CHEQUES HANDED OVER TO FORMER MAOIST FIGHTERS SEEKING VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT Kathmandu, 11 Nov.; Altogether 13,752 former Maoist combatants have opted to go on voluntary retirement until Saturday. Second and final installment of a government dole up to Rs,800,000 were handover to former fighters at seven district headquarters Saturday. Altogether 13, 922 former combatants had previously to go for voluntary retirement. Remaining fighters can collect the government golden handshake for another 10 days from Sunday in the capital. A cheque can be collected from the secretariat of a special committee for integration and supervision chaired ex-officio by the prime minister. Training for a last group of former fighters who have opted to join Nepal Army starts 20 November. nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE “The budget is ready. We must bring a full budget even if opposition parties do not agree with the government. Alliance partners concluded that the protest programme of opposition parties would not be able to gain people’s support,” Poudel said, “We will also try to get people’s support for consensus.” [PM’s political aide Debendra Paudel, The Himalayan Times, 11 Nov.] nnnn MAOIST CHIEF BLASTS UML, NC Kathmandu, 11 Nov.: Chairman of the Unified CPN-Maoist Pushpa Kamal Dahal today said the movement announced today by the opposition parties including the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML was against federalism and change, The Himalayan Times reports. Addressing a function organised in Kirtipur to mark the Nepal Sambat New Year 1133, Dahal said the struggle plan launched by the opposition parties today was counter revolutionary movement which was for regression. Dahal, who is also the coordinator of the coalition partners Federal Democratic Republican Alliance (FDRA), said such movement will help promote regression in the country. He said all his proposals were rejected by the opposition parties. He said the proposals rejected were – one to form NC-led election government to hold the election of Legislature Parliament after declaring the constitution with whatever agreement the parties have already forged and the other was to turn Baburam Bhattarai-led government to national consensus by allowing NC to choose whatever ministries they like including Home and Finance among others. He also said that he had proposed the all-party meeting that NC will have the first priority to choose the ministries followed by UML and then Madheshi front. “I also proposed to form a mechanism to run the government led by NC and UML if they were not happy with Bhattarai as PM,” he said. Citing that NC could not give the name of new PM, Dahal accused NC and UML that they were neither in a condition to draft new constitution nor take the leadership of the new government. Dahal said the parties have been suspecting over the intention of NC that the party will abort the process to turn Nepal into a federal state. He claimed that the constitution could not be drafted because both the NC and UML refused to institutionalise the rights of the disadvantaged communities. nnnn ANOTHER FAILED ATTEMPT TO MARKET BLUE GAS CYLINDERS Kathmandu, 11 Nov.: According to stakeholders, the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies and Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) will once again fail to introduce a separate blue colour Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinder for industrial use, The Himalayan Times reports. “LPG bottling plants have not changed even a single cylinder to blue so far,” said general secretary of Gas Dealers Federation of Nepal Arjun Devkota. “It is not possible for bottling plants to introduce blue colour cylinders in less than a week when there is a three-day public holiday in between,” he said. Gas bottling plants have been saying that both the ministry and the corporation have failed to provide a clear modality and directives to change the colour of LPG cylinders. The government had formed a committee led by under secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies Nuta Raj Pokharel to recommend the appropriate modalities to introduce separate blue colour cylinders for industrial use. The committee is yet to submit its final report, said Pokharel, adding that it will submit its report soon. Despite frequent pledges to introduce blue colour cylinders for industrial use and red for domestic, what is lacking on the part of the ministry is that it has failed to provide a clear modality and strong directives. The ministry has not even clarified who is responsible –– whether the government or the bottling plants –– for bearing the cost of colour separation, revealed Devkota. The committee has concluded that the cost of colouring a cylinder costs up to IRs 18 per cylinder, said Pokharel. But, he did not comment on whether the government or bottling plants should bear the cost of colour separation. The government had said that the bottling plants themselves are responsible for changing the colour when it had asked them to separate the colour of LPG cylinders for domestic and industrial use. Some bottling plants are yet to provide details of their consumers for verification, said Devkota. In this context, it is likely that the plan to introduce a blue colour LPG cylinder from November 16 will remain only on paper, he said. The government has planned to provide subsidy to general consumers through