EC WILL BE LEADERLESS TO CONDUUCT ELECTIONS Kathmandu, 25 June: Election Commission (EC) will be leaderless by mid-December even a government has declared elections, Gobinda Pariyar reports in Nagarik.. Acting Chief Election Commissioner Nilkantha Uprety will be superannuated 7 November. Shortly there after, Commissioners Dolakh Bahadur Gurung and Ayohi Prasad will also be superannuated. Former Chef Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokhrel says election won’t be held 22 November for legal, political and technical reasons. “Election isn’t possible 22 November even with resolution of legal and political uncertainties,” Pokhrel says.” Even with a miraculous national understanding, election isn’t possible before March/April.” nnnn : SC MAY APPOINT JUDGES DEFYIING CONSTITUTION Kathmandu, 25 June: : The Supreme Court (SC), the final interpretor of the constitution, is mulling over appointing justices, even by going against Article 155 of the Interim Constitution that takes parliamentary hearing before the appointment of SC justices, chiefs as well as members of constitutional commissions and ambassadors as Mandatory, The Himalayan Times reports. With the Constituent Assembly, which doubled as the Parliament, dissolved, parliamentary hearing on the candidates is out of the question. At the same time, justice delivery is likely to get obstructed in the event of non-appointment of justices at the country’s highest court. “It is illogical to hinder justice delivery citing a crisis,” a Supreme Court justice told this daily on condition of anonymity. According to the justice, Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi and members of the Judicial Council, which is authorised to appoint judges, are under pressure from the legal fraternity to appoint justices regardless of Article 155. Of 22 positions at the apex court, there are eight permanent and seven ad hoc judges. The tenure of ad hoc justices Baidhya Nath Upadhayay, Bharat Bahadur Karki, Tarka Raj Bhatta, Girish Chandra Lal and Gyanendra Bahadur Karki will end in November. Justices Prakash Osti and Bharat Raj Upreti will retire in January, while permanent justice Tarhir Ali Ansari will retire in August. A drafter of the Interim Constitution, senior advocate Shambhu Thapa, suggests two ways — invoking Article 158 to remove hurdles or letting the JC conduct the hearing for the appointment of justices. “The right to get justice cannot be denied citing the dissolution of the CA,” Thapa said. “The interim constitution does not provide any alternative on appointments in the SC and constitutional bodies in the event of the dissolution of the CA. As per the principle of eclipse, the parliamentary hearing provision has become redundant. So, the appointments must continue even without parliamentary hearing,” Thapa reasoned. He argued that appointment of justices under new arrangements will make way for appointments in various constitutional bodies and diplomatic missions. However, Upendra Keshari Neupane, member of the JC, maintained that appointing judges without parliamentary hearing will create controversy. Subas Chandra Nembang, chairman of the dissolved CA, said it is unconstitutional to appoint judges without parliamentary hearing. “This is a mandatory provision of the Constitution, so it cannot be ignored,” Nembang said. “We have been facing this problem because we did not take such issues into account before dissolving the CA.” nnnn NEPAL ARMY PREPARES FOR INTEGRATION Kathmandu, 25 June: Though the constitution-drafting process is in doldrums, another key aspect of the peace process the integration of the Maoist combatants into the Nepal Army is set to start next week, Kiran Chapagain writes in Republica.. If everything goes as planned, the much-awaited integration process will kick off with the Nepal Army already completing all the preparations. The process had stalled after the second phase of categorization of former Maoist fighters in mid-April. Altogether 3,129 Maoist combatants are awaiting their recruitment in the national army following the categorization. "We plan to begin the recruitment process from July 1 as per the decision of the recruitment board of the Nepal Army," NA spokesperson Brigadier General Ramindra Chhetri told Republica. "The army has already trained the personnel to be deputed in the selection process." As per the plan endorsed by the Special Committee back in April, the army will conduct the selection of the combatants aspiring to join at the officer level at the Bharatpur Barracks of the NA, while the selection for below officer level will be held at the seven main cantonments which came under NA´s control on April 10. The recruitment board of the army chaired by Acting Chief of the Public Service Commission Dr Kayo Devi Yami has decided to move ahead with the integration process amidst concerns from political parties and international community over the delay in managing the remaining combatants in the cantonments. Last week, the Central Working Committee meeting of the Nepali Congress had called for the beginning of the process despite differences over the continuance of the present government. Before that, members of the diplomatic community had expressed their concerns over the stalled peace process, during a breakfast meeting with Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai at Baluwatar on June 11. Though the army is moving ahead with the process, there are still a couple of things that needs to be resolved before the recruitment committees of the army visit the selection venues. The national army has already asked the government to resolve these issues, according to a senior official at the Ministry of Defense. The army has asked the government to determine the structure of the directorate to pave way for the much-awaited integration process, a key component of the six-year old peace process. On its part, the army has recently sent a new proposal for the structure of the directorate in view of the fact that only 3,129 combatants have chosen integration, which is lesser than the previous agreement reached between the parties. The new proposal says that a major general should lead the directorate. Earlier, the army had proposed that a lieutenant general should lead the directorate, in light of the agreement of inducting 6,500 personnel and the size of the directorate will be around 19,000. Now with the number of combatants willing to be integrated has come down to less than half, the size of the directorate is expected to have around 9,000 personnel. Similarly, the army has also asked the government to release needed budget for the integration. Likewise, the army has also asked