The meeting of the council of ministers decided to take serious initiatives for treatment of those injured during People’s Movement-II.

Sunday’s cabinet meeting also decided to form a committee headed by Nepal Medical Association (NMA) president Dr Sudha Sharma to provide help in the treatment of those who were injured in course of the democratic movement last month.

The committee consists of the representatives from the Ministry of Health as well as all public and private hospitals who offered free treatment to the injured.

The decision was taken following pressure from members of the House of Representatives who raised serious concern over the death of injured people in hospitals due to lack of proper treatment in the country during the House meeting on Sunday.

Sunday’s meeting also decided to call back recall Royal Nepalese ambassadors to 12 different countries and to scrap all appointments made after October 4, 2002.

On October 4, 2002, His Majesty King Gyanendra had dismissed a multi-party government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba and took over power briefly. He later appointed three prime ministers in a row before taking over himself on Feb 1, last year.

Maoists have been continuing their atrocities despite the ceasefire called by them.

According to reports, Maoists on Friday night abducted Gopal Bhujel of Kulasi-3, after beating him severely. His wife, along with her 84-year-old father, who had objected to the beating and tried to avert the abduction, were also mercilessly thrashed by the rebels.

The Kathmandu Post daily quoted locals as saying that Bhujel was severely tortured at the house of local Kuber Chauhan, where he was kept shortly after the abduction, and then taken away to an undisclosed location.

On Saturday, the Maoists had abducted Guman Thapa Magar, vice-chairman of Sheradevi Community Forest Users’ Group from the village.

In another report from Siraha, the rebels on Friday abducted Balram Yadav, the district commander of the Terai Liberation Army, an organization close to Terai Jantantrik Mukti Morcha.

Representatives of civil society have expressed confidence that the election of the constituent assembly will select a new structure of the government, where there will be no room for the King.

They also said that Maoists’ involvement in the pro-democracy movement helped people to achieve success so early.

Speaking at a programme jointly organised by civil society and the Peoples’ Movement Coordination Committee (Gaidakot) in Gaidakot, member of civil society, Dr Devendra Raj Pandey, said the political parties should hold wider discussions on the issue of a constituent assembly, reports said.

He added that if it had been only the seven parties leading the agitation, success would have been impossible.

He called for merging the Maoists’ army with the government army after sacking the existing brass of the government army, according to reports.

Speaking at the programme, human rights activist Krishna Pahadi said the king should not have a ceremonial position. He said there should be a president elected by the people.

Nawalparasi secretary of the Maoists, Akash, said the Maoists are coming forward openly to make public their issues since people are attracted to the programmes of Maoists.

President of Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) Bishnu Nisthuri said people have won the semi-final match and they are preparing for the finals now.

He said the match would end when the representative of people would be elected president and seated in the Narayanhiti Royal Palace.

Chairperson of Human Rights and Peace Society, Purusottam Dahal, litterateur Arjun Parajuli and leaders of seven political parties also addressed the function.

Non Resident Nepali Australia chapter organized Nepal Festival in Darling Harbour, Sydney on 29th April.

The festival was organized with the aim of showcasing Nepali culture, heritage, food and way of life amongst foreigners to attract their interest in visiting Nepal or investing in Nepal.

Nepalis residing in Australia, along with Australians and other people from around the world participated in the festival.

A press statement issued by the NRN Australia said Australia is one of the lucrative markets for tourism and other cross trade opportunities in Nepal.

Inaugurating the event, Parliamentary Member Hon. Jeff Hunter, who was also representing the Premier, echoed on the expression of many visitors saying he was overwhelmed with the unity displayed by Nepalese People to promote Nepal in Australia, the statement adds.

Many local talents presented their ethnic and cultural dances throughout the day with the theme “Unity for Peace”.

The Foreign Ministry has formed a coordinating council headed by Bishnu Gopal Shrestha to organize various programmes to mark the golden jubilee of Nepal Japan diplomatic relation.

A press statement issued by the Foreign Ministry on Monday said Bim Prasad Shrestha and Udaya Lal Shrestha will be the general secretary and treasurer respectively in the council, that will have representation from all private sectors.

“We wish the coordinating council to achieve success in coordinating fitting programmes for the celebration of the Golden Jubilee year on a yearlong basis,” the statement adds.

The government decided to celebrate the golden jubilee with various programmes.

