UML STANDING COMMITTEE MEET CONTINUES MONDAY Kathmandu, 11 June: UML standing committee meet to discuss party differences on creating states is meeting again Monday as establishment attempts to stem defections of Janahatic and Madeshi’s on creation of ethnic states opposed by the establishment. The standing committee will discuss cutting out provinces from with a new proposal being Monday by the establishment ahead of a two-day national meet next week. Janajatic and Madeshi committee members contend to boycott the meet Sunday. “The meeting Monday will try to remove confusion,” former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and top UML leader said. NC central committee is also meeting Monday to discuss party differences as the party attempts to discuss intra-party differences with senior party leader and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba boycotting meetings for the last nine months, Differences in UCPN (Maoist) have also climaxed with a split imminent, according to dissident party leaders. nnnn . UML CRITIC ON OFFFICIAL PARTY POSITION ON ANT-ETHNIC PRIVINCES RAJENDRA SHRESSTHA REMOVED AS VALLEY CHIEF Kathmandu, 11 June: In a clear indication of hardening of its stance against the party´s dissident leaders from Madhesi, ethnic and indigenous communities, the CPN-UML has removed the party´s Kathmandu Valley Coordinator Rajendra Shrestha and appointed Krishna Gopal Shrestha in the position, Tirtha L.Bhusal writes in Republica.. The party´s standing committee meeting on Sunday took the decision to this effect even as several influential leaders including Vice-chairman Ashok Rai, politburo members Prithivi Subba Gurung, Ram Chandra Jha and Bijay Subba and Central Committee member Rajendra Shrestha, among others, have been fighting against the party leadership for standing against the delineation and naming of provinces based on ethnic identities. Leaders said they decided to remove Rajendra Shrestha from the position as he remained inactive in the party´s crucial responsibility even during CPN-UML and other political parties convened a joint mass gathering at Khulamunch [open air theater] in Kathmandu on Friday. "Today´s [Sunday] meeting decided to remove Rajendra Shrestha from the position of valley coordinator. He can continue to work in his capacity of central committee member but will get additional responsibility only after he engages actively in party activities and works in accordance with the party´s official decisions," a standing committee member told Republica. "We took the decision also because we can´t leave such an important position to someone who is inactive." Asked for comment on the party´s decision, Rajendra preferred not to react on the matter saying he was not officially informed about the decision. "I am still with the UML with all my heart and mind but if the party leadership doesn´t respond positively to our grievances I will have no option but to rethink accordingly," he told Republica. While Krishna Gopal, the new valley coordinator, is loyal to party´s third-position leader KP Sharma Oli, Rajendra was close with party Chairman Jhalanath Khanal at the time Oli ran a rival faction within the party establishment. Also, the standing committee designated party Secretary Yubaraj Gyawali as chief of the party organization department, which is a powerful position in the UML. So far, General Secretary Ishwar Pokharel was looking after the department. But now onward general secretary Pokharel will be overseeing the party´s overall activities. Another Secretary Bishnu Paudel has been designated as the secretary at the central secretariat, the portfolio held by Gyawali so far. Paudel is also a trusted loyal of Oli. Of the three secretaries--Gyawali, Paudel and Shankar Pokharel--the latter two are close to Oli whereas Gyawali is loyal to Khanal. Shankar Pokharel is chief of the party´s parliamentary department. He also worked as deputy parliamentary party leader but the post no longer exists as the parliament itself has been dissolved. The latest reshuffle in the party is also the result of the understanding reached between Khanal and Oli some months back. As per the past deal, Khanal agreed to elevate Oli to the party´s third position and to give some vital positions to the leaders loyal to him while Oli reciprocated by dissolving parallel bodies committing to cooperate with the party chairman. Nnnn BAIDHYA REJECTSDAHAL INVIT FOR TALKS Kathmandu, 11 June: UCPN (Maoist) Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya has refused meet Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, arguing there was no point in holding further talks with the party supreme, Kuram Pum writes in Republica. Baidya had refused Dahal´s phone request for a meeting on Friday saying he would not sit for talks unless Dahal commits to meet three preconditions. Baidya also said past meeting between the two had not yielded any results. "We are ready for discussion. But since the chairman has already lost all his credibility, there is no need to hold further discussion. Dahal and his faction has been sowing the seeds of division while talking about party unity," Baidya told Republica over phone. Baidya said his first condition was that Dahal needed to correct his past mistakes through ´self-criticism´. In Communist parties, self-criticism is not considered a normal move and is seen as a disciplinary action. Baidya faction has termed Dahal´s move to deploy the Nepal Army in the PLA cantonments as ´surrender´. Likewise, Baidya faction has also expressed strong reservation over the BIPPA agreement reached with India, terming it as ´anti-national´ move. Similarly, Baidya has demanded Dahal to abandon the line of parliamentary system and revisionism and also accept the line of new ´democratic revolution´ as another precondition to hold further discussion. Baidya faction concluded that party´s line on peace and constitution has failed. They expressed serious reservation over the handover of the PLA to the Nepal Army without integration and dissolution of the Constituent Assembly without promulgating a new statute. Baidya said Dahal had lost all his credibility as he never implemented the things he promised to do. “So, another condition is that Dahal needs to convince us by implementing the party line of revolution,” he said. Baidya maintained that party unity is possible on the bases of party´s ideology and party line. “We do not want to be cheated yet again. We will take bold decision from the national conclaves scheduled for June 15," said Baidya. Baidya faction has been demanding Dahal´s resign saying that party´s line on peace and constitution has already failed. The faction maintains that Dahal has no moral ground to stay in the post after his official line failed to bring results. Upon hearing the preconditions Dahal had proposed to call a separate meeting of their respective faction, Baidya said. "Chairman said that he would