-By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu- After no changes took place in the government even after Tihar, now sources close to the ruling party are saying that the cabinet will definitely be “reshuffled” after the by-elections on December 9. Talking to the Independent, a highly placed source in the Nepali Congress informed that there is tremendous pressure on Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai to sack some ministers and induct a few new faces. “Prime Minister Bhattarai may have to relent after the by-elections and then we may see some of the controversial ministers go,” he said.
The most controversial minister was Bal Bahadur KC and even NC president Girija Prasad Koirala had publicly said that KC would be removed from the government. However, PM Bhattarai saved KC and he still is hanging on, though as a big embarrassment for the government.

However one recent development is the strong opposition against Minister for Home and Communication Purna Bahadur Khadka, from within the party and from the media as well. If initially there was talk that he would be removed from the Home Ministry only, now insiders say that Khadka may lose the Communications portfolio as well.

Then of course there are some other ministers who have been in the hit list of disenchanted Congress MPs. They are Ministers Sharat Singh Bhandari, Omkar Prasad Shrestha, Yog Prasad Upadhyaya and Prakash Man Singh.
The new faces that are likely to be seen in the reshuffled cabinet are Sushil Koirala, Ram Chandra Poudel and Jaya Prakash Gupta.

-By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu- Where do you find MPs submitting forged medical bills to gain monetary benefits, or selling vehicles bought under custom facility at a hefty profit and getting away with it?

In many countries morality and personal conduct of MPs and persons at high offices are taken very seriously. Even the slightest breach of morality and wrong conduct are considered grave offences, which can finish off the political career of the politicians.

However, in Nepal there are countless examples in the last 10 years, when our MPs and ministers have been getting away with every imaginable kind of misconduct. The massive deviation and distortion in the behaviour and conduct of the MPs have degraded them in the eyes of the people.

It is an irony that after 10 years of the establishment of democracy, lawmakers think they need to have some kind of code of conduct to bind and regulate the behaviour and activities of the law makers.

Meanwhile, an interaction programme was organised jointly by the parliament secretariat and the National Democratic Institute of the United States for the formulation of a code of conduct for the parliamentarians.

At the programme a 7-point draft proposal, prepared by an Upper House Committee was presented. Some of the points proposed in the draft are: the disclosure of the income and asset of the MPs and their families within three months of their election, the MPs must not exert any kind of opinion on any kind of monetary and financial influence, the MPs behaviours must not have any kind of negative impact on the society and their work should enhance the dignity and prestige of the House.

However, these proposals look more like a plain statement. One of the major discrepancies of the proposal is that it has failed to address what needs to be done to those who have failed to abide by the code of conduct.

Participants in the discussion programme, which included lawmakers, former speakers, ministers and others, have expressed doubt about the effectiveness of the code of conduct.

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Daman Nath Dhungana and others said unless there is a mechanism of enforcing it strictly, it would be useless. He also said when the men in power are crossing over and bypassing the law, the code of conduct may only be a ‘weak guide’ at the most.

However, what Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai said at the programme may apply to most of our MPs. He said the MPs are very adamant, and there should be some provision on what should be done to those MPs who do not follow the codes.

Most of the opinions expressed have failed to address the crux of the matter. Thus, it sounds only as a halfhearted attempt to bring the lawmakers within some kind of law.

Kathmandu- If reports are to be believed, many Maoist activists may be finding life in the jungles hard, and the insurgency movement too difficult to continue.

According to a top level police source, about 2,500 Maoist activists have already surrendered their arms to the police.
Another report says that recently as many as 40 activists have surrendered or have showed their inclination to lay down their arms.

Many of those activists are said to have developed some kind of aversion to the activities within their group morally unacceptable.

“The rampant sexual promiscuity within the Maoists groups is too much to digest,” one activist was reported to have said. They also said the ‘order’ to look at one’s parents as class enemies is also socially unacceptable. The weary insurgents also say that those who oppose such immoral activities are given both physical and mental torture. They also cite the fear of being killed by the police as another reason for their laying down their arms.

As reports started appearing in the press about the unacceptable social and moral conduct within the Maoist ranks and about its activists deserting the cause, it seems the Maoists may be finding it hard to sustain their movement.
Meanwhile, police have also intensified their campaign against the Maoists. Police AIG Rajendra Bahadur Singh in Nepalgunj has been quoted as saying that the new search operation has been targetted more at the jungle hideouts of the Maoists.

