SOUTHASIA

NEPAL, INDIA MEET IN FINAL OF SOUTH ASIAN YOUTH

SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP

Kathmandu, 30 July: Nepal and India lay in the final of the Second

SAFF U-16 Championship in the Nepalese capital Tuesdsy afternoon.

Nepal has the home team advantage.

Seven nations participated in the seven-nation South Asian

championship with Maldives deciding to opt out of the tournament.

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BOY SWEPT AWAY BY TRISHULI

Kathmandu, 30 July: A boy was swept away by the swollen

Trishuli river Monday.

Roshan Gurung, 17, hails from Kerabari, Kabilas VDC in CHitwan.

Two others swam to safety.

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MMC VICTORIOUS

Kathmandu, 30 July: MMC beat India’s Mohaan Baghan in Thimpu bHutan Monday in the King’s Cup.

Three Nepali clubs are participating in the tournament in the

 neigbouring state.

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CAPITAL TUESDAY MORNING TEMPERATURE 22 DEGREES CELSIUS

Kathmandu, 30 July: Temperature on a sunny morning Tuesday in the capital was 22 degrees Celsius.

Temperature is expected to rise to 28 Celsius in the afternoon.

Altogether 2.7mm rainfall was recorded Monday.

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CALL FOR ARMY DEPLOYMENT IN ELECTIONS

Kathmandu, 30 July: Regional Administrators and police heads, gathered in Kathmandu to assess the security situation in the run up to the Constituent Assembly polls slated for November 21, have suggested the government to mobilize the Nepal Army on the day of the election, Kamal Pariyar writes in Republica..

Taking part in the deliberation that continued till late Monday evening, the regional heads have, however, urged the government to take the political parties into consensus to deploy the army.

In the meeting organized by the Ministry of Home Affairs at the Police Headquarters, they also opined that hiring temporary police personnel (Myadi Prahari) would not be a good idea.

According to a Chief of Regional Police, they are of the view that deploying Nepal Army on the perimeter of the voting stations in co-ordination with the Nepal police and Armed Police Force was the need of the hour.

Most of the speakers were also worried about the delay in chalking out the security plan for the election as it has slowed down the preparations for the crucial polls, he said.
The government has not been able to finalize the election security plan as the major parties have yet to agree on the deployment of the security forces for the polls.
The Home Ministry has planned to finalize the security plan only after the political parties represented on the High Level Political Committee (HLPC) arrive at a consensus on either to deploy NA personnel, a highly placed police officer said.

According to him most of the speakers were worried about the recruitment of Myadi police for as they were largely found to be political cadres working in the interests of certain political parties in the previous CA polls.

Nepal Police and APF have a total strength of 67,000 and 36,000, personnel respectively. Only about 60 to 70 percent of the total strength can be deployed during the polls. In the first CA election, the government had recruited around 70,000 temporary police personnel.
The meeting also focused on security threats posed by various political and non- political parties, underground armed outfits and semi-underground groups as well as other illegal and criminals groups.

Mohan Baidya-led CPN-Maoist and Tarai-based armed groups are the major challenges, according to the speakers in the meeting.
DIG Rajendra Singh Bhandari, Mid-western Regional Police head, said, “We evaluated the entire security challenges and urged the government to formulate the security plan accordingly.”

He added, “This is just a beginning and we will continue appraising the government on the evolving security situation.”

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EC DEFENCES POSITION ON CRIMINALITY

Kathmandu, 30 July: Responding to a Supreme Court (SC) order to furnish clarifications in writing about the definition of criminal offense in the Election of Members of the Constituent Assembly (CA) Act, 2013, the Election Commission (EC) has stated that the definition is not against the Interim Constitution, Republica reports.. In its written clarification to the apex court, the EC has maintained that the definition of criminal offense in the act is in line with Article 65 (c) of the Interim Constitution. “It is fictitious to say that the act contravenes the Interim Constitution as there is already a clear constitutional provision regarding the issue,” states the EC in its written clarification. According to Article 65 (c) of the Interim Constitution, a person convicted of a criminal offence involving moral turpitude cannot be a member of the CA. The EC, referring to a writ petitioner´s demand that the EC should either allow all those convicted of criminal offenses to compete in the election or bar all those convicted rather than just those convicted in certain criminal offenses, accused the writ petitioner of filing the petition with ´ill-intention´ and out of double standards. The EC has also claimed that it was meaningless to name it as a defendant in the writ petition as it had no role either in approving or issuing the act. The apex court on June 30 had issued a show cause notice against the new election related provision that bars candidates who have been convicted of involvement in certain criminal cases. A single bench of Justice Tarka Raj Bhatta on June 30 had ordered the defendants to furnish clarifications in writing within 15 days as to why the move was made. Advocate Ram Chandra Poudel on June 25 had moved the apex court, seeking annulment of Clause 19 of the Election of Members of Constituent Assembly (CA) Act, 2013, arguing that the clause contravenes article 65 (c) of the Interim Constitution. The writ petitioner has claimed that the definition of criminal case in the new act will allow even people convicted of criminal activities to contest the polls. According to the act, those who have been handed down final sentences by courts for involvement in certain criminal cases including corruption, rape, murder, passport misuse, money laundering, drug smuggling and human trafficking, or have been black-listed, cannot file candidacy. The president and his office, Chairman of the Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi and his office, the Election Commission and the Ministry of Law and Justice have been named as defendants in the writ petition.
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RESURGENCE OF GORKHALAND MOVEMENT IN DARJEELUNG