discuss with his comrades and also urged us to discuss it in our side. But I told him that they can hold meeting. We are already clear on the conditions." Nnnnn ________________________________________ ________________________________________ • 2 OIL GIANTS TO STOP OIL EXLORATION WORK Kathmandu, 11 June:- The country’s petroleum exploration plans have suffered a setback, with two of the world’s leading oil companies, Texana Resources Company and Cairn Energy, announcing that they would stop survey work, citing “force majeure.” Force majeure, a popular terminology in the oil industry parlance, frees a party from fulfilling an obligation in the event of circumstances going beyond its control. The two companies say they were abandoning exploration work in Nepal due to bureaucratic hurdles and lack of cooperation from the government. The Houston-based Texana flashed its plans on June 1 while Cairn, a Scottish oil and gas company, did so on June 8. Officials at the Department of Mines and Geology confirmed that the two companies had announced their plans to stop work. This is not the first time that Texana and Cairn have invoked force majeure. They have halted work in the past citing volatile political and security situation. Both have already spent millions of dollars in Nepal on preliminary surveys and were now all set for a 'seismic operation,’ which determines whether the surveyed areas contain commercially viable quantities of oil. To date, Texana has spent US$3 million and Cairn US$20 million in the country. The two companies pay an annual fee of US$ 50,000 per 'block’ to the Nepal government. They have also deposited US$ 400,000 each as bank guarantees. The Tarai and the Siwalik hills have been divided into 10 'exploration blocks’ of 5,000 sqkm each. Texana won the bid for Blocks 3 (Banke) and 5 (Chitwan) and entered into an agreement with the government in December 1998. Six years later, Cairn received a licence to explore five other blocks--Block 1 (Dhangadhi), Block 2 (Karnali), Block 4 (Lumbini), Block 6 (Birgunj) and Block 7 (Malangawa). But trouble started brewing in December 2011 when Texana applied to the Department of Mines to transfer its rights and obligations to the Canada-based Patriot Petroleum Corp. Texana and Patriot had signed a sales and purchase agreement under which Texana would assign to Patriot all its interests under a petroleum agreement for exploration of Block 3 (Nepalgunj) and Block 5 (Chitwan). Clause 64 of the Nepal government and Texana agreement allows the US-based company to transfer its project to any other company, and the government has to endorse it within 60 days of request. Till date, the Department of Mines has not approved Texana’s application Cairn had asked the department to amend its work plan one-and-a-half-years ago in order to address a request for a new work plan, which is yet to be endorsed. “Our decision to declare force majeure is primarily based on the government's delay in endorsing our work plan amendment,” said Bharat Gyawali, the local representative of Cairn. Asked to comment, Nepali officials said they would “seek a clarification from the two companies, as we just came to know about their decisions.” Director General of the Department of Mines Sarabjeet Mahato said the department has asked Texana and Cairn for an explanation on declaring force majeure. “We had told Texana to continue work and that we would take forward their request for transfer,” said Mahato. “Amending the work plan as sought by Cairn is not legally possible.” Sources said Texana was now considering international arbitration against the Nepal government and a loss could lead to millions of dollars in compensation. Cairn has told the government that it would 'pull out’ of Nepal altogether but it was not clear whether it would also go for international arbitration. The two companies said they were frustrated with the way the Industry Ministry and the Department of Mines had handled the whole issue. Officials of the companies said the Industry Ministry had not shown any interest in addressing their issues despite repeated requests. “Every time we meet them, all they tell us is that our issues will be addressed,” said one oil company official. Meanwhile, Texana headquarters has reportedly written to the US Embassy in Kathmandu and to the Nepali ambassador in the US, Shankar Sharma, to help resolve the issue. Around six months ago, a high-level delegation from Cairns visited Nepal and met Industry Minister Anil Jha. Jha, who heads the Petroleum Advisory Committee, refused to entertain the request made by these two companies. The committee has invited bids for the exploration of Blocks 8, 9 and 10, to the chagrin of Texana and Cairn. Nnnn PM TO BRIEF DIPLOMATIC CCORPS ON POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS Kathmandu, 11 June: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai is briefing the Kathmandu-based diplomatic and donor community about the circumstances that led to the Constituent Assembly's demise. A breakfast meeting is due at the PM's residence, Baluwatar, on Monday morning. Prime Minister Bhattarai himself is preparing a draft of the briefing to tell the diplomatic corps what went wrong and how the political negotiations failed. "The prime minister will also hear from the diplomatic representatives and will try to clear the air and offer ideas for the future political course," said one of his aide requesting anonymity. The PM will call on the international and donor community to continue investment in Nepal stating that the political deadlock would be resolved soon and the government will provide security. The opposition parties--Nepali Congress and CPN-UML--had already briefed the diplomatic community last week claiming that the ruling UCPN (Maoist) was responsible for the CA dissolution and claimed that fresh election is not possible at present. "All the Kathmandu-based foreign missions, including the newly established Qatar, are invited for the briefing," sources privy to this matter told the Post. "Some donor agencies like World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UNDP, CIDA and SAARC are also invited in the briefing." Kathmandu now has 24 missions altogether after Qatar started operating from Hotel Soltee recently. Along with PM Bhattarai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha, some ministers, chief secretary and other secretaries, including foreign and finance, would attend the briefing. MoFA unhappy The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has expressed concerns over the separate diplomatic briefing conducted by the opposition parties--Nepali Congress and UML. "The parties should have infomred us about the event," said a senior MoFA official. "We should be infomred about the movement of the diplomats. It is an international practice too." Just last week ago, NC and UML had breifed the Kathmandu-based diplomats following the CA dissolution. nnnn