A gurkha honour: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth receives a garland of flowers from the daughters of serving Gurkha servicemen during her visit to Invicta Park Barracks, in Maidstone, southern England on Thursday.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
A gurkha honour: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth receives a garland of flowers
A gurkha honour: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth receives a garland of flowers from the daughters of serving Gurkha servicemen during her visit to Invicta Park Barracks, in Maidstone, southern England on Thursday.
Spl Kuwait plane for Prez
KATHMANDU, FEB 25 -
President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav is paying an official visit to Kuwait from Feb. 25 to 27 on the invitation of Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Aal-Sabah.
An 11-seater aircraft is arriving here on Friday morning to receive the president and his team, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The visit marks 48 years of independence of Kuwait, 20 years of liberation from Iraq and five years of kingship of the Emir.
President Yadav, his daughter Anita, advisor Lalit Basnet, Foreign Secretary Madan Kumar Bhattarai, Secretary to the president’s office Baman Neupane and Chief of Protocol Mukti Nath Bhatta are among the delegates. This is the president’s third foreign visit after assuming office in July, 2008. He has paid two visits to India and one to China.
More than two dozen heads of state and government are visiting Kuwait to celebrate the occasion.
President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav is paying an official visit to Kuwait from Feb. 25 to 27 on the invitation of Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Aal-Sabah.
An 11-seater aircraft is arriving here on Friday morning to receive the president and his team, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The visit marks 48 years of independence of Kuwait, 20 years of liberation from Iraq and five years of kingship of the Emir.
President Yadav, his daughter Anita, advisor Lalit Basnet, Foreign Secretary Madan Kumar Bhattarai, Secretary to the president’s office Baman Neupane and Chief of Protocol Mukti Nath Bhatta are among the delegates. This is the president’s third foreign visit after assuming office in July, 2008. He has paid two visits to India and one to China.
More than two dozen heads of state and government are visiting Kuwait to celebrate the occasion.
House okays anti-graft convention
KATHMANDU, FEB 25 -
The Parliament on Thursday ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption in a bid to improve the country’s corruption-tainted image in the international arena.
The House session unanimously endorsed the anti-corruption convention designed to combat corruption on a global scale. Nepal had signed the convention in 2003 but had not implemented it due to the delay in ratifying the same.
The international corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) has listed Nepal as one of the worst corrupt countries in the world. In the Corruption Perception Index (CPI)-2010 released in October, Nepal was ranked in the 146th position among 178 countries.
The new government is hopeful that the ratification of the treaty would clean the country’s tainted image. “The endorsement of the convention is not just a formality. This is a commitment of the Constituent Assembly to fight corruption,” said Minister without portfolio Bishnu Poudel. “The government will fulfill its responsibility by reforming anti-corruption laws and strengthening the mechanisms fighting against corruption.”
Earlier, various organisations working in the filed of corruption control including the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Pro-Public and Transparency International Nepal (TI-N) had been lobbying for the immediate endorsement of the convention.
Officials at the CIAA have welcomed the development saying that the endorsement would be a basis to broaden legal framework to combat corruption and guarantee international legal and technical assistance.
“We had the jurisdiction to investigate only 40 percent of the issues related to corruption. The ratification will bind the government for making changes in domestic laws to ensure investigation of corruption where the private sector and civil society are involved as well,” said CIAA Spokesman Ishwori Paudyal.
The convention will facilitate the recovery of assets in foreign banks deposited by terrorists and those involved in corruption.
Speaking in the House, lawmakers expressed frustration at rampant corruption in the country and urged the government to strengthen the state’s anti-corruption watchdog. They said political backing was the root cause of corruption culture prevailing in the country.
“Instead of an eligible candidate, the governing parties always appointed their candidates in the mechanism responsible for combating corruption,” said UML lawmaker Ram Nath Dhakal. “The new prime minister has an opportunity to correct the mistakes by ending practices of political appointment.” Minister Poudel expressed commitment that the government would not appoint officials at the CIAA based on political affiliation. The national anti-graft body is functioning without the chief commissioner and commissioner for the last four years.
Maoist lawmaker Khim Lal Devkota said the convention would be instrumental in launching an awareness campaign for corruption prevention and would regulate bribery.
The reinstated House of Representatives in 2006 had passed a resolution on Oct. 11, 2006, expressing its commitment to ratify the convention. A total of 148 countries including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan have already ratified the convention.
The Parliament on Thursday ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption in a bid to improve the country’s corruption-tainted image in the international arena.
The House session unanimously endorsed the anti-corruption convention designed to combat corruption on a global scale. Nepal had signed the convention in 2003 but had not implemented it due to the delay in ratifying the same.
