NO MAJOR HEADWAY EVEN 13 DAYS AFTER MURDER OF SUPREME COURT JUSTICE BAM Kathmandu, 12 June: Police have made no arrests even 13 days Tuesday after themurder of Supreme Court Justice Rana Bahadur Bam who was shot while driving to office. A friend and his security guard are recovering for bullet injuries sustained in the firing on a road across Bagmati river in Lalitpur. The driver was not injured. Police have only released a sketch of a suspect although eyewitnesses said two persons on a Pulsar motorcycle intercepted the car and shot dead Bam. Government has formed only a police probe team as Nepal Bar Association and court officials demand a judicial probe. Government has been accused for not starting an independent judicial Probe. A UML student leader was shot and injured in the capital following’s Justice Bam’s murder indicating weapons are flowing freely as residents no longer feel safe and scure in the capital. Nnnn 24 UML DISTRICT CHIEFS FABOUR MULTI-ETHNIC PROVINCES Kathmandu, 12 June: CPN-UML chiefs from some 24 districts have pressed the party leadership to stand for state restructuring based on multiple identity, Tirtha L. Bhusal writes in Republica.. The party’s district chiefs from Madhesi and ethnic communities have argued that the intra-party dispute over policy on state restructuring will be resolved once the party leadership is ready to go for multiple identity-based federalism. Some two dozen district chiefs representing Madhesi, ethnic and indigenous communities have gathered in Kathmandu after a group of influential UML leaders including party Vice-chairman Ashok Rai and Politburo Members Prithivi Subba Gurung, Ram Chandra Jha and Bijay Subba threatened to quit the party if the leadership remained reluctant over ethnicity-based federalism. The UML district chiefs claimed that the party leadership’s failure to set out a clear official position on the crucial agenda was the major reason for the present crisis in the party. They said the party leadership must admit its failing in this regard. “Against this backdrop, we demand that the party leaders stand in favor of delineation and naming provinces on the basis of multiple identities and make public the party’s official policy accordingly,” said a letter submitted by the district chiefs to the party Standing Committee. Sherdhan Rai, district chief of Bhojpur, led the delegation and handed over the letter to Chairman Jhalanath Khanal in the presence of other top leaders, at the party office at Balkhu, Monday. Pressing the party leadership to resolve the matter, the district leaders urged the dissident leaders from Madhesi and ethnic communities including Vice-chairman Rai to attend party meetings, hold a dialogue with the leadership and lobby for their cause through party mechanisms instead of making their differences public through media or public forums. Sherdhan Rai, who led the campaign, said the way the dissident leaders were openly criticizing the party leadership was disgraceful and against party discipline. “We want both sides -- party leadership and dissident leaders-- to restraint themselves,” Rai told Republica. Dissident leaders feel insecure in UML The dissident leaders, speaking through the district chiefs, have expressed feelings of insecurity within the party. The disgruntled group has demanded that the party leadership be ready to reinstate the Constituent Assembly and ensure that the party will not take any action against those who lobbied in favor of ethnicity-based federalism. “In view of these demands we urge the party leaders to talk to the dissident leaders,” Rai said. “So far, we have held separate meetings with both sides. Now, we plan face-to-face talks between the two sides.” Rai said the party’s recent decision to remove party leader Rajendra Shrestha as the party’s Valley chief was untimely and it would further spoil the atmosphere between the party leadership and the disgruntled group. Differences reconcilable After several rounds of discussions with both sides Sherdhan Rai found that there was no big difference between the dissident group’s demand and the party leaders’ position. “It is not irreconcilable because the party leaders have already made up their minds to go for multiple-identity based federalism,” he said. nnnn ________________________________________ • JAPAN TO DEPORT MAINALI • • Kathmandu, 12 June: The Immigration Bureau of Japan on Monday issued a deportation order for Govinda Prasad Mainali, who was released by the Tokyo High Court that ordered a retrial of a high-profile murder case for which he was imprisoned for 15 years, Republica reports. The bureau informed the Justice for Govinda-Innocence Advocacy Group Japan -- set up mostly by Japanese citizens who have from the beginning stood for him -- about the deportation order. Mainali was released from prison and sent to an immigration facility in