Amid pressure to take immediate action against officials using excessive force during the pro-democracy movement of the country, the government has initiated action Chief District Officers (CDOs) of Kathmandu and Bhaktapur districts.

The government has asked Kathmandu CDO Sushil Ghimire and Bhaktapur CDO Basanta Raj Bhattarai to report at the Home Ministry and be part of the reserve pool.

Both of them have been accused of collaborating with the royal government and using excessive force to suppress the pro-democracy movement of the county.

The previous government had transferred the Lalitpur CDO. The Lalitpur Acting CDO has been spared, this time.

The local administrations imposed daytime curfew and adopted other repressive measures to thwart the pro-democracy movement of the country.

The government also formed a high level judicial commission to investigate the atrocities committed during the period.

The Society of the Families of the Disappeared Citizens by the State has urged the government to immediately publicize the whereabouts of all people who have been disappeared.

The society handed over a memorandum to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala through Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula on Monday and demanded to immediately publicize their whereabouts saying right to information is the fundamental rights of people.

The society condemned the passivity of previous governments in this regard saying those government had deceived the people by not publicizing their whereabouts.

The society demanded action against those involved in the disappearance of the said people and prosecution of such cases in civilian courts.

The society further demanded to release all the political detainees to create conducive environment for talks between the government and the Maoists.

The society also demanded an independent probe committee comprising journalists, legal practitioners and representatives of the society to investigate the disappeared people.

The society also demanded compensation for physical and mental tortures they received from security forces and other agencies while searching for the disappeared people.

The society has given 15-day deadline to fulfill their demands.

Talking to Nepalnews, coordinator of the society, Santa Bhandari said they will organize indefinite sit-in protests in the premises of Singha Durbar. She informed that they have the statistics of nearly 200 people disappeared by the State in the capital alone, adding, “We will compile the data of disappeared people throughout the country within 15 days.”

She informed that representatives of the society also submitted their memorandum at the parliamentary parties of all seven political parties.

A veteran Bhutanese human rights leader, Tek Nath Rizal, has congratulated Nepalis for their courage and determination to fight against authoritarian rule in a peaceful way.

In a ‘letter to the editor’ published in Kantipur daily on Friday, Rizal—who is currently in exile in Nepal—said the Bhutanese refugee community is in Nepal for the last 17 years. “Our days are passing just trying to find out a solution to the problems of Bhutanese refugee issue. We had been very much concerned with deteriorating political situation Nepal since our arrival. We used to think if our attempts would go in vein,” he said.

Rizal further said the issue of Bhutanese refugee is deeply associated with the ethnic Nepali communities. “Unless Nepal becomes, strong, the status of Nepalis worldwide would continue to derail. We had been distracted with the internal political players in Nepal who were undermining one another and even involved in violence,” he said.

Rizal, however, said the last few weeks in Nepal have remained virtuous. “I and my friends have felt virtuous. Certainly, through people’s movement, Nepalis have put them against a form of political structure. To make themselves sovereign and to establish strong foundation of democracy is their sole aim. We pray the Nepalis achieve their goals,” he said.

In his open letter, Rizal said people’s movement was not for attaining only this. “This has raised the head of all Nepalis around the world. We Bhutanese are proud to be the witness of the interests, unity, strength and dedication shown by all the Nepalis including children, women, professionals of all villages, towns, hills, mountains and terai for political change through recent movement. That was not merely the political movement but a movement for liberation and freedom, which does not have any geographical boundaries,” he said.

Rizal further said the wave of people’s movement did not remain within Nepal, and will not be so. “It was universal and will be. Whole south Asia got heated up. I don’t know, how the historian would describe the people’s democratic movement. But I think, its importance is no less than that of the freedom movement of India. The major characteristic of the movement is peaceful, non violence and with a great objective,” said Rizal, adding, “The tanks, guns, explosives, batons, boots and other forms of police atrocities remained futile in front of the fearless people.”

On behalf of freedom-loving Bhutanese people, Rizal extended hearty congratulations to all the Nepalis including political leaders, cadres and leaders of civil society.

Referring to remarks made by deputy speaker Chitra Lekha Yadav during the `historic’ first session of the reinstated House of Representatives on April 28, Rizal urged Nepali MPs to take care of the Bhutanese refugee issue that has been the subject of tension for Nepal for the last one and half decades. When she, as the chief of the sovereign parliament, said the Bhutanese refugee issue was a prime agenda for Nepal, we want to extend thanks to all MPs for that, he said.

