NEPALI TEAM FOR ACC U-19 ANNOUNCED Kathmandu, 25 April:: Bhuwan Karki will captain the Nepali team to play in the ACC U-19 Elite cup national to play n Malaysia 1 to 12 May. Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) announced the squad Wednesday. Avinash Karn [vice-captain], Ram Naresh Giri, Rahul Pratap Singh and Nishchal Pandey are in the team. Amit Shrestha, Yagyaman Kumal, Irshad Ahmad, Pawan Shrestha, Bivatsu Thapa, Nirmal Thapa, Sushant Bhari, Prem Tamang and Hari Shankar Shah are also in the team. Amit Dahal, Suraj Kumar Kurmi, Avishek Jha and Sharad Khadka are reserves. The tournament winner will qualify for the U-19 World Cup 2014. Jagat Tamata is coach of the Nepali U-19 team. Nepal is in Group B with Qatar, Bahrain, Malaysia and Kuwait. Nnnn BIDYA BHANDARI SAYS PARTY ERRED IN SUPPORTING LOKMAN SIN GH KARKI Kathmandu, 25 April: Vice-Chairperson of the CPN-UML, Bidya Devi Bhandari, has said that it was her party's mistake to support Lokman Singh Karki as Chief of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), RSS reports fro Nuwakot. Bhandari said that CPN-UML could not sense the feeling of people by supporting other three parties on the issue. Inaugurating the Sixth District Convention of the All Nepal Women's Association (ANWA) at Bidur today, Bhandari, also the Central Chairperson of the ANWA) said that it was the party's weakness to agree to make the person, whom the Rayamajhi Commission declared guilty of suppressing the people's movement, as Chief of CIAA. Stating that there was a slim chance of election to the Constituent Assembly (CA) by mid-July due to different technical and constitutional reasons, she said we should not take it as the Government's great failure if no CA election is held by mid-July. Bhandari said the election should be held from mid-October–mid December by maintaining total peace in the country. She said the CPN-UML will take initiatives to make all fringe parties including the CPN-Maoist agree to take part in the election as promulgating constitution is the first priority at present. Nnnn DESERTERS CAN’T BE REINSTATED STUDY PANEL SAYS Kathmandu, 25 April : At a time when former security personnel who deserted their posts during the decade-long insurgency in the country have been demanding that they should be reinstated, a government study committee has concluded that under the existing laws there can be no reinstatement for deserter army, police and civil service personnel, Gani Ansari writes in Republica.. The study committee has warned that if a policy is introduced to provide any such government facility to deserters, it will have a negative impact on the dignity of those organizations. “It will not be appropriate to opt for any policy on providing government facilities to deserter officials that will have a negative impact on the dignity of the organizations in the near future,” reads the report of the five-member committee headed by Joint-secretary at the Ministry of Peace and Re-construction (MoPR), Sadhu Ram Sapkota. Echoing the conclusion of the report, an official at MoPR said the government must not reinstate deserters at any cost as they gave up their jobs in an adverse situation and wish to have their posts back when the situation is favorable again. “On what moral grounds will incumbent officials work together with deserters who walked out when the situation needed them?” argued the official on condition of anonymity. According to the report, 19,484 army personnel, 11,280 Nepal Police and 8,543 personnel from the Armed Police Force (APF) deserted during the insurgency. Similarly, 242 personnel from the intelligence service and 7,227 other civil servants had given up their posts during the insurgency. The committee maintains that it could not find any particulars regarding all those who deserted solely because of the armed conflict. “It is necessary to collect particulars of each and every individual case so as to confirm the number of government officials who quit their posts solely because of the conflict,” says the report. Assistant spokesperson Prem Sanjel expressed concern over a call from an organization of deserter army and police personnel to submit their particulars in order to claim reinstatement. “We are fed up with phone calls from people regarding the issue at a time when the study committee has already made it clear that their reinstatement is impossible under the existing laws,” Sanjel told Republica. The study committee had submitted its report to MoPR on February 28, about four months after its formation by the ministry. A joint secretary each from the Home, Defense and Public Administration Ministries were members of the committee and an under-secretary from MoPR was member-secretary. The study committee was entrusted with establishing the numbers of government officials who quit their jobs during the insurgency and the reasons for quitting, and making recommendations on ways to address the demands of the deserters. Deserter army and police personnel have been demanding that they should be reinstated in their respective posts, stating that they were compelled to quit due to threats issued by the then Maoist rebels. Nnnn JEWELRY TRADERS OPPOSE MONITORING; C;OSE DOWN SHOPS SECOND DAY Kathmandu, 25 April: Most shops gold, silver and diamond shops were closed Wednesday, giving continuity to protests against the government´s market monitoring carried out Monday. Bullion traders associated with the Nepal Gold, Silver, Gem and Jewelry Federation (NSGJF) continued the closure of all associated shops Nationwide, Kriti Bhuju writes in Republica.. According to the federation, there are altogether 2,000 shops associated with it, of which 800 are in Kathmandu Valley. Major jewelry shops in the New Road area such as Shree Balaji Diamond Gems and Jewellery, Shalimar Jewellers, Shree Ganpati Jewellers, Shree Ridhi Sidhi Jewellers, RB Diamond Jewellers, City Gold Jewellers, Gahana Griha, R. K Jewellers, Marigold Jewellers, Silver House, and Shree Om Jewellers, remained closed. Ramesh Maharjan, chairman of NSGJF, said that shops associated with it will remain closed unless the government heeds their request to come up with clear regulations and standards for market monitoring. “We submitted a memorandum to the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) and the Ministry of Industries (MoI) on Tuesday, demanding that the government set out regulations and standards for monitoring the market for precious commodities. Our protests will continue and shops will remain closed until the government commits itself to fulfilling our demands,” said Maharjan. However, shops associated with the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers´ Associations (FNGSDA) remained open Wednesday. “Though we have also protested against the method of monitoring and termed it as ´terrorism´ and an attempt to engineer the collapse of our business, we have not closed our shops,” said Mani Ratna Shakya, chairman of FNGSDA. FNGSDA has also submitted a memorandum to Chairman of the Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi, demanding an increase in the quota of gold supplied to the market, regulations for market monitoring and a halt to the terrorizing of gold traders. Reacting to the problems put forth by bullion traders, MoCS has directed the Department of Commerce and Supply Management (DoCSM) to follow the Joint Market Monitoring Guidelines (JMMG), 2012. “We have directed DoCSM to make it compulsory for all those in the monitoring team to carry identity cards, include people in a monitoring team only as per the need, and monitor only such aspects as quality, quantity, bills and VAT and Tax bills, among other things, as mentioned in the JMMG,” said Deepak Subedi, spokesperson at MoCS. Meanwhile, the price of gold has continued to rise, and reached Rs 51,500 per tola (11.664 grams), up by Rs 500 compared to Tuesday. Nnnn