As the major parliamentary parties are bracing for a showdown with the royal government beginning this week, a major poll conducted by Himal khabarpatrika, a leading private sector fortnightly, has revealed that nearly two-third of the respondents are not happy with the direct rule of the king.

Interestingly, the poll revealed that more than 46 percent of the people were still in favour of constitutional monarchy while only 15 percent said monarchy was not required in Nepal.

The poll, conducted among 5,000 people in 37 out of 75 districts of the country, showed that more than 60 percent of the respondents viewed that the king, parties and the Maoists should sit for dialogue to find a solution to the present political crisis. Furthermore, around 59 percent said that the solution to the crisis could not be achieved through military means.

Majority of them (90 percent) expressed concern over the deteriorating political situation of the country. Around 37 percent said that situation was very grave. People in the rural parts of the country were more concerned with the conflict than those in urban areas. Only three percent said that the situation in the country was normal. The King and the Maoists shared equal blame (33 percent) for the political chaos in the country, according to the poll.

Around 60% opined that the Maoist rebellion was unnecessary in Nepal while 5 percent said it was necessary. Around 25 percent said the rebellion was ‘ok’. In its earlier survey carried out in the capital valley, it was revealed that some 21 percent of the respondents regarded the Maoists rebellion to be ‘ok’.

The king should take initiative to solve the current crisis, said 60 percent of the respondents. Some 23 percent favoured king-Maoists-parties dialogue while only 7.2 percent said talks between parties and rebels could find a solution to the problem. Only one percent supported a military solution.

The 12-point agreement also has not reached the ears of all Nepalis. Less than 45 percent said they had heard about the understanding; majority of them men from urban areas. 72 out of 100 applauded the understanding while 20 said it was ‘not good’.

Against the stand of seven-party alliance for reinstatement of the House of Representatives (HoR), only six percent accepted that this would give solution to the current crisis. 48 percent of the respondents said the crisis would be solved through the formation of interim government, 15 percent said it would be through election of HoR while only 10 percent agreed on the election to constituent assembly.

Summing up the outcome of the opinion poll, Himal khabarpatrika said popular opinion in the country is against the direct rule of the king rather than the monarchy itself. nepalnews.com ia Apr 02 06

The Private and Boarding Schools’ Organisation Nepal (PABSON), has appealed to the concerned authorities and the warring sides to ensure a peaceful and secure environment in examination centres.

Issuing a press statement on Saturday, the PABSON termed the recent blast in the Dailekh-based Saraswati Secondary School, in which 11 examinees and an invigilator were injured, a tragedy.

“The blast would affect the students psychologically and academically,” the statement added. nepalnews.com pb Apr 02 06

In a bid to garner support from all walks of life in the pro-democracy movement of the seven party alliance slated for April 6-9, top leaders of the seven-party alliance urged trade unions and professional alliances to participate in the four-day general strike.

The leaders also assured the professional alliances that the government formed after the “success of the democratic movement” would reinstate them in their jobs and provide compensation, according to reports.

The leaders also vowed that they would not repeat past mistakes while dealing with trade unionists and other employees after they come to power.

“I don’t claim we did not make mistakes in the past, but I swear that there will not be repetition of such mistakes,” reports quoted Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala as saying.

Acting General Secretary of the CPN-UML Amrit Bohra said also urged the professional alliances to take part in the pro-democracy movement saying fight for trade union rights is not possible if there is no democracy.

Acting Vice-president of NC (D) Gopal Man Shrestha, People’s Front Nepal’s General Secretary Nava Raj Subedi, NWPP Chairman Narayan Man Bijukchhe, NSP (Anandidevi) leader Rajendra Mahato and United Left Front leader Bishnu Bahadur Manandhar also assured that they would give top priority to solve laborers’ problems after the success of the agitation.

Murari Bhattarai, chairman of the Nepal Civil Employees’ Organization, Achyut Raj Pandey of Nepal Trade Union Congress and President of Nepal University Teachers’ Association Prof. Bhupati Dhakal urged parties to move ahead strongly.

Meanwhile, issuing a joint statement on Saturday, Nepalese Trade Unions, Democratic Confederation of Nepalese Trade Unions and Confederation of Nepalese Professionals appealed to their members and other workers and professionals to make the general strike a success. nepalnews.com pb Apr 02 06

Entrepreneurs of Parsa and Bara have given a 48-hour ultimatum to the local administration to arrest those involved in the attack on the vehicle of Ramesh Kedia on Friday.

Entrepreneurs have also warned of shutting down their business if the local administration failed to do so, according to reports.

Proprietor of Kedia Organization, Ramesh Kedia and two other people were injured when a bomb was hurled on their car.

In a memorandum to the Chief District Officer (CDO) Nabin Kumar Ghimire, the Industry and Commerce Association asked the authorities to arrest the culprits and punish them wthin 48 hours.

The association also demanded curbing of criminal activities and the creation of a secure environment in the realms of industry and commerce.

CDO Ghimire said the local administration was active in ensuring security.

One Chhote Lal of Bihar, India, has owned the responsibility for the attack on Kedia.

Talking over the telephone with journalists, Lal said that as the Kedia group did not provide the cash demanded of it, the attack on Kedia took place, according to local reports.

Lal’s gang had demanded Rs 5 million from the Kedia group. nepalnews.com pb Apr 02 06

Chairman of Press Council Nepal Mathbar Singh Basnet has said that the controversial Media Council will be introduced in two months or so.