The international corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) has listed Nepal as one of the worst corrupt countries in the world. In the Corruption Perception Index (CPI)-2010 released in October, Nepal was ranked in the 146th position among 178 countries.
The new government is hopeful that the ratification of the treaty would clean the country’s tainted image. “The endorsement of the convention is not just a formality. This is a commitment of the Constituent Assembly to fight corruption,” said Minister without portfolio Bishnu Poudel. “The government will fulfill its responsibility by reforming anti-corruption laws and strengthening the mechanisms fighting against corruption.”
Earlier, various organisations working in the filed of corruption control including the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Pro-Public and Transparency International Nepal (TI-N) had been lobbying for the immediate endorsement of the convention.
Officials at the CIAA have welcomed the development saying that the endorsement would be a basis to broaden legal framework to combat corruption and guarantee international legal and technical assistance.
“We had the jurisdiction to investigate only 40 percent of the issues related to corruption. The ratification will bind the government for making changes in domestic laws to ensure investigation of corruption where the private sector and civil society are involved as well,” said CIAA Spokesman Ishwori Paudyal.
The convention will facilitate the recovery of assets in foreign banks deposited by terrorists and those involved in corruption.
Speaking in the House, lawmakers expressed frustration at rampant corruption in the country and urged the government to strengthen the state’s anti-corruption watchdog. They said political backing was the root cause of corruption culture prevailing in the country.
“Instead of an eligible candidate, the governing parties always appointed their candidates in the mechanism responsible for combating corruption,” said UML lawmaker Ram Nath Dhakal. “The new prime minister has an opportunity to correct the mistakes by ending practices of political appointment.” Minister Poudel expressed commitment that the government would not appoint officials at the CIAA based on political affiliation. The national anti-graft body is functioning without the chief commissioner and commissioner for the last four years.
Maoist lawmaker Khim Lal Devkota said the convention would be instrumental in launching an awareness campaign for corruption prevention and would regulate bribery.
The reinstated House of Representatives in 2006 had passed a resolution on Oct. 11, 2006, expressing its commitment to ratify the convention. A total of 148 countries including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan have already ratified the convention.
Cabinet expansion: Cong gets formal UML,
KATHMANDU, FEB 25 -
Though the Cabinet is yet to take a complete shape, the CPN-UML and the UCPN (Maoist) on Thursday formally asked the Nepali Congress (NC) to join the government for the first time since Jhala Nath Khanal became the prime minister on Feb.3.
The two allies in the new government said coordination between major parties is vital to conclude the peace and constitution drafting processes.
The formal offer to the NC was made in a meeting of three major parties—UCPN (Maoist), NC and UML—attended by top leaders at the ministry of peace and reconstruction in Singha Durbar.
However, NC refused to consider the offer as long as the seven-point deal signed between Khanal and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal remained in place.
Consultations among the parties to strike consensus on knotty political issues are likely to continue on Saturday. Another joint meeting called by Khanal is likely to dwell on the peace process, consitution drafting, Cabinet expansion and power sharing.
The PM hopes to rope in the NC, according to his aides. Leaders of the big three parties will try to find a common understanding on integration of PLA combatants and unresolved issues pertaining to constitution drafting.
NC General Secretary Prakash Man Singh said the Congress has been invited to the meeting and that the gathering will focus mainly on how to complete the constitution drafting and peace processes. He, however, said he is not sure if efforts to get his party in the government is another agenda of the meeting.
UML leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal and KP Oli have also intensified discussions to bring the Congress in the Cabinet. The Maoist party is still undecided on joining the government as it sees the UML’s decision on the seven-point deal as “ambiguous and vague.” In a meeting with Khanal on Wednesday, Maoist Chairman Dahal asked the PM to make clear his party’s decision on the deal. “We requested the prime minister to clarify UML’s stance on the seven-point understanding,” said Maoist Vice Chairman Mohan Baidya.
The Maoist Standing Committee (SC) is scheduled to meet after the three-party meet.
Leaders close to Dahal said the SC meeting is likely to decide on joining the government. While Dahal is in the mood to join the government even if the party is denied the home ministry portfolio, Vice Chairmen duo Baburam Bhattarai and Mohan Baidya are against it. The Bhattarai faction wants the party to support the government from outside.
Though the Cabinet is yet to take a complete shape, the CPN-UML and the UCPN (Maoist) on Thursday formally asked the Nepali Congress (NC) to join the government for the first time since Jhala Nath Khanal became the prime minister on Feb.3.
The two allies in the new government said coordination between major parties is vital to conclude the peace and constitution drafting processes.