the banking channel and adjust the price of LPG according to the international price structure after introducing different cylinders for industrial and domestic use. The concept of blue and red colour LPG cylinders was developed to curtail the huge losses that NOC was facing. Nnnn INVOLVEMENT SUSPECTED IN SUNSARI JAILBREAK Kathmandu, 11 Nov :Preliminary findings of one of the two separate committees formed to probe the Jhumka jail break have found evidences that police connived with the inmates, Amar Khadka writes in .Republica from Itahari. The probe committee led by SSP Ramesh Phuyal claimed that the policemen deployed for the jail security worked hand in glove with the inmates to plan for the jail break. However, another probe committee led by Shambhu Koirala, Director General of Department of Prison Management, has yet not revealed anything about the complicity of the jail administration authorities in the jail break. The Koirala committee has only maintained that the jail authorities were ´guilty of negligence´. According to Phuyal, five of the 46 policemen deployed for the jail security had received several calls from a CDMA phone used by the inmates on the night of the jail break. “It appears that those inmates who broke away from the jail had several rounds of conversation with policemen Thursday night,” said SSP Phuyal. “It clearly indicates that policemen might have been involved in the jail break.” • 12 Sunsari Jailbirds Escape Through 80-ft Tunnel The Phuyal committee that started its work on Friday has not interrogating all policemen,deployed for the jail security. “We´re inquiring with other inmates, too,” he said. “We will later find out whether our men are involved in the jail break. At this point, I can say that police´s negligence helped the inmates.” On the other hand, the Koirala committee has stated that the negligence on the part of jail staff and police was primary reason for the incident. Koirala said that the jail staff and police, if found guilty, will be punished. “They may even lose their jobs,” he added. According to Koirala, a circular was sent to all prison houses across the country, directing the jailers to remain on high alert as the inmates could attempt to escape the jail during festivals. “As for the jailor of the Jhumka prison, he was even warned (of the possibility of the jail break) over phone,” said Koirala. According to Koirala, the inmates easily dug the tunnel as the noise caused by a furniture factory inside the prison house obscured the security personnel´ attention toward prisoner´s engagement. The Phunyal Committee says that its directives to the Jhumka jail were simply ignored. The committee had directed the jail administration to remove a hut near the prisoners´ block, fell trees near the prison and ban play cards among the inmates, among others. On Thursday night, twelve inmates, including one Bangladeshi and two Indians, escaped from the Jhumka jail in Sunsari district by digging a 80-foot tunnel. The escapees include Ali Asraf Ansari, Dhirendra Yadav, Bambam Yadav. While Dhirendra, assisted by Bambam, had masterminded the jailbreak, Ansari executed the plan. Nnnn CPN-MAOIST WARNS GOVT. AGAINST HANDOVER OF MAGNETITE FACTORY YO FOREIGNERS Kathmandu, 11 Nov :: Cadres of the CPN-Maoist have taken control of a Dolakha-based magnetite industry in a move they described as an effort to protect the factory from being handed over to foreigners, Ramesh Katiwada writes in Republica from Dolakha On Saturday, the CPN-Maoist cadres planted a flag on the premises of Nepal Orient Magnetite at Lakuridanda-7 of Dolakha district, accusing the government of trying to sell the country´s property to foreigners. The CPN (Maoist) have threatened to "capture the factory completely" if the government handed over its management to Indian industrialists in the name of adopting public-private partnership model. “In principle, we are not against running the factory under public-private partnership model,” said Purna Bahadur Khadka, Dolakha district in-charge of the CPN-Maoist. “But, we have learnt that the government is now trying to hand over the management of the factory to Indian industrialists on the pretext of adopting a new model.” According to Khadka, some Indian industrialists and Nepali businessmen had visited Dolakha and observed the factory site shortly after the government´s decision. “This clearly shows that the Baburam Bhattarai government is determined to hand over the magnetite industry to India,” said Khadka. Organizing a press conference in Dolakha on Saturday, Surya Baral, the district secretary of the CPN-Maoist, accused the government of trying to sell the factory to mafia. “Behind the sweet slogan is the government intention to hand over such a huge natural resource to mafia,” Baral said. Baral said that the CPN-Maoist will not create any hurdles if the government ensures transparency and protects the rights of the locals while running the industry on public-private partnership. “We will back off if the details about the government´s decision are made public and the rights of the locals are safeguarded,” he said. The factory, which has been out of operation for many years now, was established in an area rich with magnetite-stones in 1982. Initially set up with the equal investments from the Nepal government and Orissa Industry, an Indian company, the industry began test production in 1991. As the test production failed, the management of the