Yokohama after the court order on Thursday as he was first arrested for overstaying in 1997 before being charged with the murder of 39-year-old Yasuko Watanabe, a female employee of Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO). “They have asked that arrangements be made so that he can return to Nepal along with his family members,” advocate Balaram Shrestha, who practices law in Japan, said over the phone from Tokyo. The bureau will take Mainali to the airport from where he will board the plane along with his family members. He will return once the Nepali embassy in Japan issues passport and other required documents. The issuance of passport and the documents normally do not take much time, but sources said the embassy is trying to ensure that Mainali is allowed to return to Japan to fight a compensation case. The Japanese Immigration Law prohibits a deportee from re-entering Japan for 10 years. Officials at the Nepali embassy could not be reached for comments about the paper work related to Mainali´s return. Mainali, who left Nepal for Japan in 1994, worked as a waiter in Tokyo until police arrested him in March, 1997 for overstaying and then charged him with the murder of Watanabe, who moonlighted as a prostitute and was killed on March 8, 1997. The district court had acquitted him but the prosecution, presenting selective evidence, appealed at the Tokyo High Court, which found him guilty and jailed him for life on circumstantial evidence, deeming that a third party could not conceivably have entered the murder victim´s room. nnnn MAOISTS SQUEEZING ENTREPRENEURS Kathmandu, 12 June:: Hetauda-based entrepreneurs, industrialists and hoteliers, who are already in the red due to political instability, labour problems and power crisis, are facing a new challenge, as the Unified CPN-Maoist is putting the squeeze on them, Bhanubhakta Acharya writes in The Himalayan Times from Hetauda.. It has been learnt that the Maoist party is demanding that Hetauda-based industries, factories and hotels provide employment to its former fighters and monthly medical allowances to the injured ones. The party is even pressuring businessmen to make the former fighters shareholders in their firms, a demand the business fraternity here terms absurd. Around 14,000 former Maoist fighters are now out of cantonments following a regrouping process carried out to sort those ones out who wanted to join the Nepali Army. A letter received by an entrepreneur demands that he provide the injured fighters with monthly medical allowance, employment to others and a share in his business. As many as 610 former Maoist fighters are from Makawanpur district alone. A member of the Industry Association of Hetauda told this daily on condition of anonymity that former Maoist CA member from Makawanpur Prem Bahadur Pulami, Maoist leader Sher Bahadur Pahari and some others from Maoist sister wings have sent letters to the business community saying the IAH must ‘honour the contributions made by the former fighters’ and offer them employment and financial aid. The IAH has turned down the Maoist proposal, saying it is impossible to meet the demands, as industries, factories and hotels were already operating at loss. Rishiram Ghimire, Chairman, IAH, has warned of shutting down industries if the Maoists kept on pressuring them with such demands. Shanker Shrestha, Treasurer, Hotel Association of Makawanpur, said his association too had received a similar letter from the Maoists. Bhuwan Lal Shrestha, Chairman, Makawanpur chapter of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said it was unfortunate that the party leading the government was spreading terror among industrialists and entrepreneurs. Makawanpur district in-charge of the Maoist party, Sonam Singh Syangta, admitted that they had asked the industries to offer employment to former fighters. “We have sent a proposal to them to manage former fighters,” said Sonam, adding that they have not forced anyone to meet their demands. Nnnn UTL BEING SHUT DOWN BY NTA Kathmandu, 12 June: The Nepal Telecommuni-cations Authority (NTA) is poised to shut down United Telecom Limited (UTL) for not paying the committed royalty. The regulator has already barred UTL from purchasing telecom equipment and paying the bandwidth cost, The Kathmandu Post writes. UTL owes Rs 1.26 billion in royalties to the government as of the last fiscal year for basic telecom services. Despite NTA’s repeated calls, the operator has not paid the fee and instead has been seeking a waiver or re-negotiation citing losses and lack of a level playing field. NTA has described its argument as ‘baseless’. “NTA is preparing to write to UTL soon with a direction to close down all its basic telecom services,” said an NTA source. “The plan is mainly targeted at stopping International Long Distance (ILD) gateway service considered to be the main source