UPDATE PM RETURNS Kathmandu, 2 Aug.: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai returned Saturday night after attending the16th summit of non-aligned states in Tehran. Bhattarai said he told some leaders attending the summit national election was an outlet to the present constitutional and political crisis. MORE. MEETING OF DISSIDENTS WITH UML ESTABLISHMENT INCONCLUSIVE Kathmandu, 2 Sept.: A meeting Saturday between UML dissidents and officials of opposition UML on nine demands presented to the partyby dissidents were inconclusive Saturday. The party didn’t forward party official reaction in writing. None dissidents, including Vice-chairman attended the meeting. Written party position wasn’t forwarded. Dissidents have been demanding single ethnic states with identity. nnnn KMC TEAM LEAVES FOR LHASA SUNDAY Kathmandu, 2 Sept.: A seven-member team under Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) leaves for :Lhasa Sunday The team isled by Chief Executive Kedar Bahadur Adhikari. Cooperation and strengthening of ties between the two cities will be Discussed and will participate in a two-day programme. Nnnn .EXPERTS DEMAND ASSESSMENT OF HIGH-RISE APARTMENTS Kathmandu, 2 Sept.: Experts have stressed on the need to seriously assess the sustainability and environmental impacts of high-rises by regulators before giving permission for construction, The Himalayan Times reports.. “Apartment buildings are being constructed on slopes, river banks and similar structurally vulnerable places, and there is an absence of a checking mechanism by the regulator regarding the building’s safety,” said architect Dr Prem Nath Maskey during an interaction programme on High-Rise Apartments held by Blue Coffee Company, today. He pointed out that regulators –– Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Development and Building Construction, or Town Development Authority –– need to evaluate such construction projects to see whether enough has been done for any disaster risk management, and certify whether the building is safe for inhabitation or not. Environmentalist Ajay Bhakta Mathema stressed on the importance of Environmental Impact Assessment and Initial Environmental Examination reports that any project needs to prepare and submit to the Town Development Authority before starting the construction of the buildings. “The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that decision makers consider the ensuing environmental impacts when deciding whether to proceed with a project so that all stakeholders can benefit including developers,” he said. He emphasised that the impact of high-rises on utility crunch such as water supply, electricity supply, and drainage among others also need to be recognised. With the exploding urban population in Nepal, more and more apartment buildings have been springing up in Kathmandu. However, Nepal being located in seismically active zones, the safety of apartment buildings have to be taken seriously. nnnn CON MAN FACES MULTIPLE CHARGES Kathmandu, 2 Sept.: Manoj Bahadur Singh (40) of Parsa, arrested recently on the charge of defrauding 131 unemployed youth of more than Rs 52 million, is set to face multiple charges. This comes after investigators from the Central Investigation Bureau recovered an Italy-made pistol, 89 passports stamped with fake visas, a walkie-talkie, body parts of endangered wild animals, seals of various government bodies, artefacts of archaeological importance and dual citizenship certificates issued in his name from Parsa and Kathmandu during a raid at his house in Imadol yesterday [Friday[, The Himalayan Times writes.. It has been learnt that Singh used to make unsuspecting people believe him by dropping the names of members of the former royal family and high-ranking government officials. DSP Jagadish Pokharel, who led a CIB team that arrested Singh while he was collecting money from a group of youth at a restaurant in Ranibari by promising them lucrative jobs at home and abroad, said police have charged him as per the Foreign Employment Act, National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, Arms and Ammunition Act, Ancient Monument Preservation Act, Citizenship Act and Fraud as well as Forgery Chapters of the Civil Code. CIB said the ‘kingpin of the biggest fraud racket it has ever rounded up’ has been involved in criminal activities for the past five years. He used to show photographs of him posing with members of the former royal family and identify himself as a close relative of former King Gyanendra Shah to swindle cash from people seeking jobs in the Nepali Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and the National Investigation Department. “His modus operandi was unmatchable. He would put the victims under illusion saying he has been talking to former King Gyanendra and former Crown Prince Paras on his mobile phone,” DSP Pokharel revealed. Singh would save phone numbers of his associates in the names of the former king and the former Crown Prince and make them call him up when unemployed youth were around. Singh, a son of former member of the now-defunct Royal Privy Council, would organise lavish parties in hotels and invite high-ranking officials to show his ‘links’ with them. Investigators said he has no links with the royals. “He used to make mention of royal family members only to sell the victims a dream of Europe, America and jobs in security bodies,” DSP Pokharel informed. What is more interesting is that the SLC graduate, who used to identify himself as a pilot and aeronautical engineer, used to call his associates as inspectors and lieutenants, saying the government had deputed them for his security. nnnn MADESH CAMPAIGN OF NMSP Kathmandu, 2: In a bid to exert pressure on the government to address Madhesi issues including Madhesi youths in the national army and the formation of a Madhesi commission to oversee the problems of the Madhesi people, the National Madhes Socialist Party (NMSP) has decided to launch an awareness campaign across the Tarai districts from the third week of September, Republica writes. "We will go among the Madhesi people to inform them about all the issues and