the ex-rebels represent a mortal threat to their lives and limbs.
Nepalis can afford to laugh off these men and women because they do not matter much. But mainstream politicians like Madhav Nepal are central to the political life of Nepal. Nepalis may choose to elect or defeat them but they certainly cannot ignore them.
The UML, like the Nepali Congress, chose to join hands with the Maoists to press ahead. The Maoists have not changed. As always, they continue to speak in so many voices about their intentions that it is useless to try to decipher what they really mean. They will try to make the best of every opportunity without closing the door on any option.
The mainstream parties fell for the Maoists despite all the warning signs flashing in deep red. How easy it would be to make fun of Comrade Nepal today if the joke were not really on all of us.
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PRAYING FOR KICKBACK TIME

Kathmandu, 18 March: Following the February verdict of a special court on the Sudan scandal, awarding two years’ jail sentence and millions of rupees in fine each to three former inspectors general of police, a variety of questions and speculations made their rounds, Trikaal Vastavik writes in People’s Review..
The three who at one time enjoyed much power vested in their jobs face jail bars staring them. Whether they will appeal or decide to cool their heels behind bars not as jailors but the jailed is to be seen. An appeal at the Supreme Court might postpone the punishment but it will be a tough battle to prevent it from taking the logical course.
One of the “illustrated” convicts was quoted saying that he respected the court’s decision but would decide on what to do next “only after reading the full details” of the verdict. Smart fellow; he could not have answered better. That is the ground reality. How he and his former colleagues eventually fare will make an interesting story.
Were the three former Armed Police chiefs the only ones involved and no one above them was a party to pocketing bribe money? If there were any, including ministers, that will remain a mystery or a subject of unsubstantiated charges.
Many things are done without signatures and the salaried class, not used to the culture of proper investigations and proper actions through the court of law, tends to be casual about it, submitting to winks and signals from the politically powerful and soiling their professional integrity with part of the dirty spoils.
Bribes tempt people in responsible positions to break rules, queer the pitch of justice and contribute to bad governance. We had heard of corruption caused by “commissions” paid to the tune of up to 30 percent. In the Sudan scandal, as much 80 percent of the money went to the pockets of the corrupt.
We innocent folks were actually deluding ourselves that hyper corruption is extremely rare, if at all. The Sudan incident was no exception. For four years or more we had been cheated at most of the near 5,000 village development committees and their urban counterpart units operated by the mechanism developed primarily by the three major political parties: Nepal Communist Party (Maoist), Nepali Congress and CPN (UML).
In most of the ad hoc bodies filled with nominees of the three parties, corruption was about “80 percent” and corruption in the few with “better” records was “30 per cent.” This was the finding of a two-member research team consisting of former Chief Secretary Bimal Koirala and a Harvard University scholar.
The nominees in the local bodies and their political masters have not bothered to challenge the findings either due to fear of being further exposed or they dismiss the report in the hope that it will die the sort of death that many other good reports had done previously.
Will the long hand of the law someday investigate and bring the corrupt to justice? One would like to believe that it will do so sooner or later. Presently, most Nepalis do not believe that such a course will take place any time soon.
The corrupt themselves, in their arrogance, are confident that no cases will be registered against them. If the unlikely happens, they are confident that they can handle the situation with the help of the goons they hire and massage with bribe money. If that, too, fails, t hey could look up to their political masters and patrons to shield them with objections to the “political vendetta” launched against the champions of “loktantra.”
In the early days of the force-fed political changes six years ago, a number of former ministers who served in King Gyanendra’s cabinet were accused of misuse of office. Shrish Shumsher Rana was among them. The Commission for Investigating Abuse of Authority (CIAA) was prompted to move the case against in the court.
The CIAA move might have been correct. The Supreme Court upheld Rana’s innocence. That is also to be respected. The partisan media that covered the case moving to the court were deafeningly silent when Rana was acquitted. Ministers accused of far graver crimes are not investigated. There is a general consensus among Nepalis that corruption in the last five years has crossed all previous records. Yet no major new cases against the powerful are moved.
Are the investigating agencies spineless or is the society bribe-less in loktantrik Nepal? Bribed leaders and demoralized cadres keep the vast masses disenchanted, although not yet destructive even if their anger wells up dangerously fast. The corrupt and incompetent manage to wax so much fat and wealth of this country with impoverished millions.
Several overseas banks, in response to Nepal’s queries whether the late King Birendra and his Queen Aishwarya had any foreign bank accounts to their credit, have either drawn a blank or have been rebuffed on grounds of respect for privacy.
It is useless to ask those who call the shots today as to why the government does not order investigations into the lforeign bank accounts of the corrupt among politicians and their criminal business nexus.
A former senior Nepal Rastra bank official told this author that a government with the “necessary political will can easily find out” the extent of the stolen money from the tax payers of this country which spends so much time and energy in showcasing its poverty with the aim of drawing foreign grants.
Perhaps former Finance Secretary Rameshwar Khanal, now advisor to Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, would like to advice his boss that stolen money be investigated. This would be in consonance with Khanal’s campaign to check corruption launched last year, with a slogan cursing that the corrupt suffer from diseases. Now is the opportunity to upgrade the inappropriate rhetoric to hard action, provided he has the required desire to summon his courage.
To expect the Maoists to initiate anything of note in this regard would be adding insult to the injuries of those who have already suffered for believing at one time that the former armed rebels would improve things. In these unsettling times of impunity, bribery and thuggery, there is still hope as long as the corrupt and the pretentious are exposed.
Prime Minister Bhattarai’s exalted position comes a cropper. One is sad to see that yet another premier has proved to be an utter failure. At the same time, one is satisfied that the incompetent is exposed and those with false hopes are brought to their senses early on this time.
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