Kathmandu, 30 July: Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) has once again revived its long-standing struggle for a separate state of Gorkhaland in the hilly area of Darjeeling, Toshan Sawa writes in Republica.. GJM, which had stopped insisting on a separate statehood after agreeing on a separate administrative unit in the region, has launched a fresh stir demanding new state of Gorkhaland, starting a 72-hour long Darjeeling strike on Monday. GJM revived its demand for a separate state after the central government of India moved closer to carving out a new state of Telangana from the present state of Andhra Pradesh. Bimal Gurung, the chairman of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (JTA), the new administrative unit in the region dominated by the people of Nepali origins, had informed that the fresh agitation would start from Saturday. On Sunday, GJM had sent a letter to the central government demanding the new state of Gorkhaland. In the course of the strike, a youth supporter of Gorkhaland attempted to self immolate at around 11 am at Darjeeling Chok on Monday. The strike has brought the life in Darjeeling to a standstill. The agitators set a car and motor bike on fire. Security has been beefed up not to let the situation escalate further. According to Darjeeling police, five platoons of special striking force, seven platoons of action force, two platoons of India Reserve Battalions have been mobilized. A special control room with hotline service has also been established, Darjeeling police informed. Despite the warning of Darjeeling Administration Office to deduct the salary of those government staffers absent from office due to the strike, many staffers remain absent. GJM Chairman Gurung has asked the activists and supporters to be prepared for the final battle to establish the separate state of Gorkhaland. “GTA has already failed. It is high time for me to resign from the GTA,” Gurung twitted on Monday. Organizing a press meet in the GJM office on Monday, he said that he would not do a Volte-face now. “I will resign form GTA after completing some pending tasks,” Gurung said, informing that further protest programs would be made public after GJM meeting on Tuesday. Meanwhile, stating that Telangana state can to be compared with Darjeeling, West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banarjee has blamed the central government for provoking GMJ for a separate statehood. Banarjee termed Delhi´s efforts to kick-start a fresh agitation to serve vested political interest in Darjeling as a “matter of shame”. “Delhi is insisting to disrupt peace in Darjeeling,” she posted on Facebook on Saturday. “Darjeeling is a part and parcel of our state. We are united and we will remain united. Any conspiracy hatched by a political party and the Union Government will be defeated by the people of Darjeeling and West Bengal,” her Facebook status reads. According to GJM, the fresh stir for a separate state was necessary as the GTA was imperfect and the central government interfered time and again. GJM also complained that it has not received the assistance from the central and state governments as per the tripartite accord signed on July 8, 2011, in the time of establishment of GTA. “We did not receive the autonomous right as stipulated in the agreement, and the agreed-upon development programs were also not implemented,” GJM spokesperson Harka Bahadur Chhetri told Republica. According to Chhetri, as per the agreement, GTA was to receive the autonomous right on 56 areas of various infrastructures, including road and education. “Given the size of our population, we can press the government for a separate state on our own. We want to ensure a new state for ourselves at a time when new state of Telangana is being carved out. It´s like striking when the iron is hot,” Chhetri said. He also informed that the Friday´s meeting of the ruling Indian National Congress Party hinted at carving out a separate state of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh. GJM had started the struggle on November 3, 2007 for the new state of Gorkhaland for the identity of the hilly people of Nepali origin in Darjeeling and surrounding areas. Earlier, Subhash Ghising-led Gorkha Rastriya Mukti Morcha had started 26 month long stir for the Gorkhaland in 1986.
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