MAOISTS WANT A CONSTITUTION WITH THEIR DEMANDS BEFORE CA ELECTIONS Kathmandu, 6 Dec.: President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav is likely to extend a deadline to assemble a consensus prime minister and government for the third time Thursday. Parties will miss the second deadline that ends Thursday afternoon. Ruling alliance of 21 parties began meeting at Baluwatar Thursday to discuss a strategy to discuss the impact on national politics. The ruling coalition and opposition parties—NC and UML- are also meeting Thursday in an attempt to find an unlikely outlet to a prolonged deadlock at the last moment. Maoists and main opposition NC are trading accusations for the fresh deadlock even as NC Wednesday nominated President Sushil Koirala for the impasse. Maoists said they had asked the main opposition to nominate a candidate to succeed Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and lead an election government to conduct constituent assembly (CA)polls in April/May. But top leaders of the party heading the government charged NA for ignoring their second demand to follow-up on implementing an agenda as well. In effect, Maoists said their request to NC to nominate a consensus candidate for prime minister was conditional. But NC Vice-chairman Ram Chadra Paudel caid Maoistmove was a betrayal even as another NC leader Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat said he was only ’50 percient confident” Koirala would succeed Bhattarai. Maoists Wednesday made it clear they would handover reigns of government only after assurances all contentious issues that remained unresolved in the CA for four years would be addressed in a package and not piecemeal. In effect, Maoists asked NC to agree on a draft constitution that the dissolved assembly couldn’t promulgate in four years while praising Girija Prasad Koirala for helping ushering in ‘progressive reforms’ and belittling the current lNC leadership. Maoists charged current NC leadership wasn’t committed to ‘ revolutionary changes’ as agreed in a 12-point agreement and an interim constitution. If the opposition agrees to the Maoist demand, the new CA will have no work and the elected body will pnly be a parliament. The ruling party is trying a repeat of what it did with Girija Prasaad Koirala six years ago. Maoists presented a bogey is counterrevolution before CA elections to Koirala and succeeding in declaring a republic before national elections. Now Maoists want to complete a constitution even without fresh CA elections. nnnn PARSHUNARAYAN CHAUDHARY DEAD Kathmandu, 6 Dec.: Parshunarayan Chaudhary died overnigh while undergoing treatment in Patan Hospital. He was 85. Chaudhary left behind two sons. One of the first from the Tharu community to rise to national politics, he defeted to the panchayat from Nepali Congress as general secretary. He held ministerial posts in the panchayat and was chairman of Raj Sahbha. Chandhary was suffering piles and heart problem. nnnn. CAPITAL’S MORNING TEMPERATURE 5 DEGREES CELSIUS Kathmandu, 6 Dec.; Capital’s morning temperature was 5 degrees Celsius in the morning Thursday. Mercury is expected to rise to 20 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. Nnnn Lathmandu, 6 Dec.: Parshunrayan Chaudhary died over nigh while undergoing treatment in Patan Hospital. He was 85. He lebtbehnd ywo sons. TRIBHUVAN ARMY CLUB PLAYS JAWALAHKHEL IN FOOTBALL LEAGUE Kathmandu, 6 Dec.: Manang Marshyangdhi Club (MMC) plays Friends Club in the Martrs Memoial A Division League Championship at Dashrath Rangahsala Thursday. Tribhuvan Army Club plays Jawalakhel Youth Club in another match. Nnnn NEPAL FOR AMENDMENTS IN TRANSIT TREATY WITH INDIA Kathmandu, 6 Dec : Nepal has urged India to renew the bilateral Transit Treaty by adding five new trade and transit routes so that the country could start use of routes considered important for giving impetus to trade with other countries, including Bangladesh, Prabhakar Ghimere writes in Republica.. Existing Nepal-India Transit Treaty is set to expire on January 5, 2013. The treaty has a provision of automatic renewal, however, either side needs to approach the other for renewal if it wants to add or remove certain provisions. “We have already sent a request to India for renewal of the Transit Treaty with changes,” said a senior official at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS). He told Republica that the ministry through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has also requested the southern neighbor to hold secretary-level talks so that negotiations on changes that Nepal has sought could be concluded soon for timely renewal of the treaty. Under the change, which Nepali officials have has been negotiating with India for a year now, Nepal has sought India to add in the treaty new land routes between Vishakapatnam sea port and four major customs, rail route between Birgunj dry port and Vishakapatnam and also Rohanpur (Bangladesh)-Singhabad (India)-Jogbani (India) and Phulbari-Banglabanda in order to facilitate Nepal´s foreign trade. India in February 2011 had given its nod to open those routes as well. However, the two sides have not yet finalized modalities for operationalizing these routes. “Through the secretary-level talks we hope to finalize operation modalities. It would pave the way for inclusion of those transit routes in the bilateral transit treaty,” said the source. However, India has not responded to Nepal´s call yet. Trade experts have been emphasizing the need for operationalizing the new routes as they would enable Nepal to access the newly agreed Vishakapatnam sea port, which is more efficient than Kolkata port, for carrying out third country trade. Likewise, inclusion of rail transit route and Fulbari-Banglabandh land route in the treaty is believed to do away with current problems that Nepali traders face while trading with Bangladesh. Most importantly, it will also ensure Nepal´s access to an alternate port of Mongla in Bangladesh for carrying out third country trade. “We are awaiting response from India for holding the meeting which is scheduled to be held in Kathmandu. We wonder why it has not responded yet, for unless we settle the operational issues we will not be able to incorporate these provisions in the renewed treaty,” said the source. Though India and Nepal exchanged initial drafts of Letter of Exchange (LoEs) last year, preparations to get the crucial deals signed have moved slowly mainly because the foreign ministry does not agree with India´s proposal to impose additional lock on containers ferrying third country consignments. India has long been putting pressure on Nepali officials to agree on the additional lock system before the renewal of the Transit Treaty, citing security concerns and cases of trans-shipment of goods bound for Nepal in India. Officials at MoCS, traders and experts have been saying that additional lock will not create any hassle. However, officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs say the Indian proposal goes against international norms and undermines Nepal´s transit rights. Nnnn HIV-POSITIVE KIDS YET TO RECEIVE ALLOWANCES Kathmandu, 6 Dec : Millions of rupees provided by an international financial institution to be given to the HIV-positive children as monthly allowances are unused, say concerned organizations, Manoj Adhikari writes in Republica from Pokhara. According to Dilip Thapa, vice-president of National Association of People living with HIV/AIDS, the Global Fund had allocated budget for providing monthly allowances to around 2200 HIV-positive children in various nine districts of Nepal in March, 2011. However, the HIV-positive children are yet to receive the monthly allowances of Rs 1500. “The government should have started providing monthly allowances to the HIV-positive children from last year only,” says Thapa. “Almost two years on, we still do not know where the budget has been spent,” he said. At the fourth national AIDS conference that concluded on Tuesday in Pokhara, various organizations working in the field of HIV/AIDS had enquired about the fund. Krishna Kumar Rai, Director of National Center of AIDS and STD Control (NCASC), informed that the process of distributing monthly allowances to the HIV-positive children has been postponed despite the allocation of budget. “Monthly allowances for the HIV-positive children are higher than those meant for the elderly, single women and physically disabled people,” Rai said. “If we start distributing Rs 1500 to the HIV-positive children, others may also ask the same amount. Similarly, the provision for allowances may expose the victims to the society. Therefore, we have yet not started distributing the allowances,” argued Rai. Nnnn ________________________________________