ARGUMENTS AT SPECIAL COURT ON CORRUPTION CHARGE AGAINST GOVINDA RAJ JOSHI COMPLETED Kathmandu, 21 June: Hearing on arguments in a Rs30.93 million corruption of CIAA against NC leader and former powerful Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi was completed Wednesday. The charge was leveled by CIAA. The special court meets again 25 July. Nnnn THURSDAY IS SUMMER SOLSTICE Kathmandu, 21 June: Thursday is summer solstice or the longest day in the northern hemisphere. The monsoon has just entered Nepal in the East nearly sox days late. nnnn KUWAIT TEAM COMES SUNDAY TOINSPECTSITE OF 25MW BUDIGANGA POWER PROJECT Kathmandu, 21 June A five-member team of experts of Kuwait Development Fund arrives Sunday for on-the-spot inspection of site of the 25MW Budhiganga :nydropower project. The Fund has pledged a $20 million load to execute the project. Nnnn CURIOUS CASE OF MISSING ORDINANCE Kathmandu, 21 June: When he met President Ram Baran Yadav on June 13, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai informed him that the government wanted to enact three laws concerning anti-money laundering, including a law on organized crime, and sought cooperation from Yadav, who was under pressure from the opposition not to sign any ordinance, Kiran Chapagain writes in Republica. Bhattarai handed the drafts of the three ordinances right there and then for the president´s perusal. So the president´s office was surprised Sunday when the prime minister´s office forwarded only two ordinances -- Extradition Ordinance and Mutual Cooperation Ordinance -- to the president for promulgation. The office asked Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire whether the third ordinance -- on Controlling Organized Crimes -- was left out by mistake. The office was told that it was dropped. The ordinance dropped at the last minute was long sought by law enforcement agencies as it was believed it would help contain organized crime. A draft of the ordinance had already been distributed to cabinet members a day before their meeting, according to a minister. Cabinet sources told Republica that the proposed law was dropped as Maoist and Madhesi ministers feared that they themselves would feel its full force if enacted. "The prime minister proposed to us at Sunday´s cabinet not to discuss the draft although it was on the agenda along with the other ordinances," said the minister, preferring anonymity. When the minister pressed for the law, the prime minister said he did not want to pass it now. Madhesi ministers supported him. Senior officials at the Prime Minister´s Office and the Home Ministry had advised the prime minister to get the proposed law endorsed by the cabinet. Senior officials said the law would have prevented political parties from seeking forcible donations from businessmen. The law would also consider any forcible obstruction of people´s movement a criminal act. This would have an immediate effect on any strike enforced by political parties. Similarly, the proposed ordinance says vandalising private property would be considered organized crime. The minister said this provision would have impacted political parties that resort to vandalizing vehicles during their strikes. The proposed ordinance says those vandalizing private properties would have to pay compensation. The ruling Maoist and Madhesi parties became equally concerned over a provision that criminalizes the activities of goons and thugs. Political leaders face allegations of using thugs and goons. Under the ordinance, any support to such elements would be a crime subject to up to three years in jail and Rs 200,000 in fines. However, Maoist Minister Post Bahadur Bogati claims that the cabinet dropped the ordinance because it had not been discussed with other parties. ´The fact is there was no consensus on this ordinance. It was not good to pass it without having the opposition on board," said Bogati. When it was pointed out that the opposition had also not agreed to the two ordinances that were approved, Bogati said, "They were normal." When drafts of the proposed laws were discussed in the Bills Committee of the Constituent Assembly, the Maoist and Madhesi parties had opposed them, according to Chandra Dev Joshi, chairman of the CPN (Samukta) and a member on the Bills Committee. Police officials said they disparately needed the law to control organize crime as existing law does not cover all organized crime. "There