The formal offer to the NC was made in a meeting of three major parties—UCPN (Maoist), NC and UML—attended by top leaders at the ministry of peace and reconstruction in Singha Durbar.
However, NC refused to consider the offer as long as the seven-point deal signed between Khanal and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal remained in place.
Consultations among the parties to strike consensus on knotty political issues are likely to continue on Saturday. Another joint meeting called by Khanal is likely to dwell on the peace process, consitution drafting, Cabinet expansion and power sharing.
The PM hopes to rope in the NC, according to his aides. Leaders of the big three parties will try to find a common understanding on integration of PLA combatants and unresolved issues pertaining to constitution drafting.
NC General Secretary Prakash Man Singh said the Congress has been invited to the meeting and that the gathering will focus mainly on how to complete the constitution drafting and peace processes. He, however, said he is not sure if efforts to get his party in the government is another agenda of the meeting.
UML leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal and KP Oli have also intensified discussions to bring the Congress in the Cabinet. The Maoist party is still undecided on joining the government as it sees the UML’s decision on the seven-point deal as “ambiguous and vague.” In a meeting with Khanal on Wednesday, Maoist Chairman Dahal asked the PM to make clear his party’s decision on the deal. “We requested the prime minister to clarify UML’s stance on the seven-point understanding,” said Maoist Vice Chairman Mohan Baidya.
The Maoist Standing Committee (SC) is scheduled to meet after the three-party meet.
Leaders close to Dahal said the SC meeting is likely to decide on joining the government. While Dahal is in the mood to join the government even if the party is denied the home ministry portfolio, Vice Chairmen duo Baburam Bhattarai and Mohan Baidya are against it. The Bhattarai faction wants the party to support the government from outside.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Constitution still in sight, says Bhattarai
constitution by the Constituent Assembly (CA) and completion of the peace process.
Four days ago, the Maoist Central Com-mittee had passed the political line of party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, which underscored the need for preparations for a people’s revolt as chances of peace and constitution writing process had been near-exhausted.
Bhattarai’s line of ‘peace and constitution’ had fallen into a minority position after the hard-line faction led by Vice-Chairman Mohan Baidya backed Dahal’s line of ‘people’s revolt’ and ‘national retaliation war’ against India. In his first full-length interview after the all-important CC, Bhattarai told the Post on Monday his major differences with Dahal were on peace and constitution process and how they viewed India.
In the interview, Bhattarai still took pains to stress that the party had not “completely abandoned the path of peace and constitution yet”. He, however, came out clearly on his differences with Dahal.
“The party has a clear view that chances of promulgation of a new constitution and completion of the peace process has been virtually exhausted and the party should now give priority to an alternative. I cannot go against the party decision,” Bhattarai said. He added that problems with India should be solved through politics and diplomacy first. Though the intra-party rift has widened, Bhattrai expressed hope that party would not split.
CIAA raids Dabur factory
BARA, DEC 20 -
The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Monday raided multinational company Dabur Nepal’s factory at Rampur in Bara district. The CIAA resorted to the move after receiving complaints that the company had been imprinting false manufacturing date in its products.
The CIAA team raided the factory after a case was filed with the CIAA on Friday by Forum for Protection of Consumers’ Right against Dabur Nepal for allegedly distributing products with false manufacturing date. “We raided Dabur’s factory following complaints filed by the Forum for Protection of Consumers’ Right,” said CIAA Spokesman Ishwori Paudyal.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Panel for integration by 2013
Representatives of the UCPN (Maoist), however, registered their note of dissent over the proposal submitted to the Special Committee on Sunday. The Maoists stressed the need for a “political decision” on the modality of integration and the rehabilitation package before the enforcement of the plan. The action plan aims to enforce the government’s command-control over the combatants before the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) leaves in mid-January.
The main opposition has sought clarification from the political leadership on the status of Agreement on Monitoring of the Management of the Arms and Armies (AMMA) and the provision of monitoring over both Nepal Army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) before finalising the new command-control mechanism. “There was no agreement among us, so we wrote a note of dissent and forwarded the proposal calling for decision at the highest political level,” said PLA Spokesperson Chandra Prakash Khanal, the Maoist representative in the 12-member body.
In the first phase, the action plan has proposed that the secretariat establish its chain of command over the Maoist combatants within the next four weeks. It has suggested that the retired security personnel or the serving one could be mixed with the Maoist Army personnel to form the arms monitoring mechanism that will be established at the 28 cantonment sites after the departure of UNMIN.
