14th SAARC summit, a chance for member nations to mutually benefit, says PM Koirala

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on Friday said that the 14th SAARC summit was a huge success and that it provided an opportunity for member nations to find ways to mutually benefit from each other.
PM Koirala, who had left for New Delhi on April 1 to attend the 14th SAARC summit, made the comments while talking to media persons upon his arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport this afternoon.

PM Koirala expressed his happiness that the other member nations had conveyed their full support to the proposals made by Nepal during the meet. The PM had forwarded Nepal's proposal on issues including flood control in areas along the Indo-Nepal border, efficient use of resources and poverty alleviation.

PM Koirala also said that the member nations during the two-day SAARC summit reached a consensus on such issues as flood control, energy utilization and poverty alleviation, among others, in a bid to make SAARC a more effective body in the days to come.

During his visit to India this time around, PM Koirala had held separate meetings with Indian Prime Minister Dr Man Mohan Singh along with holding meetings with his other counterparts from participating nations.

The PM opined that the introduction of observer nations and Afghanistan into the SAARC has served to strengthen the South Asian body.

Stating that SAARC will become active within six months, PM Koirala said that the significance of SAARC has grown in the wake of the interest from powerful nations towards this South Asian body.

However, PM Koirala opted to keep mum on queries related to monarchy. A day earlier, talking to Nepali journalists in New Delhi, PM Koirala, in a roundabout way, had hinted at the republican set up. PM Koirala had taken a shot at the press when he answered a question with, "Are you talking about Gyanendra or king Gyanendra?"

Minister for Foreign Affairs Sahana Pradhan, Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat and other government officials who had accompanied the PM also returned to the capital today.
Foreign Minister Pradhan commented that the international community had attached importance to Nepal because of the example Nepal had set through its peace process.

Informing media persons regarding the discussions about the Bhutanese refugee crisis with her Indian counterpart, Pradhan said that the Indian government had given its word that it would look into this matter.
She further said that India was positive in regards to cooperation in controlling crime in the border region.

On the eve of his departure from New Delhi, PM Koirala also held meeting with former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Bajpayee. PM Koirala and Bajpayee discussed issues like the peace process in Nepal, recent Terai unrest and monarchy among others.
Similarly, PM Koriala’s meeting with Bhutanese Prime Minister Khandu Wangchuk was said to be quite fruitful as the Bhutanese PM gave his assurance that the issue would be resolved during the next bilateral ministerial-level meet.

Police Arrest Four of ‘Black Spider’ Group

Police Arrest Four of 'Black Spider' Group

THT Online

Kathmandu, April 5 Key persons of the so-called International Black Spider Group, who attacked entrepreneurs, businessmen and doctors in various places and threatened them to death, have been arrested. Those arrested are Bir Bahadur Khatri alias Aakash KC of Hatpate-5 of Sindhuli district, Kedar Shrestha of Kamalmai-10 of the same district, Ganesh Kumar Lama of Bengadawar-2 of Dhanusa district and Manoj Tamang of Ratnagar-3 of Chitwan district. At a press conference organised on Wednesday by the Metropolis Police Commissioner Office, Ranipokhari, Metropolis Police Commissioner Dipak Singh Thangden said the four were arrested from the New Bus Park by a special team of the Police Head Office, Department of Criminal Investigation and Metropolis Police Criminal Division. Police have seized a pistol, $500, IRs 5,230, a fake passport and hashish from them. The foursome attacked Dr Hemanga Dixit, Dr Birman Shamsher Rana and LP Sawa, said inspector at the department, Rajendraman Shrestha. The foursome also sought ransom from businessmen and entrepreneurs, Shrestha said. FOUR FOUND DEAD IN CITY KATHMANDU: Four persons were found dead in Kathmandu on Wednesday, police said. The body of a six-year-old, Bhawani Rai, of Udayapur, was found wrapped up in a sack on the ground floor of a house in Naxal. Police said they are investigating the case. Police also found the body of a 50-year-old man at Basundhara on Wednesday. The man has not been identified yet. A 17-year-old, Radhika Shrestha, a resident of Indrayani, was also found hanging from the ladder in her room, police said, adding that a 30-year-old Udaya Singh Baral, cook in Para-Troopers Tranning School, Maharajgunj, was also found dead in his quarter. DOCTOR KIDNAPPED IN RAJBIRAJ RAJBIRAJ: An unidentified armed group kidnapped Dr Murali Prasad Singh of Rajbiraj municipality-9 on Tuesday evening, family sources said on Wednesday. Dr Singh was returning to his residence from his clinic at Rajbiraj-8 when he was kidnapped. He was on leave from the Narayani Sub Regional Hospital situated at Birgunj for the past few months. Dr Singh's wife Dina said she didn't have any information regarding the whereabouts of Dr Singh or why he was kidnapped. Singh's car (Ba 2 Cha 9316) was found deserted near Khado River at Biraul of Saptari, the family sources said. A joint police team from Hanumannagar Kanchanpur Area Police Office and Bhardaha police post arrested two activists of the Jay Krishna Goit-led Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) after conducting a search in the area, DSP of Saptari Yamuna Rajak said. The police have suspected JTMM activists' hand in the kidnapping. However, JTMM's Saptari district deputy commander Bikash denied the allegation. The JTMM activists -Binod Yadav and Umesh Chaudhari- were arrested along with a motorcycle (Ba 1 Pa 240), one homemade pistol and some bullets, DSP Rajak said.