factory, which was in the hands of Indians initially, was taken over by the Nepal government. Subsequently, the Indian company sold 25 percent shares, out of its stake of 50 percent, to Khetan group of Nepal. Later, Nepal government increased its stake in the factory to 75 percent, leaving the Orissa Industry and the Khetan group only with 12.5 per cent stake each. A decade ago, the magnetite industry was closed down after Nepal´s product, processed in India, failed to compete with cheap Chinese products. The factory workers, however, continued to carry out indiscriminate mining of magnetite stones without caring about environmental impact. The rampant mining has now stopped, thanks to the death of two local boys, who fell into a pit created by the unbridled mining. A Nnnn ________________________________________ US FBI WAS FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES OF CIA CHIEF WHO QUIT AFTER REVELATION OF EXTRAMARITAL AFFAIR Kathmandu, 11 Nov.: The FBI investigation that led to the discovery of CIA Director David Petraeus' affair with author Paula Broadwell was sparked by "suspicious emails" that initially did not contain any connection to Petraeus, U.S. law enforcement and security officials told Reuters on Saturday, according to Reuters from . Washington. But the CIA director's name unexpectedly turned up in the course of the investigation, two officials and two other sources briefed on the matter said. It was "an issue with two women and they stumbled across the affair with Petraeus," a U.S. government security source said. The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the FBI probe was triggered when Broadwell sent threatening emails to an unidentified woman close to the CIA director. The woman went to the FBI, which traced the threats to Broadwell and then uncovered explicit emails between Petraeus and Broadwell, the Post said. Attempts by Reuters and other news media to reach Broadwell, an Army reserve offer and author of a biography of Petraeus, have not been successful. The FBI and CIA declined comment on Saturday. Many questions in the case remain unanswered publicly, including the identity of the second woman; the precise nature of the emails that launched the FBI investigation; and whether U.S. security was compromised in any way. Nor is it clear why the FBI waited until Election Day to tell U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who oversees the CIA and other intelligence agencies, about its investigation involving Petraeus. The CIA director announced his resignation suddenly on Friday, acknowledging an extramarital affair and saying he showed "extremely poor judgment. The developments likely ended the public career of one of the United States' most highly regarded generals, who was credited with helping pull Iraq out of civil war and led U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, new details emerged on Saturday about developments in the final days leading to Petraeus' departure from atop the CIA. Clapper was notified by the FBI on Tuesday evening about 5 p.m. - just as returns in the U.S. presidential election were about to come in - about "the situation involving Director Petraeus," a senior intelligence official said. Clapper and Petraeus then spoke that evening and the following morning. WHITE HOUSE NOTIFIED WEDNESDAY "Director Clapper, as a friend and a colleague and a fellow general officer, advised Director Petraeus that he should do the right thing and he should step down," the official said. Clapper is a retired Air Force lieutenant general; Petraeus served nearly four decades in the U.S. Army. On Wednesday, Clapper notified the National Security Council at the White House that Petraeus was considering resigning and President Barack Obama should be informed, the official said. U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials agreed to discuss the Petraeus matter only on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity and because it is the subject of a law enforcement investigation. Once Petraeus' name turned up in the investigation, the importance of the FBI inquiry was immediately escalated, as investigators became concerned the CIA chief somehow might have been compromised, the law enforcement official said. However, the official and two sources briefed on the matter said no evidence has turned up suggesting Petraeus had become vulnerable to espionage or blackmail. At this point, it appears unlikely that anyone will be charged with a crime as a result of the investigation, the official said. The FBI investigation began fairly recently - months ago rather than years ago, when Petraeus would still have been in uniform as one of the U.S. Army's top field commanders, the official said. Representative Peter King, Republican chairman of the House of Representatives' Homeland Security Committee, said in an interview on MSNBC the FBI was "investigating or monitoring ... the director of the CIA for four or five months." Several officials briefed on the matter said senior officials at the Pentagon, CIA and Congress knew nothing of the FBI's investigation of Petraeus until Thursday afternoon at the earliest, and some key officials were not briefed on the details until Friday. There is no evidence at this time that anyone at the White House had knowledge of the situation involving Petraeus prior to the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday, which saw Obama elected to a second four-year term. nnnn