BHUTANESE REFUGEE KILLED IN JHAPA CAMP

BHUTANESE REFUGEE KILLED IN JHAPA CAMP

Kathmandu, 12 April: Bhutanese refugee Bal Bahadur Rai has been killed at the Bhutanese refugee camp in Beldangi in Jhapa, Radio Nepal reports
His body has been kept at a Morang health post for postmortem.

ARREARS REACH RS 180B

Kathmandu, 12 April:
The Office of the Auditor General has submitted its annual report including the auditing of 4,614 government offices, organized institutions and agencies for the Fiscal Year 2067/068BS to the
President, RSS reports.
Acting Auditor General at the Office of the Auditor General, Khem Prasad Dahal submitted the 29th report of the Office showing arrears worth Rs 180 billion in the fiscal year 067/068BS.
Receiving the report, President Dr Yadav said the Office of the Auditor’s General would contribute to democratic values by maintaining economic discipline.
According to the report, the arrears increased by 10.49 per cent this year as compared to the last fiscal year.
Of the government arrears this year, those in front are the Ministry of Local Development, Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, Education Ministry and the Defense Ministry which account for 72.38 per cent of the arrears.
The Office of the Auditor’s General has pointed to the lack of purchase plan, transaction with the institutes without VAT registration and separate dealing while purchasing goods and services behind the growing arrears.
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NEMWANG PRAISES PRACHANDA