Everest Clean Up Campaign Next Week

Twelve mountaineers, including nine Nepali Sherpas and three Japanese, will climb Mt Everest next week to clean up the north ridge of the world's tallest peak.

Ken Noguchi, a Japanese mountaineer who holds the record of climbing all seven tallest peaks of all the continents, is leading the clean-up campaign. He has led such campaigns to Everest four times earlier and collected trash from the north and the south sides.
The campaign this year will concentrate mainly on the advance base camp situated at 6400m of the north ridge, Noguchi said, adding that they expect to collect as much as one tonne of garbage including tents, ropes, oxygen cylinders and food cans.

"The highlight of this cleaning campaign is that a similar campaign will be going on simultaneously at the Japan's tallest peak Mt Fuji with over 200 participants," he said. "This will be telecast live through satellite television. I, believe this will be crucial for creating awareness among the mountaineers and common people on the adverse effects of litters and their impact on global warming in the Himalayas," Noguchi added.

In addition, two women mountaineers -- one Japanese Kei Taniguchi and Pasang Lhamu Sherpa of Solukhumbhu -- are also eyeing to put their feet on the summit of the world's tallest peak.

The same expedition also has another feature -- Pemba Dorjee Sherpa, the fastest Everest summiteer, is planning to hoist the national flags of all the countries and flags of the eight political parties atop Everest. Sherpa also plans to take photos of Lord Buddha and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala with him to the summit and pray for world peace and fraternity.

PM, Prachanda sort out differences; interim govt likely Friday

Prime Minister Girija Prasad and Maoist leaders have reportedly reached an agreement on power-sharing giving way to the formation of the new government including the Maoists on Friday.
In a meeting with Maoist Chairman Prachanda and Maoist second in command Dr. Baburam Bhattarai at his Baluwatar residence this meeting, Koirala said that the interim government would be formed tomorrow after yet another round of consultations with the eight parties.

Taking note of Prachanda’s complaints regarding the issues like no action against the guilty of Gaur incident, unilateral promotion of army and police personnel and the formation of Electoral Constituency Delineation Commission (ECDC) without any consultations, PM Koirala assured that he would take care of all the issues, sources said.

According to sources, the PM made a final attempt today to convince the Maoists — who had even threatened not to join the interim government – in the wake of disagreements between the four major parties regarding distribution of ministerial portfolios.

In the 45-minute long meeting, the Prime Minister had also urged the Maoists not to disrupt the parliamentary sittings, sources added.

The Maoists, who had forwarded a three-day ultimatum to the government and that they might even opt to stay out of the new administration earlier this week, yesterday disrupted the House session demanding the formation of the interim government.

In reply to Prachanda’s statement that his party was preparing to announce fresh protests as the possibility of CA elections looked dim, Prime Minister Koirala expressed his commitment to hold elections to the Constituent Assembly (CA) on time, sources said.

According to sources, both the parties have agreed to form a small interim government before PM’s departure for New Delhi to attend the 14th SAARC Summit.

Earlier, political disagreements had arisen between the CPN-M and the NC after the former demanded that it should be given the Deputy Prime Minister's post, while the PM said that there should be no Deputy Prime Minister in the interim government.

It was highly expected following the PM’s heightened consultations with leaders of the other major parties that the interim government would be constituted before his departure for New Delhi.

Earlier today, the PM also held discussions with Pashupati Shamshere Rana, Chairman of Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (RPP).

Rana had said that they had discussed the formation of the interim government and other contemporary issues during the meeting.

Sources had claimed Rana to have made the PM alert and to be "serious" before inducting the Maoists into the interim government as they had still not mended their ways.

Nepal bans rallies in south

Nepalese authorities have banned protest rallies in some south-eastern towns for four days to prevent more violence in the area.

A daylong curfew was also imposed on Saturday in a town in southern Nepal after violent clashes left at least 28 people dead earlier this week.


Six people have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the bloodshed on Wednesday, officials said.

The curfew was enforced in the town of Golbazar to prevent more violence between Maoist activists and the Madeshi People's Rights Forum, an ethnic rights group.






Shashi Shekhar Shrestha, an administrator of Siraha district, said: "A daytime curfew was imposed on Golbazar town after we learnt Maoists planned to disrupt a Madeshi programme."