of income for the operator.” Four months ago, NTA had decided to close down UTL’s basic services. At that time, the regulator had requested the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) to recommend to the Home Ministry to help implement its decision and urged the Ministry of Finance to recover the royalty dues. As the Communications Ministry has not responded to its plea, NTA is preparing to write to the operator to stop operations. According to the source, NTA chairman had met with Communications Minister Raj Kishor Yadav a few days ago to discuss the issue. At the meeting, Yadav had assured the chairman that he would talk to Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai as the matter concerned a joint venture company with Indian government investment. As the issue is connected with the Indian government’s investment, the Nepal government has been hesitating to take action on the matter for a long time. However, Bhesh Raj Kanel, chairman of NTA, said that they were determined to implement the decision of closing down the basic service of UTL. “We have already stopped facilitating UTL around three months ago for paying bandwidth cost and procuring equipment and telecom spare parts.” As per the government set provision, if any licensee is required to import telecom equipment for service expansion, it is supposed to get a recommendation of NTA to get foreign exchange facility. Likewise, NTA has to recommend to the Communications Ministry to obtain currency exchange service for the payment of bandwidth cost to international service providers. Regarding the matter, officials at UTL could not be contacted despite several attempts. Although UTL has been hoping to get a waiver of the royalty dues through the highest political level, there has not been any such decision for a waiver yet. Recently, the Finance Ministry had asked the NTA to collect the outstanding dues from all telecom operators. Under the operating licence for basic telecom, UTL has been offering fixed line national call, international call and lease line services. NTA said that UTL was least bothered about clearing its outstanding dues despite the regulatory body’s decision to shut down its services. The operator’s 10-year license for operation of basic telecom service expires on Oct 3, 2012 and it is required to formally apply for renewal by July 1. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited and Telecommunications Consultants India, which are owned by the Indian government, have a 26.68 percent and 26.66 percent stake in UTL respectively. Other investors include Tata Communications with a share of 26.66 percent and local partner Nepal Ventures with 20 percent. nnnn HOPE FOR BAGMATI REVIVAL Kathmandu, 12 June: The High Powered Committee for Integrated Development of Bagmati Civilization has decided to use Rs 4 billion from the Asian Development Bank to preserve environmental and ecological diversity of the Bagmati river, Binod Ghimere writes in The Kathmand Post. The bank has agreed to provide the loan for water collection in three places at the source of the river in the northern part, environment preservation in the buffer zone, risk management from flood in the lower land, and urban development. Three dams will be constructed in the upper wetland—Nagmati and Bagdwar—which will be developed as a recharge zone for the river. Water collected in the rainy season will be discharged in the river during the dry season at the rate of 500 liters per second (lps). According to Committee Chief Mahesh Bahadur Basnet, an ADB technical team from Manila has arrived for a detail study of the project. “The bank has reached the first phase of agreement with the Ministry of Finance,” he said. The three-year project scheduled to start next fiscal year envisions building an 18-metre dam to collect 700,000 cubic meters of water in the upper wetland which will be sufficient to discharge 24lps water in the Bagmati in the dry season. Similarly, a 50-metre dam will be constructed in the Nagmati area to collect 4 million cubic liters of water, from where 237lps will be let to flow for six months in the dry season. As per the plan, around 6 million liters of water will be collected near Bagdwar, constructing a 60-metre high dam which will provide 200lps continuous supply in the Bagmati during the dry season. “We aim to supply 500lps water in the Bagmati in three years,” said Basnet. “There will be knee-deep freshwater in the Bagmati down to the Pashupati area even in the dry season.” According to Basnet, the project mainly aims to preserve wetland to increase recharge zone for the river. There will also be income generation support such as animal husbandry and agriculture to people in the buffer zone. There will be total embankment from Sundarijal to Gokarna while a number of parks will be developed in the 8 km area along the river. nnnn