In the second phase, which will commence in the second week of January, the combatants will be categorised into integration (I), rehabilitation (R) and voluntary retirement (V) groups. The Special Committee will bid farewell to the ‘V’ group, send the ‘R’ group to decided locations and send the ‘I’ group for integration. In the third phase, starting the first week of March, the combatants will report to the integration centres concerned, the qualifying combatants will report to the security forces training centres and the disqualified will report to the rehabilitation camps. In the fourth phase, which will begin from June 2011-June 2013, combatants selected for integration will be trained at the training centre of the security forces and combatants opting for rehabilitation will be enrolled in various skill development centres established by the Peace Ministry.
In the fifth and the final phase, those who complete trainings will be integrated into the security agencies and others in the rehabilitation process will get the assigned seed money from the government.
‘China paying Nepali cops to arrest Tibetans’
KATHMANDU, DEC 20 -
An unnamed official at the US Embassy in New Delhi claimed that China is paying money to Nepal police officers to arrest Tibetan refugees from the Nepal-China border, a cable released by whistleblower site WikiLeaks has revealed.
“Chinese government rewards (Nepali forces) by providing financial incentives to officers who hand over Tibetans attempting to exit China,” the recently released cable quoted an unnamed source as disclosing the information.
The confidential US Embassy document titled ‘Update on Tibetan refugee flow’ was sent by an unnamed political officer at the US Embassy in Delhi on Feb. 22 this year and is based on conversations with two people whose names were also not revealed.
The cable offers insights into the flow of Tibetan refugees from Tibet to Dharmsala in India through Nepal.
According to the cable, the number of Tibetans travelling into India through Nepal declined significantly following the March 2008 uprising in Tibet.
“Beijing has asked Kathmandu to step up patrols of Nepali border forces and make it more difficult for Tibetans to enter Nepal,” the cable added.
Releasing other secret documents, WikiLeaks revealed that India believes Nepal’s Maoists have sold “some weapons” to Indian Naxals.
The document sent by the US Embassy in New Delhi to its State Department in Washington DC states that India, however, does not believe that domestic Naxals and Nepalese Maoists maintain any significant operational link. “The relationship between them is commercial, not ideological,” reads the document.
In explaining Indian security concern, the document states that India is increasingly concerned that “Jihadis are infiltrating into Northeast India from Nepal and Bangladesh.”
Nepali Maoists, the document adds, appear to enjoy relatively free movement within Naxal-held areas in India along the 1,700 km open border. “While we frequently hear reports of Nepalese Maoist leaders (including Number 1 Prachanda and Number 2 Baburam Bhattarai) spending long periods of time in India with leftist sympathisers, the GoI (Government of India) has assured us repeatedly that it gives no quarter to Nepalese Maoists, and several
high-ranking Maoists are being held in Indian jails.”
Ngawang Tenji Sherpa
An unnamed official at the US Embassy in New Delhi claimed that China is paying money to Nepal police officers to arrest Tibetan refugees from the Nepal-China border, a cable released by whistleblower site WikiLeaks has revealed.
“Chinese government rewards (Nepali forces) by providing financial incentives to officers who hand over Tibetans attempting to exit China,” the recently released cable quoted an unnamed source as disclosing the information.
The confidential US Embassy document titled ‘Update on Tibetan refugee flow’ was sent by an unnamed political officer at the US Embassy in Delhi on Feb. 22 this year and is based on conversations with two people whose names were also not revealed.
The cable offers insights into the flow of Tibetan refugees from Tibet to Dharmsala in India through Nepal.
According to the cable, the number of Tibetans travelling into India through Nepal declined significantly following the March 2008 uprising in Tibet.
“Beijing has asked Kathmandu to step up patrols of Nepali border forces and make it more difficult for Tibetans to enter Nepal,” the cable added.
Releasing other secret documents, WikiLeaks revealed that India believes Nepal’s Maoists have sold “some weapons” to Indian Naxals.
The document sent by the US Embassy in New Delhi to its State Department in Washington DC states that India, however, does not believe that domestic Naxals and Nepalese Maoists maintain any significant operational link. “The relationship between them is commercial, not ideological,” reads the document.
In explaining Indian security concern, the document states that India is increasingly concerned that “Jihadis are infiltrating into Northeast India from Nepal and Bangladesh.”
Nepali Maoists, the document adds, appear to enjoy relatively free movement within Naxal-held areas in India along the 1,700 km open border. “While we frequently hear reports of Nepalese Maoist leaders (including Number 1 Prachanda and Number 2 Baburam Bhattarai) spending long periods of time in India with leftist sympathisers, the GoI (Government of India) has assured us repeatedly that it gives no quarter to Nepalese Maoists, and several
high-ranking Maoists are being held in Indian jails.”
Ngawang Tenji Sherpa
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