Kathmandu, 12 April:
Chairman of Constituent Assembly (CA) Subas Nembang Wednesday said that UCPN-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda had taken the decision on army integration with great courage and termed the step to hand over the arms, armies and cantonments of the PLA to Nepal Army as a historic
Step, The Rising Nepal reports.
Saying that promulgation of the new constitution was the remedy for all the problems, the CA chairman expressed hope that the leaders would be successful in this regard.
"Prachanda took the historic decision while there were symptoms of great danger had he delayed even a little to take the prompt decision. I thank him wholeheartedly," CA chairman Nembang said talking with reporters at his office in Singha Durbar.
He also expressed thanks to CPN-UML chairman Jhalanath Khanal, Nepali Congress vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel, UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and leaders of the Madhes-based parties and the fringe parties.
He urged all to now concentrate on constitution writing.
Saying that disputed issues of constitution had been already discussed among leaders, he hoped that settlement of the disputes would not take much time. He reminded the leaders that they were saying it would not take much time to make agreement on constitution once there was agreement on issues of army integration or the peace process.
Meanwhile, Nepali Congress president Sushil Koirala termed Tuesday’s decision of the AISC a breakthrough for the peace process.
He claimed that there would be a new government led by Nepali Congress before May 27.
He said that the Nepali people would receive the good news along with the start of the New Year 2069 BS.
"A national consensus government under the NC leadership should be formed before May 27. The government will deliver the new federal democratic constitution," Koirala said.
Asked who would lead such a government, Koirala said that his party would make appropriate decision when the time demanded.
Unlike the Maoist establishment faction led by Prachanda, Koirala said that even the Maoist dissenting faction was in favour of peace and constitution and the protest was against the decision making process within the Maoist party.
"Had the Maoists agreed to bring the combatants under the army in time, the present problems would not have emerged. The army had to be deployed at the cantonments at night hastily because of the unnecessary delay," Koirala argued.
Ruling out possibility of ethnicity based constitution, Koirala asked the Maoists to explain what it meant by pro-people constitution as NC did not recognize such a constitution, except for a democratic constitution.
Meanwhile, the dissenting faction of the Maoists took out a torch rally in the capital on Wednesday evening protesting the handing over of the cantonments to the NA.
The police intervened in the rally led by Maoist general secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa, dispersing the demonstrators who also burnt the effigies of Maoist chair Prachanda and vice-chairman and Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai.
The Maoist disgruntled faction had at the day halted the transportation for an hour protesting the handing over as ‘extreme form of surrender and betrayal to the people and revolution.’
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CONSTITUTIONAL COURT WILL INVITE CONTOVERSIES SAYS CHIEF JUSTICE
Kathmandu, 12 April::
Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi Wednesday said that establishing a separate constitutional court in the new constitution could invite controversies over the court’s jurisdiction, interpretation and precedent, The Rising Nepal reports.
"It would be better to establish a separate constitutional bench in the Supreme Court rather than forming a separate constitutional court," CJ Regmi said while talking to newly elected body of Constitutional and Legal Journalists Forum.
Referring to the role of Supreme Court in interpreting the statute as per the spirit of the Interim Constitution, CJ Regmi said that it was not necessary to establish similar type institution as the SC.
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LITTLE RISK IN COMPLYING WITH INTERNATIONAL NORMS
Kathmandu, 12 April: Just as the parties are in their final stages of taking a call on transitional justice mechanisms, there seems to be a lot of confusion as to what will guarantee a lasting peace. Is it the policy to “forgive and forget”, as most of our leaders, including late Girija Prasad Koirala have said? Or, is it the policy to “forgive but not forget” as told by South African leader Nelson Mandela when he was under similar pressure for amnesty in a post-conflict situation?, Kamal Raj Sigdel writes in The Kathmandu Post.
First, the fact that we are speaking of “transitional justice” demands different lens to look at the past. Transitional justice (TJ) theories don’t follow the normal rules of justice. While it obviously calls for compromises, it does not call for a total
oversight.
Second, how transitional justice is delivered is contingent upon how the power dynamics evolve in the post-conflict situation. Is it like the post-World War II Europe where one of the conflicting parties (US allied forces) defeated the other (the Nazi regime)? Or is it a situation where both the conflicting parties share power dynamics and there is a need for striking a balance between the old and the new order?
The South Africans chose to forgive and, to some extent, not to forget, as Mandela urged in his ringing speech in 1999, “South Africans must recall the terrible past so that we can deal with it, forgiving where forgiveness is necessary but never forgetting.” His aim was to reconcile the Whites and the Blacks in the aftermath of apartheid.
The post-war Europe chose to prosecute war crimes through what is now remembered as the Nuremberg Trials. The trials were possible because the defeated were not in a position to resist the orders of the new regime.
When it comes to Nepal’s post-conflict situation, it is uniquely different. The situation here is neither like South Africa nor like the post WW-II Europe. Both of the forces—the then Seven-Party Alliance (SPA) and the Maoists—came to a compromise and in due course blurred the boundary typical to conflicting parties. Now that the people have elected the same conflicting forces to power for a number of times, thereby giving them legitimacy, it is little complicated how they commit to prosecute the past human rights violations.
The parties, as of now, are convinced of a “forgive and forget” approach. However, there are questions as to how they will ensure that undermining the victims’ call for justice ensures a lasting peace? The society that does not deal with the past crimes is haunted for generations to come. And this is what the human rights watchdogs, including Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights have to say.
However, more than the principle of transitional justice, the TJ mechanisms envisioned by the parties have much to do with power. The parties are not for prosecuting anyone for whatever the past wrongs. Such a move, they say, would be counterproductive, as that will derail the peace process and harm the fledgling democracy. “Did we sign a peace deal to prosecute Prachanda, and for that matter, Deuba and all the leaders?” questioned Krishna Prasad Sitaula, a key peace negotiator during an interview with the Post few weeks ago. “If we agree that the past crimes have to be dealt with, how many leaders do you want to prosecute?”
It was the Congress government that issued red-corner notices, demanding Maoist leaders dead or alive. And the leaders advocating amnesty argue that if the CPA was not signed to prosecute each other, they cannot also prosecute the fighters and security forces either since they were under compulsion to follow the order.
Based on this argument, the looming fear among the leaders is that if they comply with the international standards, the TJ mechanisms would end up sending all of them to prison. And this has been central to the parties’ argument that they cannot commit to follow the international standards when it comes to bills on Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission on Enforced Disappearances.
However, the fact is that there has been very little attempt to convince the top leaders that complying with international standards in TJ mechanisms does not mean sending them all to jail. Though the international standards do not approve blanket amnesty, what it seeks is a credible process to find out truth, investigate the case, and recommend for action, which, in most cases, includes reconciliation, reparation, and compensation. Very few cases, where there is clear breach of human rights and international humanitarian laws, would be referred for prosecution.
In a standard TRC format, many of the cases could be resolved with the victims willing to go for healing and reconciliation, says Justice Bala Ram KC. “It is always wise to follow internationally accepted norms.” The victims do not want to take revenge. They just want to know the truth—what happened to their loved ones—and a sincere apology from the perpetrators.
So, how could the parties avoid being seen as defiant of world opinion and the resulting isolation from the international community while establishing TJ mechanisms?
A few things. There should be full disclosure of truth, a realisation of the mistake followed by a sincere apology and guarantee of non-repetition. These will qualify a case for reconciliation and a separate body under TRC could recommend amnesty if the crime is proved politically motivated and thus pardonable. However, none of the egregious abuses of rights, such as murder after rape, deserves amnesty.
If we now avoid prosecution altogether, that will leave a possibility for later governments to overturn these amnesty laws to resume fairer trials. But, once someone is prosecuted, howsoever minor sentence may that be, the general principle of law does not allow a second prosecution of the same person in the same case. This is why the parties should not remove the prosecution provision altogether.
Once these basics are guaranteed, the parties should ensure that the truth-seeking process is guided by a larger reparation policy and the victims are involved in the process of reconciliation, pardon or prosecution.
The final step remains. There should be some legislative and institutional reforms, such as accede to Rome Statute of International Criminal Court to ensure non-repetition. The whole idea is balance justice with peace.
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MINISTER PUN THREATENS BUDGET TRANSFER WITH POOR CAPITAL
EXPENDITURE
Kathmandu, 12 April: Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun on Wednesday warned that the government will transfer the capital budget of the poorly performing ministries to those making a good use of the funds made available to them, The Kathmandu Post reports.
As of March end, the capital expenditure stood at 22.7 percent of the total allocated capital budget amoungting to just Rs 15.93 billion, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF). The government has allocated Rs 72.21 billion under the heading this fiscal year.
Expressing his concern over dismal capital expenditure over the first two trimesters at a review meeting on capital expenditure at the MoF, Pun said that the budget would be transferred to better spending ministries by holding discussion at the cabinet.
“Budget of the non-performing ministries will be transferred to those putting it to good use, within a few days,” he said at the meeting of the secretaries representing various ministries. “It is in our national interest to transfer such unutilised budget to places where the works are undergoing better.”
According to an MoF press release, the finance minister was concerned with dismal performance of capital expenditure despite the timely presentation of budget this year. “It is necessary to review what led to dismal capital expenditure,” he said.
Instructing the secretaries to increase the capital expenditure in the remaining three months, Pun asked them not to wait for direction from the political level to spend the capital budget. The secretaries, however, said that the capital expenditure in March and April has intensified and the expenditure would move up in April and May.
During the interaction, Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Baskota said that despite dismal capital expenditure, most of the projects were awarded under multi-year contracts. He was also of the view that the delay at the ministries to get their programmes approved also resulted in low capital expenditure.
Among the government offices, Ministry of Commerce and Supply, Prime Minister and Council Minister’s Offices and Ministry of Energy were among the poor performers in capital expenditure.
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