CLOSURES CONTINUE OUTSIDE VALLEY Kathmandu, 23 May: Closures or bandhs continues Wednesday outside the Valley with the end of the three-day closure of the nation, including the capital, by an umbrella organization of indigenous nationalities jointly with a broad Madeshbadi front of Upendra Yadav. Yadav’sfront closed down th eterai Wednesday for the sixth consecutive day Wednesday. Limbuwans Wednesday closed down nine districts east of Arun river demanding ethnic provinces. nnnn SRI LANKA, NEPAL MAJOR TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN ASIA/PACIFIC REGION Kathmandu, 23 May: Tourism arrivals in Asia/Pacific destinations grew collectively seven per cent year-on-year during the first two months of 2012, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) said Tuesday. Arrivals to Sri Lanka increased 27 per cent and Nepal14 per cent leading growth in the sub-region, PATA added. India was the top destination with an additional 40,000 international arrivals added during the January-February period of 2012 compared to the same pwrod the previous year. nnnn. CONVOYS WITH ESSENTIALS TO BE ESCORTED DURING BANDHS Kathmandu, 23 May: The meeting of the Central Supply Coordination Committee led by secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies today [Tuesday] decided to deploy security forces to maintain supply smooth of essential commodities, The Himalayan Times reports. “The committee has decided to mobilise security forces if agitators create hurdles in the supply of essential commodities,” said spokesperson at the ministry Deepak Subedi. “The Home Ministry has given a go ahead to take appropriate measures to ensure the smooth supply of essential commodities.” The committee also directed all ministries and other agencies to inform it if they face any problem in supply, he added. “The meeting decided to review the supply situation on a daily basis to ensure that there is no shortage of basic commodities including fruits, vegetables, milk and other grocery items in the market.” All the ministries and agencies will report to the committee and the committee in collaboration with the Home Ministry will ensure supply, added Subedi. Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) has taken the initiative to ease the supply situation of fruits and vegetables, he claimed. “Consumers do not need to panic regarding the supply of essential commodities.” All ministries and even traders are committed to ferrying essential commodities at night if the general strike is prolonged, he informed. He also refuted chances of there being a scarcity of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) along with other petroleum products. “Nepal Oil Corporation has informed the import of LPG has not dropped,” he said. “Only if there is black marketing by dealers and plants and they do not supply adequate cooking gas will there be a shortage.” The supply of other petroleum products is in line with the market demand since vehicular movement and industries have come to a grinding halt due to the frequent general strikes. The government on Monday had formed the Central Supply Coordination Committee led by the commerce secretary. Joint secretaries from the Ministry of Finance, Home Ministry, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and director general of Department of Commerce are in the committee. The public has been hit hard due to the week-long strike and protests called by various groups. nnnn PEACE PROCESS YET TO BE COMPLETED Kathmandu, 23 May: Even as major political forces began focusing on constitution formation, the pace of peace process that was handed over to the Nepali Army did not turn out as expected, Lekhnath Pandey writes in The Himalayan Times.. The Special Committee, a cross-party panel headed by the prime minister, has already handed over integration responsibility of 3,000 plus ex-PLAs to the Nepali Army more than a month ago. The process, however, has moved nowhere yet. The SC directed the Nepali Army to commence the process “immediately”, with forming a six-member selection committee to determine the eligibility of former fighters for being integrated into the national force on 18 April. The committee, formed under the chair of the Acting Chairwoman of Public Service Committee, comprising representatives from the NA, experts and Ministry of Defence, however met only once. The committee has only held an introductory meeting on April 19 so far. “The committee chair Kayo Devi Yemi has not called any meeting after that,” said a source, adding, “She seems indifferent to call an early meeting of the body.” NA spokesperson Ramindra Chhetri agreed that no meeting was held after April 19, but informed that “coordination” is underway to call an another meeting soon. Earlier, NA had sent Maj Gen Daman Ghale as its special class representative to the selection committee at the eve of his retirement. After his tenure to the army was completed on May 17, NA now has sent newly promoted Maj. Gen. Baldev Raj Mahat to the committee. “Now, a new representative has been fixed to the committee. He has informed me that the coordination is underway to conduct next meeting of the body,” said spokesperson Chhetri. Devendra Sitaula, joint secretary who represents the Ministry of Defence had claimed that the body would come up with a concrete selection schedule soon. A total of 3,129 Maoist former fighters wished to be in the national army are spending their time in the cantonments under the Nepali Army’s command and control since April 10. Balananada Sharma, coordinator at the Secretariat under Special Committee, has repeatedly suggested for speedy commencement of the selection process. The retired lieutenant general pointed that practical problems will arise if personnel of the Nepali Army and former Maoist combatants’ stay in the erstwhile PLA cantonments is prolonged. Nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE ‘When the sniffer dog entered into India , we suspected the involvement of Indian nationals in poaching cases [in Chitwan National Park]. After the arrest of Talwar, it is now confirmed. It is technically difficult to enter India to arrest Indian poachers. So, we are coordinating with BTR [Balmiki Tiger Reserve] officials.” (Jhamak Bahadur Karki, Chief Warden of CPN, Republica, 23 May) nnnn