A police source also said the police are after the Maoists with renewed vigour after they were criticized for failing to curb the Maoists and thus the rumours of the army’s mobilisation to control the insurgents cropping up.

It is said in the last two weeks more than two dozen Maoists have been killed, mainly in the Maoists hotbeds in the mid-western regions. In Rukum district, eight Maoists were killed in clashes with police last week. Police have also captured a huge cache of weapons from the Maoists.

While the police have intensified their campaign, Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai has repeated his pledge that those who lay down their arms will be given general amnesty. He also said the government is willing to talk to the Maoists to find a solution to the ongoing insurgency problem. Similarly, Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala has also vowed that he will start an awareness campaign against the Maoists. Now, with the Maoists looking vulnerable, it might be a chance to strike a decisive blow to the insurgency campaign.

If the government can kept its promise of providing security and means of livelihood to those who have surrendered, it can open doors for more such misled people, who have taken part in the insurgency. They must be encouraged to return to normal civilian life.

However till now, the government has failed to announce  and provide any kind of relief and developmental packages to the people of those areas. If the government can give a sense of security to those people, provide them immediate relief and work towards implementing development programmes, half the battle against the Maoists will be won.

The Maoists will now run their campaign according to military strategy. Of the 8 military strategy adopted globally two of them fall under the terrorist activities. According to a high level source of the Maoist, the Maoists volunteers in the districts will take up attrition policy to save their guerrillas. The responsibility of this has been given to the wives of the Maoists’ district or area commanders.

It is said Sher Man Kunwar, Maoist commander of Sindhuli is still alive only because of his wife. The Maoists have also started mobile guerrilla warfare with the entering of their campaign into the fourth year. In tactical terms of the Maoists it is called blitzkrieg. The Maoist commander said the Maoists have given more emphasis on blitzkrieg at present. The Hetauda-born commander, has his action area is Gorkha. He also has a secret hideout in Kathmandu. He showed his hideout to this reporter on the basis of confidence.

(Ravibar, October 10, Sunday)

Many people had believed that Krishna Prasad Bhattarai is expert in diplomacy. But the notion fell like a house of cards in his first foreign visit. In his address at the UN General Assembly he raised the issue of the Bhutanese refugee issues, when Nepalese Foreign Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat was holding talks with his Bhutanese counterpart. The two countries had agrees during the 8th round of talks last month to find a solution to the problem by bilateral means.

Bhutan’s reaction to Bhattarai’s childish diplomacy is yet to be seen. But how unfruitful Bhattarai’s utterance was seen when he correct his statement in an interview to the BBC.  He said,” I have raised the issue in the international forum, but I have not internationalised it.” Even people in the diplomatic circle as saying Bhattarai’s trip to New York was useless. Bhattarai had gone to New York at such a time when the heads of the government of the donor countries had already left and those of the South Asian countries had not reached there.

Meanwhile, Bhattarai’s meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London was also without any relevance. After he had already hold talks with the British foreign minister in New York it was useless for him to repeat the same thing to the British Prime Minister.

Again, in his interview with the BBC, Bhattarai also said the deployment of Gurkha troops in East Timor depends on the British government, as thus he indirectly helped in the independence of the East Timor. According to a person here who is well versed with diplomacy, Nepal had so far taken a policy of keeping quiet on the East Timor issue. But, instead, the prime minister has endorsed the policy of breaking up of a country.

Beside these, the Prime Minister also expressed his willingness to mediate between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. But this is beyond Nepal’s diplomatic capacity. The Prime Minister has, thus, destroyed the very foundation of Nepal’s diplomacy, nurtured over the years. This is taken as a complete failure of his advisors in the diplomatic front.

(Deshantar, October 10, Sunday)

US President Bill Clinton will visit South Asia on the start of the 21st century. President Clinton himself said this in an answer to a democratic member of the US Congress.

The US president has made it clear that he will make efforts during his visit to reduce tension in South Asia through bilateral talks between India and Pakistan.

Although his itinerary has yet not been fixed, but efforts have been made here to also include Nepal in the President’s schedule.

(Ravibar, October 10, Sunday)

The Nepali Congress party president is getting more sensitive to the deteriorating law and order situation of the country after Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai remained virtually inept to solve the problem.

Since the last two weeks, Koirala has been consulting almost daily with the leaders of the other political parties and with the representatives of the other sectors and professionals on what steps should be taken and policies to be formulated to resolve the issue.        Looking at the indifference shown by the prime minister to the problems and the responsibilities felt by the party president,  it is difficult to guess that the party president will some decisive steps in the near future.

