BIG THREE , SPECIAL COMMITTEE MEET SUNDAY

THREE PARTY SUMMIT, SPECIAL COMMITTEE SUNDAY

Kathmandu, 8 April: The Big Three will meet first Sunday to discuss completion of the peace process , related issue of Maoist integration and their vacation of camps Sunday A A meeting of the special committee for the integration and supervision of former Maoist fighters chaired by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai will meet later.
The meetings have been scheduled to meet two crucial deadlines—12 April [Thursday] and 27 May.
Teams of the special committee’s secretariat reached seven cantonments Saturday to begin from Sunday work to complete work on integration, voluntary retirement of 9,900 former fighters and handover of containerized insurgency-era arms Maoist arms to government and its agencies.
Altogether 6,500 former combatants are being sent to a training for integration into Nepal Army and other fighters, who first opted for integration, are being sent
home from 15 cantonments and satellite camps—processes that have to be completed by Thursday.
Work for handover of weapons also is scheduled to begin Sunday..
Reports from cantonments said the processes could be delayed.
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NC SHOW OF STRENGTH IN CAPITAL SUNDAY

Kathmandu, 8 April: In a show of strength, .main opposition is holding a
public demonstration in the capital Sunday to pressure government to complete peace
and constitution by 27 May.
A rally will begin from Ratna Part and assemble at Basantapur for a public meeting.
Vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel, General Secretary Prakash Man Singh and other leaders will address the public meeting, the party said.
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BAL BAHADUR TAMANG ELECTED NAEFA

Kathmandu, 8 April: Bal Bahadur Tamang was elected chief of Nepal
Association Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) Satuday by a narrow one vote majority by the annual general
Tamang collected 187 votes
His nearest rival Hansaraj got 186 votes.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“Madhes-based parties’ bottom-line to comprise One Madhes and One Province in the new constitution yet to be promulgatged is fraudulent and bogus statement.We agree to the point that the Madhesi people should be endowed with special rights but
we don't accept the idea of One Madhes and One Province,”

(UML Chairman Khanal, The Himalayan Times, 8 April)
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PLA SURVEY STALLS
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Kathmandu, 8 April:: Though teams from the Special Committee secretariat have reached the seven cantonment sites to begin a second round of surveys to ascertain how many of the remaining PLA combatants want to opt for voluntary retirement, the surveys are unlikely to begin at least for the next couple of days due to lack of a clear message to the PLA commanders from the Maoist party leadership, Republica reports.

“We cannot begin the task without clear directives from the party leadership on the contentious issues,” said Yam Bahadur Adhikari, chief of the PLA First Division in Ilam.

Adhikari also informed that the party leadership has called a meeting of the PLA General Staff for Monday and said that things will move after the meeting gives clear-cut directives to the PLA commanders.

Suk Bahadur Roka Magar, chief of the PLA Second Division, also told Republica that they cannot begin the surveys without a clear message from the party leadership.

“They [Special Committee secretariat officials] are here and say they will wrap up the task in four days. But we are yet to receive directives from above,” he said.

He said that he doesn’t know how many personnel are to join particular ranks in the Nepal Army and how many should be sent for integration. There are over 9,700 combatants who opted for integration during the first round of the categorization process. As per the seven-point agreement, a maximum of 6,500 combatants can join the NA.

Asked whether the survey process will go smoothly from Sunday since the officials from the Special Committee have already reached the seven cantonment sites, Balananda Sharma, coordinator of the Special Committee secretariat, said, “We will open shop from tomorrow. If there are buyers we will make sells.”

Sharma was just being diplomatic as the commanders have already told him clearly that the process cannot begin Sunday.

According to sources at the Shaktikhor cantonment, Sharma held a meeting with the commanders Saturday afternoon and they told him they can take the process forward only after the meeting of the PLA General Staff.

The PLA General Staff meeting will follow a Special Committee meeting called by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai for Sunday to sort out the differences.

Differences persist between the Maoists and the NC and UML over some issues including ranks in the hierarchy of the NA directorate and levels of education. The Maoists have demanded that the level of education the combatants currently have should be taken into account while integrating them into the NA.

The political parties plan to discuss the outstanding constitutional issues after the combatants are brought under the NA.

The PLA General Staff meeting is expected to issue final directives to PLA commanders as per the decisions reached at the Special Committee meeting. The leaders have already said that Sunday’s meeting of the Special Committee will be decisive and is likely to be a final one.
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PETROLEUM SUPPLY PACT WITH INDIA IN LIMBO
Kathmandu, 18 8: Nepal and India are yet renew Petroleum Supply Agreement (PSA) even though though the accord expired on April 1. PSA is a base on which Nepal and Indian were trading, setting export pricing and ensuring supply of fuel in Nepal, Republica reports.

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) officials said renewal of the agreement had been delayed mainly after Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) board’s slowness to endorse two new arrangements that the two sides negotiated for inclusion in the new accord in March.

Lack of renewal has not affected the import of the petroleum products though, and NOC and IOC were continuing the trade on the basis of a clause which says the expired bilateral agreement could continue for six months in case the two sides failed to ink the deal on time due to technical reasons.

NOC board had endorsed the new changes in the PSA on March 27, the very day when those were formally agreed upon. Going by the procedures, IOC too was required to get it endorsed by its board immediately.

“However, we have been informed that IOC board is yet to endorse the new changes. This has prvented the signing and enforcement of the new accord,” said Suresh Kumar Agrawal, acting managing director of the NOC. He expressed the hope of positive development from the IOC office soon.

Though the delay has not affected supplies, officials said it could impact the pricing. Officials said IOC negotiating team had agreed to waive off Price Adjustment Factor (PAF) in the new agreement , which includes cost associated to refineries and duties, so far transferred to Nepali consumers.

As the Indian supplier was so far charging Nepal 2.5 percent (of the crude and transportation cost up to the Indian port) as PAF, the waiver was anticipated to lower the NOC’s import rate by around Rs 2 per liter compared to the past.
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NEW SCENARIO AFTER INTEGRATION SAYS SITAULA
Kathmandu, 8 April: Nepali Congress General Secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula said today a new political scenario will emerge in the country following the dissolution of the Maoist’s army structure — PLA cantonments, The Himalayan Times reports from Dang.

Speaking at a press meet in Dang headquarters, Ghorahi, Sitaula said, “Once the military structure of the Maoist combatants dissolves, disputes currently facing the constitution-formation process will be settled, which in turn will guarantee the timely promulgation of the constitution.”

“The crux of peace process is the dissolution of military structure of the Unified CPN-Maoist combatants and their integration into the army, which should conclude prior to the statute-drafting,” argued the NC leader. Over five to six thousand combatants would be integrated into the Nepali Army as per the NA-set criteria.

Expressing hope that the top brass of the three major political parties will reach to some agreement on the formation of truth finding, reconciliation and investigation of the disappeared commission on Sunday’s meeting, the leader also predicted for the formation of consensus government led by NC by mid-May.

“There has already been an agreement that the next consensus government will be headed by NC, as the Maoist and the UML each have led the governments in the past,” Sitaula said.

The NC leader also attended an interaction on ‘beginning of the peace process and the current situation’ organised by Chautari Dang in Ghorahi. Speaking at the programme, Sitaula spoke on then party president Girija Prasad Koirala’s contribution to the peace process.

Sitaula further said the country has come to the present situation due to the role played by different political parties including the Congress to bring the former rebels to the mainstream politics.
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