POLICEMAN KILLED IN TAPLEJUNG Kathmandu, 27 Sept 27: An unidentified group attacked a police patrol at Dovan area police office in Taplejung Wednesday killing one policeman and injuring another Bhupendra Acharya was killed and Chandra Dewan Rai injured. of Phidim Bajaar-4, Panchtar was injured in the incident. The injured Rai has been sent to They were battered and stabbed by assailants. Nnnn SAARC HOME MINISTERS’MEET CONCLUDES Kathmandu, 27 Sept. The fifth meeting of SAARC home ministerial that concluded in Maldives Wednesday called on eight member states to improve cooperation to combat terrorism and reinforce, border security and management combat human and drugs trafficking. Home ministers were asked to enhance cooperation in areas of mutual assistance in criminal matters, cyber crimes and trafficking in women and children in South Asia. Home ministers of Nepal and Pakistan didn’t participate in the meet. Nepal was represented by senuor home miistry officials. Nnnn NEPAL TO APPROACH HUAWEI FOR INSTALLATION OF GSM LINES Kathmandu, 27 Sept : After being turned down twice by relatively competitive bidders, Nepal Telecom (NT) has now decided to issue a letter of intent (LoI) for installation of 5.2 million GSM lines to Huawei, a Chinese telecom giant, Republica reports. The state-owned telecom service provider took the decision on Wednesday after Swedish telecommunication vendor, Ericsson, cold-shouldered its offer. NT had issued a public notice to the Swedish vendor to implement what it terms as the ´Package A´ of its 10 million GSM lines project on September 11, seeking response to the letter of acceptance within 15 days. With the negative response, NT has also initiated the process to confiscate the bid bond of $ 4.6 million from Ericsson. “The deadline we pledged to Ericsson expired on Wednesday. This left us with the only option: to approach Huawei to implement the Package A as well,” a senior official at NT told Republica. Huawei, which bagged the Package B of the project, has already signed an agreement with NT, agreeing to install 4.8 million GSM lines within 2015. The bid for the Package A was originally won by ZTE, but it later pulled out after NT turned down its request to raise the cost for implementing the project. Confiscating ZTE´s bid bond worth Rs 420 million, NT then had offered the project to Ericsson. “As Huawei has already started implementing its portion of 4.8 million GSM lines, we are optimistic it will accept the offer to install the remaining lines as well,” the official said. Sources further said that it would be really unfortunate for NT if Huawei too refused the offer. This is because Huawei´s denial will leave NT with no other option but to restart the tender process for the Package A yet again. “As nearly a year has elapsed since we called the previous bid, the fresh tender could add to our financial burden,” said the official. That is not all. It would further delay the execution of the project. The reluctance of the bidders of Package A has already delayed implementation of the project, impacting NT´s plan to expand GSM services in the rural and hilly areas. Under the Package-A, NT has been planning to distribute 2G, 3G and 4G lines in rural and hilly areas of central, eastern, far-western and mid-western regions. And it had targeted to complete the project by 2015. Meanwhile, though the NT officials said that they have already initiated the process of confiscating the bid bond of Ericsson, NT Spokesperson Gunakeshari Pradhan said the operator might not be able to do so before the Supreme Court issues a verdict on a case that the Swedish vendor filed against the telecom. Ericsson that preferred to snub the NT´s offer had filed a case at the apex court, seeking to safeguard its bid bond of Rs 420 million. “We knew of Ericsson´s lack of interest in the project as soon as it filed the case in the court, but still we will need the court´s verdict to confiscate the bond,” said Pradhan. nnnn ________________________________________ COMMISSION MAKES NO BREAKTHROUGH IN INVESTIGATING MURDER OF JUSTICE BAM Kathmandu, 27 Sept Four months after assassination of the Supreme Court (SC) Justice Rana Bahadur Bam, both the high level commission formed by the government and probe panel of Nepal Police remain clueless about the assailants, Republica reports.. The three member high level commission headed by former SC Justice Prem Prasad Sharma is preparing to submit its report to the government within a couple of days. "We investigated various groups but we could not find any clue on the assailants," said a source. However, the report prepared by the commission has concluded that Bam was killed with an intention to threat the court. "He (Bam) was shot dead after shadowing him for a long time, and it was intended to threaten the court following the apex court´s verdict that the Constituent Assembly (CA) term could not be extended," added the source. The report states the study of phone calls and SMS, among other details did not show that Bam had personal animosity with anyone. The commission, which was given three month originally, was given one month extension as if failed to draft the report within the given timeframe. The government on June 15 had formed the commission. Prem Raj Karki of the Office of Attorney General and Naresh Gurung of Nepal Police Headquarters are the members of the commission. The tenure of the commission expired on Tuesday. The cabinet meeting on June 15 had also declared Bam a martyr and had decided to provide Rs 1 million to his family as compensation. Police officials have also acknowledged that they have not yet found any clue regarding the assailants . "Intensive investigation is underway but we are clueless till now," said Devendra Subedi, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of the Crime Division. Subedi is also a member of the probe panel on Bam´s assassination. Nepal Police on May 31 had formed a five member probe panel headed by Inspector General of Police Kuber Singh Rana. He was Additional Inspector General of police at the time. Bam, 62, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on May 31 in the capital. Bam´s bodyguard, ASI Mahesh Giri, and a personal friend were injured in the incident. Nnnn ________________________________________ PRIORITIES OF NEW IGP Kathmandu, 27 Sept.: Newly appointed Inspector General of Police Kuber Singh Rana highlighted the force’s priorities at a programme today [Wednesday], The Himalayan Times reports. Effective service delivery, investigation of crime, internal management, human resources development, use of science and technology and development of physical infrastructure are the top priorities for Nepal Police, said Rana. At a press conference organised at Nepal Police Headquarters, he informed that all police units have been directed to provide ‘service with smile’ to victims and the general public. “Accountable personnel need to provide prompt service. Any police personnel found guilty of having nexus with criminal elements shall be liable to outright action. We have maintained a policy of zero tolerance against corruption and crime,” he warned. IGP Rana also vowed to ensure fair trial for suspects and victim-oriented investigation of crime in close coordination with regional and international police organisations. “Optimal use of police resources, transparency in internal management, objectivity in promotion and transfer of police personnel, equal distribution of opportunities and respect for chain of command need to be maintained,” he said. IGP Rana also informed that the police force would take initiatives to install VSS (Vehicle Surveillance System) at all transit points to take measures against smuggling of contraband. “We are also planning to develop IP-based Central Monitoring System and Intelligent CCTV network to monitor suspicious activities,” he said. Nepal Police is preparing to bring the Police Welfare Fund into the ambit of the law to make it transparent and to utilise it in the interest of police employees and the general public. Today’s meet was the first organised by Rana, who assumed office on September 14. AIGs Nawa Raj Dhakal and Bhisma Prasai were also present. Nnnn