According to sources close to Koirala, the party president will hold serious discussions with the prime minister after the latter returns from England on Sunday. If the two leaders can not maintain mutual consent and understanding it may give rise to new situations. Or, if Prime Minister Bhattarai again decide to go alone, Koirala must take some decisive steps to solve the existing problems.

For the country law and order is the most outstanding problem for the country now and there is no way prime minister can go alone to solve it. The kidnapping of a police DSP and the government’s failure to find him even after three weeks indicate that the government’s information network is much weaker than that of the Maoists. The Maoists have proved their effective and wide network by getting the DSP’s signatured letter published in different newspapers.

In such a situation, it is clear that any further rift in the ruling party will only boost the morale of the Maoists.   So, (it is hoped that) the prime minister will meet with Koirala soon after his arrival and will reshuffle the cabinet to make it.

Meanwhile, the Nepali Congress is facing another challenge from the Palace. If the Nepali Congress remains united it can easily ward off any challenge to democracy. But it would be futile to expect from the faction-ridden Congress to show a show of unity.

Now, the MPs of the Koirala faction are active to create opinion against Bhattarai, and if tomorrow Koirala replaces Bhattarai, the Bhattarai factions will do the same. And several forces near or inside the Palace are working overtime not to let the Congress unite. They have already proved they can split the communists. The palace is also trying to make the Maoist problem linger on to reap the benefit.

According to a member of the Raj Parishad (which is more or less equivalent to the Privy Council of  England) the pro-royalists are not afraid of the Maoists at all. They even claim they can bring all activities under control the Maoists under control if they get a chance. They say the Maoists’ war is only about getting a share of the power. If they get that they will accept both the monarchy and the constitution.

However, the present political leaderships also know it very well who are behind the escalation of the Maoists problem. They now feel if the law and order situation is made to deteriorate, the Congress will have to change the prime minister leading to a deep rift within the party. This could even break up the party completely.  The pro-Royalists may take the opportunity even to topple the whole system.

The first step of the whole game is to oust Bhattarai from the government. Now, the ball is in Bhattarai’s court. If he acts with rationale and allies with Koirala he can avert the situation. If not, it will invite a grave crisis in the Nepali Congress.

(Deshantar, October 10, Sunday)

By Nepal News Correspondent

Kathmandu, Oct 10:
Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai returned to Kathmandu today after taking part in the 54th General Assembly of the United Nations and visiting some European countries.
Bhattarai addressed the UN General Assembly on 30th September 1999.

Talking to journalists at Tribhuvan International Airport, Prime Minister Bhattarai said he emphasized poverty alleviation while addressing the UN General Assembly. “ I also raised issue pertaining to consolidation and expansion of  relations among the friendly nations in the world with particular focus on South Asia”, he said.

During his stay in the United States and other European countries, Bhattarai asked foreign businessmen to invest in Nepal. Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Ram Sharan Mahat also returned to
Kathmandu along with the Prime Minister.

By Nepal News Correspondent

Kathmandu, October 10:

Minister for Health Dr Ram Baran Yadav said that Nepal did not record even a single new case of polio in the last two years. Minister Yadav said that it was due to the success of anti-polio vaccination drive of the government in the last three years.

Dr Yadav said this in a seminar of local bodies representatives on Fourth Polio-Immunization Programme being launched by the government in cooperation from World Health Organization and Unicef.

Nepal launched three nationwide anti-polio vaccination campaigns to give oral vaccination to children under 5. Minister Yadav said the success of government’s nationwide vaccination campaign was due to growing health awareness among people.
Prior to the polio vaccination programme, thousands of Nepalese children used to get disabled every year because of polio disease. Nepal has pledged to eradicate polio within a couple years.

The Bhattarai-led government has not even completed three months in office, there are rumours of toppling the government. If it had come from the opposition parties it would have been understandable, but they have not uttered a word on this.

What is intriguing that it has come from some MPs of the ruling party itself, and the commission agents are fanning the fire.

Any government requires at least one year for work smoothly and to implement its programmes.

Again there are rumours of pressures being exerted to sack some ministers by congress leadership. However, these are the works of people who were on the saddle of power for 30 years. These elements are least bothered about the country and democracy. But what is worrying that the Congress party has fallen in the trap of such elements.

(Asan Bazar, Saturday, Oct. 9)