GIRL WHO DIES ON FIRST DEGREE BURNS BURIED Kathmandu, 14 Dec.;Shiwa Hasami. 16, was buried Thursday at a cemetery near Gulariya Bhansar Road in Bardiya THurssday. She died at Bir Hospital where she was undergoing treatment on government burns for first degree burns. Her death has become controversial amid demands for an inquiry following published reports her may have been involved in the incident that has drawn national attention. First reports said an Indian suitor set her ablaze when Hasami spurned his marriage proposal. nnnn. MEDIA GOOGLE “The President has given five more days for the political consensus. We can reach an agreement within three days if Prachanda (Maoist chairman) shows honesty, responsibility and seriousness.” (Sushil Koirala, The Kathmandu Post, 14 Dec.) nnnn INDIA, AFTER ALL, GETTING JOB TO REVAMP TIA Kathmandu, 14 Dec.: The government is all set to hand over the modernisation and upgradation of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Immigration System to India, Anil Giri writes in The Kathmandu Post. The proposal, which has been pending at the Home Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) for the past one year, is currently being taken up by the Prime Minister’s Office for a final consideration. The proposal had been rejected several times in the past by the Nepali side during the yearly Nepal-India Home Secretary level talks that began after the hijack of an Indian Airlines flight from TIA in 1999. A recent meeting at the Home Ministry, led by Home Secretary Nabin Kumar Ghimire and senior ministry officials, decided to forward the proposal to the PMO and the MoFA for final consideration. If passed, the Indian side will undertake the project at a cost of around Rs 80 million. The meeting agreed to accept foreign assistance to upgrade the immigration system but decided that Nepal itself should look after the software that will be installed at the immigration desk gives the sensitivity of the issue. After the meeting, the Home Ministry formally requested that the MoFA forward the proposal to India for execution. However, there are two lines of thought in the ruling coalition concerning the handover of the project. “We are in a great dilemma over whether to push for it,” said a senior MoFA official. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, Home Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar and a few other ministers are in favour of immediately handing over the project to India, as prescribed by the Indian side in its Detailed Project Report (DPR). PM Bhattarai even summoned Foreign Secretary Durga Bhattarai on Tuesday to enquire on the status of the proposal. Another section of the Cabinet, including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha, are of the view that Nepal should not “agree completely” to what is prescribed in India’s DPR. “First, we should undertake this project at our own expenditure. Are we not able to spend Rs 80 million on our own? Even if we accept the Indian assistance, we need to trim down the DPR and only allow India to work on certain sections,” said DPM Shrestha during a meeting with Chief Secretary Lilamani Poudel and Home Secretary Ghimire on Wednesday. “Unofficially, we have decided to accept foreign assistance to upgrade TIA’s immigration system but there are some conditions,” said Director General of the Department of Immigration, Suresh Adhikari. During his visit to India in January 2010, then Home Minister Bhim Rawal consented to allow India to undertake the project by preparing a DPR that included the current structure and set-up of TIA immigration. An Indian team consisting of security officials and bureaucrats had prepared a 50-page report highlighting the weaknesses of TIA’s immigration system and its current set-up, along with suggestions on revamping and modernising. The Indian side also conducted a low-key study in early 2010 on the installation of networking systems, modernisation of existing facilities, training officials and logistics like passport-reading devices, document verification equipment, vehicles for deportations and arrests, and ultra-violet lights that helps read bar codes. Only the top brass of the MoFA and the Home Ministry were privy to the decision to allow an Indian team to carry out the study. Nnnn SNAG HITS ATTEMPT TO RENEW TRADE, TRANSIT TREATY Kathmandu, 14 Dec.: Attempt to renew and modify the Treaty of Transit between Nepal and India has hit a snag following persisting differences on the One Time Lock (OTL) system, Mahesh Acharya writes in The Kathmandu Post from New Delhi.. The bilateral Treaty of Transit, which has the provision of automatic renewal every seven years, expires on January 5, 2013. Nepal has long been attempting to incorporate new transit routes into the treaty so failure to modify the bilateral document before renewal will mean that Nepal ’s attempts will be delayed indefinitely. India , on the other hand, wants to formally incorporate the OTL system in the renewed Treaty of Transit to which Nepal has a strong reservation, high-level government officials said. Nepal maintains that the OTL system is against the bilateral Treaty of Transit. “Technically, affixing the additional One Time Lock system does not seem to be much of an issue but it has now become an emotional matter related to national integrity,” said one official. “Such an enforcement by another country on the cargo of a sovereign country which enjoys all transit rights does not send a good message.” India began affixing OTLs on Nepal -bound cargo from third countries via its Kolkata/Haldia ports and vice-versa from August 1, 2011, arguing that Nepal -bound cargo are often “tampered with and the locks are found broken.” Besides the OTL issue, there are other agendas on the modification list. Nepal wants to incorporate new transit routes for trade with third countries, a provision that India had earlier promised. A few weeks ago, Nepal had formally written to India expressing such an interest. The operation of transit facilities at the Vishakapatnam Port in Andra Pradesh, India , and Rohanpur (Bangladesh) and Singhabad ( India ) rail route is on the Nepal i agenda. In the joint comminique issued during Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s India visit in October 2011, New Delhi and Kathmandu had agreed to expedite procedures to bring these routes into operation. However, there has been little headway. India and Bangladesh had also signed an addendum to the 1978 bilateral Memorandum of Understanding during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in September 2011, allowing trade between Nepal and Bangladesh along the Rohanpur-Singhabad route. The addendum also paved the way for the operation of the Radhikapur ( India )-Birol (Bangladesh) rail route for trade between Nepal and Bangladesh. Similarly, India had also promised the use of the Vishakapatnam Port during erstwhile Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal ’s visit to India in 2009, but nothing has come of it. India has meanwhile requested Nepal allow it movement via Nepal i soil while transporting goods from one part of India to another. Obstacles in Bihar Nepal -bound goods are reportedly being hassled at the Rajauli transit point in the India n state of Bihar. Nepal i entrepreneurs complained that India n officials were asking for unnecessary documents, despite already being authorised by another India n department. Nepal -bound goods from India and third countries are facing similar problems. “Once authorised agencies in Kolkata passed our goods, other obstacles in another part of India is against our transit rights of free movement,” said a high-level source. nnnn