the government to resolve the dispute over the documents that should be recognized to authenticate the age of some combatants. These combatants numbering around 300 have been demanding that the age mentioned in their identity cards given to them by the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) is made the basis to determine their age. They have been demanding so because if their age is determined on the basis of their citizenship, they would be found younger in their age. It will affect their rank and service in the army, according to a member at the secretariat of the Special Committee. And, the army law recognizes only the citizenship to verify age of aspiring candidates. "There is a dispute over whether the structure should be determined without knowing the exact number of the combatants to be selected for integration or it should be determined only after knowing the number," said the official when asked about the status of the army proposal. But the official said that the ministry is in a position to release five million rupees for the integration process. Despite the development, leaders of the opposition parties who represent in the Special Committee said they are not aware of the army plan. "We will talk to other parties in regard to the integration once the prime minister returns [from Brazil]," said Minendra Rijal, Nepali Congress representative in the Special Committee. nnnn CPN-M ROADMAP FOR ENDING POLITICAL CRISIS Kathmandu, 25 June: A politburo meeting of Mohan Baidya´s newly-formed CPN-Maoist on Sunday came up with a "political roadmap" for ending the ongoing constitutional as well as political crises emerged after the demise of the Constituent Assembly (CA) on May 27, Thira L. Bhusal writes in Republica.. The new party has decided that a roundtable assembly represented by all political parties, civil society and major social groups should be mandated to find amicable solution for ending the present political imbroglio, formation of a new government and constitution-making process in consensus. The party will table the proposal for endorsement at the party´s central committee (CC) meeting scheduled to start Monday. "The roundtable can form a unity government through consensus," said Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma, politburo member of CPN-Maoist, the breakaway faction of the UCPN (Maoist). "We can form a new coalition with an absolute majority of such an assembly even if the ruling parties in present government reject such proposal." The proposal prepared by the politburo says the same assembly can lay ground for constitution writing as well. According to Bishwakarma, his party is for resuming the constitution writing task right from the point where talks among the political parties had broken down. "The CA has done a lot of work during in the last four years. We can build on those achievements and search for common ground on the disputed issues," he said explaining the roadmap. "Then, we can form a commission for drafting the constitution." They are for mandating the roundtable to work as interim people´s representative body as stopgap arrangement. To join hands with NC, UML against govt The new party´s politburo also decided to launch a nationwide mass mobilization against the government. Bishwakarma said their protests will mainly expose the government´s recent "anti-people and anti-national activities" and the role of Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai in dissolving the CA. Bishwakarma also said they could also join the anti-government protests launched by NC, UML and other parties. Advise president for roundtable assembly Meanwhile, the top leaders from CPN-Maoist made a courtesy call on President Ram Baran Yadav at Shital Niwas Sunday for the first time after the formation of the party last week. Those meeting the president were Chairman Baidya, General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa, Secretary CP Gajurel and standing committee members Netra Bikram Chand and Dev Gurung. Gajurel said they informed the president about the proposed roundable because "neither a fresh CA election nor the reinstatement of the CA would resolve the present crisis". They told the president that he should seek consent also from new political parties and agitating social groups before taking any step. "Because the syndicate of the four parties is no longer relevant in the changed political context," Gurung told Republica. He is of the view that new power equations must be recognized as various forces such as ethnic and indigenous communities, Brahmin-Chhetri, Madhesi, Tharu and other groups have come up strongly. "The president expressed his concerns over the parties´ failure to forge consensus to end the current crises," said Gurung. "But he is not for taking any move overstepping his constitutional powers." Nnnn ________________________________________ HEALTH MINISTRY SCALES UP DRIVE REATED TO POPULATION Kathmandu, 25 June: The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has scaled up 17 population related programmes in 25 districts across the country this year, The Himalayan Times reports. The government has expanded the programme in recognition of managing the population growth in these districts, said Anil Thapa, demographer at the population division in the ministry. District level training for instructors, orientation training for population coordination committee officials, workshops for identifying issues and problem of the district, and programmes related to elderly people, school level peer group, interaction among youth and adolescent, awareness of foreign employment and gender based violence have been scaled up. Likewise, programmes to encourage local bodies for vital registration, mass media usage for population awareness, preparation of district profile and managing systematic information regarding population division has also be added in these districts, said Thapa. The programme has been expanded to Siraha, Saptari, Jhapa, Taplejung, Khotang, Terathum, Mahottari, Sarlahi , Rautahat, Sindhuli, Ramechhap, Chitwan, Lalitpur, Kathmandu, Gulmi, Palpa, Gorkha, Myagdi , Parbat, Arghakhanchi , Rolpa, Salyan, Dolpa, Kalikot and Mugu. “The programme is expected to end the disparity among the people living in these areas,” said the demographer. With the implementation of the programme, the government will coordinate, monitor and supervise the population programme, said Thapa. The programme will also focus on women empowerment, safe migration and reproductive health among youth and adolescents, he further informed. The division had started the initiation of these programmes on the fiscal year 2008/09. nnnn