are no specific laws against thugs and goons and new organized crime like Dhukuti do not come under any existing law," said a deputy inspector general of police preferring anonymity. Officials, however, pointed out that the proposed laws may not be human rights-friendly, giving police powers to arrest persons on mere suspicion. ________________________________________ Nnnn NEARLY 20 MAOIST SISTER WINGS JOIN BAIDYA GROUP AFTER SPLIT Kathmandu, 21 June : With only one-third of the UCPN (Maoist) central committee members joining the newly-formed CPN-Maoist led by Mohan Baidya, one would have speculated that only a few lower rung leaders would follow suit. But, this has been proven wrong, Kiran Pun writes in Republica. . Almost all the chiefs of around three dozen sister wings -- considered the backbone of the mother party -- of the UCPN (Maoist) have joined the new party. They had sided with Baidya ever since the beginning of the rift in the UCPN (Maoist). This has left only around a dozen chiefs of sister wings in the mother party. "The sister wings represented suppressed communities that the Baidya faction has always stood for while Pushpa Kamal Dahal had said that he had dug his own grave by forming ethnic fronts in the party. So it is natural for the chiefs of sister wings to spurn Dahal," said Santosh Budha Magar, chief of the Magar National Liberation Front. YCL has remained inactive after the formation of the People´s Volunteers (PV) led by Netra Bikram Chand. Its chief Ganesh Man Pun has supported Dahal. Similarly, of the three regional organizations -- Madhesi Liberation Front (MLF), Bheri-Karnali Liberation Front (BKLF) and Seti-Mahakali Liberation Front (SMLF) -- only SMLF chief Lekhraj Bhatta remains with the mother party. BKLF chief Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma and MLF chief Krishna Dev Singh Danuwar have joined forces with Baidya. Similarly, chiefs of almost all the professional organizations have also joined the new party. Of them, Chitra Bahadur Shrestha, chief of All Nepal Peasant Federation (Revolutionary), Shalikram Jamakattel, chief of All Nepal Trade Union Federation, Himal Sharma, chief of All Nepal National Independent Students Union (Revolutionary), Amar Tamu, chief of Tamu National Liberation Front, Ram Charan Tharu, chief of Tharu National Liberation Front, Suryaman Dong, chief of Tamang National Liberation Front, Hitaraj Pande, chief of Sahid Pariwar Samaj, Deependra Pun, chief of Ghaite Yoddha Pariwar, Khim Lal Devkota, chief of All Nepal Intellectual Association, Gyandera Kumal, chief of Kumal National Liberation Front, Shree Jabegu, chief of Limbuwan National Liberation Front and Mukti Pradhan, National Human Rights Concern Center, have stayed with the mother party. Of them, Kumal, Jabegu, Pradhan and Devkota are close to the faction led by party Vice-chairman Baburam Bhattarai. The chiefs of sister wings joining Baidya´s party are Jayapuri Gharti Magar of All Nepal Women´s Association (Revolutionary), Gunaraj Lohani of All Nepal Teachers Association, Tilak Pariyar of Nepal National Dalit Liberation Front, Ishwar Chandra Gyawali of United All Nepal People´s Cultural Federation, Suresh Ale Magar of Indigenous Nationalities Federation, Maheshwar Dahal of Revolutionary Journalists Association, Mangal Bishwakarma of All Nepal People´s Health Workers Association, Ekaraj Bhandari of Association of Fighters Disappeared by State, Shiva Kattel of National Industries and Commerce Federation and Jayandra Bahadur Chand of Republican Sports Federation. Likewise, Rukma Lamichhane of Nepal National Employees´ Organization, Santosh Budha Magar of Magar National Liberation Front, Takma KC of Nepal National Professors´ Organization, Padam Rai of Kirat National Liberation Front, Bharat Chepang of Chepang National Liberation Front, Chun Bahadur Thami of Thami National Liberation Front and Bartaman Rai of Rai-Danuwar National Liberation Front have also joined the new party. Similarly, Raman Shrestha of National Lawyers Council, Bishnu Pukar Shrestha of Campaign for Human Rights and Social Transformation Nepal, Laxman Pant of All India Nepal People´s Rights Forum, Deependra Kumar Chhantyal of Chhantyal National Liberation Front, Nagendra Dhimal of Dhimal National Liberation Front and Pawanman Shrestha of Newa National Liberation Front are the other chiefs of sister wings joining CPN-Maoist. Nnnn ________________________________________ REPORT PROPOSES MARTYRS’ CATEGORIZATION Kathmandu, 21 June: A five-member taskforce formed under Unified CPN-Maoist politburo member Navaraj Subedi to draft the definition of martyrs and ground for declaring martyrs has submitted its report to the government, Ram Kumar Kamat writes in The Himalayan Times.. The taskforce has suggested that martyrs should be grouped as ‘great martyrs’ and ‘martyrs’. Two out of five members of the taskforce have, however, contested the report saying they were not duly consulted and their opinions on the definition of martyrs were not incorporated. JB Dhaulakoti and Surya Bahadur Sarki, who have objected to the report, have refused to sign it. Subedi said those killed by the state ‘while fighting for democracy and safeguarding national boundary’ should, in real sense, be called martyrs. “If a person is accidentally killed by police while not fighting for democracy and human rights, then the victim should not be declared a martyr. But the state needs to compensate the victim’s family in such cases,” said Subedi. “We suggested that martyrs like Ganga Lal, Durganand Jha, Saroj Koirala and Krishna Sen Ichhuk cannot be compared with other martyrs, just like Bhagat Singh of India cannot be compared with some other martyrs.” Subedi clarified, “If a person staging a sit-in for small cause dies in a terrorist blast, s/he cannot be called a martyr.” The report has suggested that those killed while championing the cause of a particular community or religion should be honoured with brevity award, instead of conferring martyrdom on them. The report has pointed that of late there has been a wrong tendency to pressure the government to declare anyone a martyr, even if s/he does not meet the criteria. Subedi said the taskforce has suggested that if a policeman, in course of maintaining law and order, uses maximum force and kills someone, then the government should hold the concerned official responsible and make him/her pay compensation to the victim’s family. The report has categorically suggested that martyrs should not be compared with compensation. Dhaulakoti maintained that he and Sarki refused to sign the report because they were not consulted while preparing it. He added that they opposed the report also because the government did not consult them while declaring some people martyrs recently. “The government never consulted us while we were working on the report,” he said. Nnnn MAOISTS THREATEN TO CLOSE DOWN POKHARA GRANDE Kathmandu, 21 June: Maoist-aligned workers of Casino Grande today threatened to close Pokhara Grande, a five-start hotel in Pokhara, following a management decision yesterday to shut the casino, Rup Narayan Dhakal writes in The Himalayan Times from Pokhara.. The decision to shut Casino Grande sine die came after efforts to resolve a long-drawn dispute between the casino and workers failed. “Both the hotel and casino are being run under the same administration. If our demands are not met, we will have no option but to shut the hotel for good,” said Hari Khadka, chairman of Casino Grande unit of All Nepal Hotel and Restaurant Workers’ Association. However, Shyam Kumar Khadka, manager, Casino Grande, said they were hoping that talks would resume between the casino management and agitating workers by tomorrow. The casino workers, who began a sit-in yesterday immediately after the closure notice was put, continued their protest today as well. The casino workers have been organising several struggle programmes for the last three months, demanding Rs 1,600 salary hike, in line with the notice published in the Nepal Gazette, and provident fund. “The workers spurned our repeated calls for dialogue. And when they stopped serving guests, we had no choice but to close the casino,” said Khadka. A second notice published today by the management said it was forced to shut the casino as workers had stopped serving guests since June 15. The management has also urged all the casino staff to maintain patience until the problem is resolved. Ramnath Devkota, a casino employee, said he came to know that the casino was shut after reaching the hotel today. He said workers today moved the labour office saying decision to close the casino sans prior notice was illegal. The workers have accused the management of discriminating against casino staffers by denying them increased salary. They claimed that hotel staffers were enjoying the facility. nnnn