Terai tensions

The Madeshi forum, which represents the ethnic group who live in a fertile strip of land known as the Terai along Nepal's border with India, is pushing for greater autonomy.

Paul Allen, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Nepal, said: "[The] Maosist activists died attending a rally, and their funerals in Kathmandu [on Friday] turned into another one."

The activists were killed on Wednesday after clashes broke out in the town of Gaur, 150km south of Nepal's capital.

The Madeshi forum was trying to hold its own rally in the same location.

Allen said: "Twenty-eight people died and more than 30 were injured in the fight that followed, fuelling concern that Nepal's recent peace is starting to look shaky again."

Former Maoist separatists and the government signed a peace deal last year, intended to end a 10 year conflict that claimed 13,000 lives.

The United States warned that Nepal's fragile peace process could be "imperilled" unless the government cracks down on violence besetting the Terai region.

Peace "imperilled"

The United States condemned Wednesday's killings and called on the government to arrest and prosecute all the perpetrators, regardless of their political or ethnic affiliation.

On Friday, Maoist activists placed the bloodied corpses of their comrades on display in the capital and threatened retaliation for their deaths.


Madeshis have staged a series of protests in
the south since January [Al Jazeera]
Addressing thousands of supporters, Baburam Bhattarai, the Maoist deputy leader, said: "The leader of this group should be arrested and a case filed against him in court. If the government refuses to do so, we will be forced to retaliate and the government will be solely responsible.

Bhattarai also accused the Madeshi Forum of using "war-like tactics".

More gatherings were planned in Nepal's south over the coming days.

But the violence and rhetoric have prompted the government to enforce a four day ban on rallies in the area to keep the two sides apart.

Six Madeshis were arrested on Friday "during raids" in the region, on suspicion of being involved in the clashes, Ram Kumar Khanal, the superintendent of police, told AFP by telephone from Rautahat district, 90km south of Kathmandu.

The police officer did not specify exactly what charges suspects might face.

Elections in Nepal are due in June for the first time in eight years, but the poll may be at risk if the Madeshi Forum's demands are ignored.

Madeshis have staged a series of deadly protests since January in a bid to win greater representation in national politics.

Nepal traders call off strike, Maoists on rampage

Nepal's aggrieved business community has agreed to call off its three-day strike but the capital's hotel industry remained fearful following an order by the Maoist guerrillas to shut down within seven days.
Two of the capital's five-star hotels, the Indian-owned Yak and Yeti and Hotel de l'Annapurna, in which Nepal's royal family has a sizeable stake, said they were visited by the trade union of the Maoists Wednesday and given a week to find alternate accommodation for guests and close within a week.
While some of the hotels in Thamel area, the hub of Western tourists here, said they were not taking any new guests, others said the situation had improved after the business strike was called off Wednesday night following talks between traders, Maoist leaders and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.
The government and the Maoists agreed to take stern action against people threatening businessmen.
Following the understanding, the police swung into action, arresting 16 Maoist cadres for trying to force hotels to close.
The trouble had started Monday when over 70 commercial and professional organisations in Nepal united to call an indefinite business strike to protest growing extortion, abductions and violence by Maoists.
The immediate provocation for the protest was the abduction of an hotelier and printing press owner from the capital. Hari Lal Shrestha, owner of Hotel Woodland in the upmarket Durbarmarg area, said the Maoists thrashed him for resisting their demand for Nepali Rs.2 million.
Shrestha was released after he signed a paper agreeing to pay the rebels Rs.10 million and allow them the free use of 10 rooms in his hotel.
The strike called by Nepal's business community drew the support of professional and human rights groups, showing the Maoists up in a bad light and putting them under pressure.
Rebel supremo Prachanda apologised for the incident, and the Maoists said they had suspended two cadres associated with the attack on Shrestha.
However, when the traders refused to be appeased and said they would continue with the strike till they received a firm commitment from the government and the guerrillas that there would be no further attacks on the business community, the Maoists decided to retaliate.
The All Nepal Trade Union Federation (Revolutionary) called protests of its own in the capital Wednesday, demanding action against traders for misbehaving with employees and defaulting on bank loans.
Its cadres also began visiting the capital's hotels, asking them to shut down. The student wing of the Maoists declared a two-day strike from Thursday, alleging that protesting traders had vandalised its office.

EC to warn leaders over CA timetable

As the deadline of mid-June approaches, the Election Commission (EC) is getting increasingly anxious over the lack of political, legal and security atmosphere to conduct the elections of Constituent Assembly (CA).

The EC is planning to hold crucial meeting with top leaders of eight parties including the Prime Minister on Monday to discuss about the timetable of the CA. At the meeting, the EC is expected to warn the leaders that it will not be able to hold the polls on time.