raise their awareness during the first phase of our campaign," said Chairman of NMSP Sharat Singh Bhandari while addressing a press conference organized in Lalitpur on Saturday to make public the decisions of the party´s extended Central Committee meeting held August 30-31. [break\] He stated that in the second phase of the campaign they would draw the attention of state mechanisms concerned regarding their demands. "We will set a deadline for addressing our demands, in the third phase of our program," said Bhandari, adding, "If our demands are not addressed within the deadline, we will take to the streets." He maintained that restoration of the Constituent Assembly (CA) would not be acceptable to them, saying there was no legal, moral and or any other plausible grounds for doing so. "The CA should be re-elected with a fresh mandate and a new constitution must be promulgated by the CA alone, not from beyond the CA," Bhandari added. He demanded the participation of opposition Madhesi parties in talks on the current political deadlock, stating that agreement reached among the three major parties and the ruling United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) could not be considered national consensus. The Madhesi party has demanded speedy recruitment of Madhesi youths into the Nepal Army (NA) after completing the necessary procedures in line with the four-point agreement reached between the UCPN (Maoist) and the UDMF in August last year. NMSP has concluded that the recently formed Federal Democratic Republican Alliance (FDRA) under the UCPN (Maoist) is chiefly meant to prolong the coalition’s stay in power. "The ruling parties, in the present state of political vacuum, have been trying to prolong their stay in government by forming an alliance that will push national politics towards further polarization," Bhandari stated. NMSP has also accused the ruling Madhes-based parties of remaining oblivious of the Madhes agenda that they had taken up while joining the government, and added that the activities of the Madhesi parties only seemed to help the Maoist intention of capturing state power. nnnn ________________________________________ EMBASSSIES OF WESTERN COUNTRIES CONCLUDE TRC BELOW STANDARD Kathmandu, 2 Sept.: Disappointed with the proposed ordinance on transitional justice mechanisms, western countries are unlikely to extend political and economical support to the Commission on Disappearance, Truth and Reconciliation to be formed under the Ordinance, KIran Chapagain writes .in Repyblica Kathmandu-based heads of western diplomatic missions discussed the ordinance on Thursday. Earlier, the Impunity Working Group, an informal platform of the diplomatic missions for discussion on human rights issues, had discussed in detail the content of the ordinance currently being considered by the president. "Both the meetings concluded that the ordinance does not meet international standards and is contrary to Nepal´s commitment under international laws," said a diplomatic source, "We are unlikely to extend our political and economic support to the commission to be formed under such ordinance." The Impunity Working Group is concerned mainly with three issues with regard to the ordinance, according to another diplomatic source. First, the provision to give amnesty to perpetrators of serious human rights violations is unacceptable to them. They said the violators of serious human rights like rape, extra-judicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances and war crimes should be investigated and prosecuted. Second, the provision to appoint members of the commission through consultation with political parties has also drawn their concern. They say this provision is likely to undermine independence of the commission. Lastly, the ordinance is not in line with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and a ruling of the Supreme Court verdict of 2007. The Supreme Court had directed the government to form a separate commission to find out the whereabouts of the people disappeared during the conflict. "The ordinance is far weaker than the bills on the Commission of Enforced Disappearance discussed in the Bills Committee of parliament," said the source about the conclusion of western countries, on condition of anonymity. The third diplomatic source said that the heads of the diplomatic missions are considering to jointly meet President Dr Ram Baran Yadav and leadership of the parties to convey their concerns. "We will seek the response of the leaders of different political parties since they have not spoken about the ordinance yet," said the source. It may be recalled that the European diplomatic missions had jointly written to leadership of the major three parties in last December to ensure that the laws on transitional justice mechanisms meet international standards. nnnns ________________________________________ v MEDIA GOOGLE "We told them that the party will respond to their nine-point demands in writing in a couple of days. We further told them that some their demands will be addressed if there is a consensus among the major political parties.” (UML Secretary, Shanker Pokhrel, 2 Sept.) “Instead of overcoming the obstacles seen in the constitution-drafting before the demise of Constituent Assembly by forging an agreement in the disputed issues. It is unfortunate that the parties have been engaged in blame game and groupism, pushing aside the best alternative to promulgate the new constitution—acquiring fresh mandate from the people through Constituent Assembly elections conducted by a national consensus government.” (Sharat Singh Bhandari, The Himalayan Times, 2 Sept.) "But if there was no agreement through negotiations, some of the issues can be decided by the parliament. Chairman Dahal has even proposed to go for referendum to settle the issues of great national importance if there were no consensus from negotiation or through the parliament.” (UCPM Maoist Spokesman Agni Sakota, Repblica, 2 Sept..) “Big parties cannot ignore the identity-based federal as it is the people’s demand and aspiration.” (Former CA member Bishwodip Lingden, The Himalayan Times 2 Sept.) nnnn