GULF AIR TO WITHRAW FROM NEPAL Kathmandu, 9 Jan. Gulf Air will suspend its Nepal operations from 25 March because of staggering costs, the airline and its Nepal representative said.. The airline will first cut flights from Bahrain to Kathmandu from 14 to five a week. Operations will be completely suspended from 25 March. Nnnn TEMPERATURE IN JUMLA FALLS TO -10.1 CELSIUS Kathmandu, 9 Jan.: The minimum temperature in Jumla district has been recorded minus 10.1 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, throwing the normal life in the Himalayan districts out of gear, RSS reports from Jumla.. Water in tap has frozen while computers and fax machines have stopped working due to chilling cold in the district, locals said. Normal life in the area has been badly affected and the locals are compelled to remain inside the houses in mornings and evenings. Local Mun Bir Sarki said the poor people are mostly affected due their inability to buy the warm clothes. Similarly, chairman of Khalanga Drinking Water and Sanitation Committee Panna Bahadur Rokaya said regular water supply in the area has been halted after the water changed into ice in the pipes. Nnnn UML PROTESTS COL. LAMA’S UK ARREST Kathmmandu, 9 Jan.: The CPN-UML has expressed concern over the arrest of Nepal Army's Colonel Kumar Lama in the UK on the charge of torture during the insurgency in Nepal, RSS reports.. The arrest of Lama was disappointing and unfortunate at a time when Nepal is passing through a political transition, and discussions are on to set up transitional justice mechanism to investigate the human rights violation cases and provide justice to the victims, the UML said. The UML has demanded that the government ensure credible bases and confidence to the world community to book those involved in serious violation of human rights and put an end to impunity by taking lesson from the incident. The UML has also asked the government to form Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Commission on Forced Disappearance and initiate legal procedure to bring the culprits of conflict-era human rights abuses to book. The press statement issued by secretary at the central office Parshuram Meghi Gurung says that the government's decision to promote and award some disputed individuals and attempts to excuse criminals involved in serious human rights violations have also spread a negative message before the international community that Nepal was not willing to have a fair investigation and book the conflict-era cases and criminals. nnnn NO BLANKET AMNESTY SAYS DPM SHRESTHA Kathamandu, 9 Jan.:: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha today [Tuesday] said the government ‘is ready to make necessary amendments’ to the provisions of the ordinance — currently pending at the Office of the President — for setting up transitional justice mechanisms, The Himalayan Times reports.. At a press meet, DPM Shrestha said no general or blanket amnesty will be offered to those who had committed crimes of rights violation during the decade-long insurgency. “The government is ready to make necessary changes in the proposed ordinance,” Shrestha told journalists. The government in August had sent the ordinance to the Office of the President seeking to set up Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Commission on Inquiry on Disappearances, which are due for more than six years. Rights activists and opposition parties had then criticised the government, saying the Cabinet was trying to grant blanket amnesty to rights violators. Rights activists have long been demanding that there should be two separate TRC and CID, as envisioned by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the Interim Constitution of Nepal. The government, however, was in a bid to merge the two commissions, which had drawn attention of the international community, as well as global rights bodies. The international community, including the European Union and the United Nations, had also voiced their concern that the proposed commissions did not meet the international norms and standards. The issue of transitional justice mechanisms has come to the fore now following the arrest of Nepali Army Colonel Kumar Lama in London. Shrestha, during the press meet, also demanded that the UK government withdraw the case against Lama, release him unconditionally and ensure his immediate deputation to the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. Shrestha hailed all the political parties that have sided with the government to object to the colonel’s arrest but came down heavily on rights defenders who have welcomed the UK move. Before the press meet, Shrestha today called on President Ram Baran Yadav and discussed with him ways to ensure early formation of transitional justice mechanisms so that other possible arrests and trials of security or political figures in foreign lands could be avoided. nnnn