Time and again, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Dr. Bhoj Raj Pokharel has been urging the political leaders to expedite the formulation of necessary electoral legislations and create conducive environment for the polls. At present, four electoral legislations are under discussion at the parliament while the fifth one has just been tabled. Moreover, the issues of recruiting necessary manpower and security personnel for the purpose of holding free and fair polls have also not been resolved yet.

Last week, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala had publicly said that the current situation was abnormal. He even expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of law and order.

Senior Congress leaders like Ram Chandra Poudel and Laxman Ghimire have also publicly doubted that the CA polls could be held on stipulated time.

Talking to Nepal FM on Monday morning, UML senior leader Pradeep Nepal also stated that it was impossible to hold the CA polls on time. "Only two and a half months remain and the EC is yet to complete voters' rolls and everybody knows the situation of law and order. Besides, the Maoists still behave as if they are above law," he said.

Nepal even urged the political leadership to tell the 'truth' to the people and announce postponement of elections.

8-party homework on interim govt continues; top level meet on Sunday

The eight-party parley continued on Satruday as part of finalising the common minimum programme (CMP) and code of conduct for the ministers of the upcoming interim government.

A taskforce comprising the second-rung leaders of the eight parties met at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar to finalise the CMP and the code of conduct from 2:00 pm. According to C.P Mainali, a United Left Front leader who was present at the meeting, the taskforce was close to giving final shape to the draft of the CMP and the codes.

Mainali said the taskforce had already reached agreement on the code of conduct, working guidelines of the interim cabinet and a common mechanism of eight parties and added that agreement on the CMP and issue of creating conducive environment for a Maoist-included transitional government was expected later today.

A meeting of the top leaders on Friday had formed the taskforce.

The taskforce also discussed the make-up of the interim government, it is learnt. Meanwhile, Mainali denied that the delay in taking decisions was because of the wrangling within the eight-party coalition for portfolios in the interim government. "The taskforce will submit its recommendations at the meeting of the top leaders tomorrow morning," he said.

Top leaders including Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Maoist chairman Prachanda and CPN (UML) general secretary Madhav Nepal had gathered in Baluwatar, but formal meeting could not be held as the taskforce failed to finish its job on time.

Maoists and the political leadership in Nepal have reached an agreement under which the rebels would be included in the Cabinet

nching towards forming a joint government, Maoists and the political leadership in Nepal have reached an agreement under which the rebels would be included in the Cabinet and all property seized by them returned to the owners.

Under the agreement reached at during talks with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala at his residence in Baluwatar on Wednesday, Maoist chief Prachanda agreed that the rebels would return the land seized by them and houses belonging to various people and create a conducive atmosphere to hold elections to the Constituent Assembly.

Besides this, a peaceful atmosphere to return displaced persons to their homes would also be created, sources close to Koirala said.

The Prime Minister agreed to include Maoists in the Cabinet soon. The government has also agreed to release some five dozen Maoist cadres who are still languishing in different jails, the sources said.

During the meeting, Prachanda furnished a list of 61 Maoist cadres languishing in various prisons of the country and the Prime Minister has agreed to give directives to immediately release them, Baburam Bhattarai, the number two leader of the CPN-Maoist, said.

More Maoist Combatants Leaving Cantonments In Nepal

More Maoist combatants in Nepal began walking out of their cantonment sites, accusing the government of not providing enough money for food, shelter and other essential goods.

Mohan Budhaayer, a correspondent of The Kathmandu Post, said the People's Liberation Army (PLA) combatants of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) left their temporary cantonment in Kailali, the far western district of Nepal, Thursday morning.

Budhaayer quoted the PLA Seventh Division Commander Prajwal and said, "At least 3,600 PLA combatants left the cantonment on Thursday."

The Division had, some 10 days ago, urged the Home Ministry to properly manage the cantonments and had also warned that they would walk out of the camps in case the government didn't heed their request.

Division Commander Prajwal also said the combatants will stay and find work at nearby villages. "The combatants will not return to the cantonment until the government meets their demands," Prajwal said.

Meanwhile, Binod Tripathi, another correspondent of The Kathmandu Post, said at least 3,000 Maoist PLA combatants under the Third Division, put at Shaktikhor cantonment in Chitwan, the eastern district of Nepal, left the cantonment Thursday morning.

Roughly 2,100 combatants had left the Shaktikhor cantonment on Wednesday.

The combatants have demanded Rs 600 million ($ 8.6 million) for the Third Division alone and they also warned that they would not return to the cantonment unless the government fulfills their demand.

Maoist First Division Commander Parwana on Thursday also said the Maoist combatants put in Chulachuli cantonment of Ilam, the far eastern district of Nepal, would walk out of their cantonment in three days if the government did not address their problems.

The UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) on Wednesday had said the Maoist breached the agreement with the UN.