Rizal said the Bhutanese refugee community was ready to work with Nepali government, political and civil society leaders and common people to resolve the issue. “At the same time, we expect support and solidarity from the Indian leaders and Indian people— the same kind of support in our democratic struggle that they have extended to the Nepalis to achieve democracy,” he added.

Tourism entrepreneurs have locked up the office of the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), demanding resignation of its chief executive officer, Tek Bahadur Dangi.

A rally of dozens of tourism entrepreneurs, organised in the initiation of Democratic Tourism Society, reached the NTB office chanting slogans against Dangi. Few officials of the NTB have also joined the movement.

They accused Dangi of supporting the royal regime and not working for revival of the ailing tourism industry. They also asked for fair and inclusive participation of all sectors of tourism in the NTB.

The agitators have said they would not reopen the office until CEO resigns. Junior officials of the NTB said that Dangi threatened them of termination while participating in the people’s movement.

An official of the NTB denied any comment on the issue. Senior officials were out of office.

The top leader of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) Pushpa Kamal Dahal has alleged that a serious conspiracy is being hatched against Nepal internationally.

In an exclusive telephonic interview with Nepal magazine published on Sunday, the Maoist supremo called upon all patriotic Nepalis “to become aware towards such conspiracies.” “We are of the view that Nepalese should not kneel down on anybody’s pressure and that no body should intervene or meddle on issues related to Nepal’s sovereignty. You write it in clear words, the kind of warning (US Assistant Secretary for South Asia) Richard Boucher is giving right now…tell me who is he and on what basis is he saying that this or that should happen in Nepal. Nepalese people should rise against all such tendencies,” he added.

During his brief visit to Kathmandu last month, Boucher had advised the Nepal government not to include Maoists in the interim government unless they give up arms. He had also expressed doubts over their intention to return to peaceful competitive politics.

The Maoist chairman, who is popularly known as Prachanda, said that his party wanted to usher Nepal into a new era through peaceful competitive politics. “However, if the way the US is warning, the royal army commanders indulge into conspiracies against us then we are ready to fight till the last. We are not in for kneeling down in front of American pressure and intimidation,” he declared.

US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher (File Photo)
In response to a query by Bhoj Raj Bhat of Nepal magazine if he was likely to lead the Maoist negotiation team as chairman Mao did during the Chinese revolution in 1945 with the then ruler Chiang Kai-shek, Prachanda said it was not like that. ‘We are 21st century communists. We haven’t carried the extra weight of predetermined opinions. We don’t have any kind of dogma or fundamentalism. In order to make the Nepalese people sovereign and also make the Nepalese revolution successful we are ready to take any path,” he said.

The Maoist leader made it clear that his party had reservations the way the seven party alliance decided to call off the ‘people’s movement’ as soon as King Gyanendra agreed to reinstate the dissolve parliament. “However, now that we have agreed to hold talks, we should annul the ‘old’ constitution and (dissolve) the present government. A new interim constitution and interim government must be formed,” he said.

On the question of managing arms possessed by the Maoist guerrillas, Prachanda said the essence of the 12-point understanding (with the seven party alliance) was that the activities of both the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Royal Army should be put under the supervision of the United Nations or any other credible international organization. “There is no question of management. Whatever the constituent assembly election decides, the management (of arms) should be done according to that,” he said, adding, “What (the 12-point MoU says) in fact is keeping both the army under the supervision of reliable international organization, hold elections to constituent assembly and based on the outcome – move on to form a restructured new national army.”

When asked about any formal or informal contacts between his party and the government of India, the Maoist chairman said, We haven’t had any direct talks. Yes, talks are certainly going on with the leaders of various Indian political parties. We are also holding talks with those political parties that are in the ruling coalition but there hasn’t been any official talks with the (Indian) government,” he said.

Prachanda also refuted reports that India had a predominant role behind the latest developments in Nepal. “No, I don’t think so. In fact, the royal proclamation that was made in the aftermath of the visit of the special India envoy Karan Singh reflected the Indian way of thinking. In our statement dated May 4, we cautioned that nothing should be done against democracy, peace and progress in Nepal,” he added.

Prachanda further said (as the people’s movement reached to the climax) Nepali people wanted to go directly to the political conference, formation of an interim government and then (holding elections to the) constituent assembly. “And through it — the establishment of democratic republic. But, here some political parties had put forward the proposal of reinstatement of the parliament. That was not what the Nepali people wanted,” he added.