Addressing a discussion on the relevance of a Media Council in the capital on Friday, Basnet said the cabinet was positive towards the concept of a new council and was waiting for the last formalities at the secretariat, according to reports.

The government is mulling over formation of a media council replacing the existing Press Council Nepal. Freedom of expression activists have alleged that the government is mulling the new body so as to make it another government agency.

Basnet further said there was no use discussing the issue of the Media Council as all preparations are complete and “nothing is going to change even after this discussion”.

Former chairman of the Press Chautari Nepal, Shambhu Shrestha, said the Council should be “modified but it should not be linked to the government; rather it should be a watchdog over the code of ethics, advertisement policy of the government and many other issues which directly affect the masses”.

Senior journalist and former chairman of the Press Council Nepal Harihar Birahi said formation of Media Council through ordinance would be yet another blow to the independent media in the country. He said there was a need to restructure the Press Council itself and make it independent. nepalnews.com pb Apr 02 06

Once dubbed as the success story of Nepali aviation sector, the Cosmic Air—one of the leading private sector airlines of the country — is in the soup after two Irish companies announced that they have canceled their air lease agreements with the Cosmic.

Seven party supporters staging a motorbike rally against ‘regression’ at Tinkune, Sunday, Apr 02 06. nepalnews.com/rh

In separate public notices carried in the front pages of major broadsheet dailies on Sunday, the AerCap Ireland Limited and AerCo. Ltd– owners of Fokker 100 aircraft– said the Cosmic Air (Pvt.) Ltd. had no authority to possess and operate their two Fokker 100 jets (9N AHO and 9N-AHN respectively).

In their notice, the Irish companies said they had leased two Fokker 100 aircraft to the Cosmic Air on 18 January 2005 and 1 April 2005 respectively.

“The Cosmic Air Pvt. Ltd. had for some time been in default under the above mentioned Aircraft Operating Lease Agreement which resulted in us terminating the leasing of the aircraft (with effect from) 15 March 2006.”

They said they had already informed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) of the termination of leasing and had requested for the safety of the passengers and the aircraft to ground the said aircraft.

They warned that any operation of those aircraft “would be the flagrant violation of the aviation law of the country and thus unlawful.”

Despite several attempts by Nepalnews, officials at the Cosmic Airlines were not available for comments. A receptionist with the Cosmic said the company officials were in an “emergency meeting.”

Similarly, officials at the CAAN also refused to comment on the controversy.

A Fokker 100 aircraft belonging to Cosmic Air (File Photo)

A Fokker 100 aircraft belonging to Cosmic Air (File Photo)
In October 2004, the Cosmic Air had acquired its first 105-seater Fokker-100 jet in lease from AerCap Ireland Ltd. Later, the number rose to four. Cosmic Air was operating its flights along domestic routes as well as to Dhaka, Delhi, Benares and Kolkata with its planes.

It also gave a hard time to established air carriers by offering discounted fares and attractive offers to the passengers.

The Airlines made proud announcement in May last year that it had a market share of over 50% in its domestic sectors, 44% along Kathmandu-Delhi-Kathmandu and 43% along Kathmand-Dhaka-Kathmandu sector.

The poor financial health of the Cosmic Air became public in November last year when it had to halt all of its domestic operations after the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation refused to sell fuel to the company unless it cleared past dues. Fokker 100 planes returned to Nepali sky after the Company paid its first instalment of Rs five million out of Rs 125 million it owed to the NOC.

According to reports, Cosmic Air owed over Rs 500 million to Machhapuchre, Lumbini and other banks in the country.

The Company also owed Rs eight million to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN)—a regulatory body by the end of the last year. It could not be known whether the Company had been able to clear its outstanding dues to various banks and CAAN.

Led by Captain R. P. Pradhan, the Cosmic Air entered into the aviation sector with two MI-17 helicopters in 1997. Until two years ago, it had a few helicopters and small planes operating in the domestic sector.

SOE Group—the holding company of the Cosmic Air—also has Evco International, Cosmic Motorcycle, Cosmic Merchant Bank, Raybren International, EVCO service center, Jomsom Mountain Resort, Mystic Himalayan Tours, Mystic Himalayan Resort and Cosmic automobiles under its belt.

Last year, the company incurred a loss of Rs 620 million.

The Irish companies have not revealed how much money the Cosmic Air owes to them. Reports say upon receiving communications from the Irish companies, the Cosmic Air management was able to obtain a stay order from the Lalitpur Appellate Court in Patan last month allowing the company to continues its operations.

Nepal Samacharpatra daily on Sunday quoted Upendra Karki, marketing director of the Cosmic Air, as saying that the lease agreement with the Irish Companies had not been expired as yet. “They tried to take back their planes even before the expiry of the lease agreement. Now, we have the interim order from the court and we are yet to get refund out of the ‘advance’ we had paid to them,” he added.

According to the NSP news report, two of the Fokker 100 planes are already grounded due to technical reasons and the company was operating its flights with the two planes, whose lease agreement have been terminated by the Irish companies.

The episode has not only raised questions regarding the operations of one of the leading Nepali aviation companies, tourism entrepreneurs say it may deal a blow to the already flagging tourism industry of the country.

Two policemen have been killed and two others including a civilian were injured when Maoist rebels attacked a police post at Gaur, the district headquarter of Rautahat, in eastern Nepal Saturday afternoon.

According to reports, Maoist rebels, who were riding motorbike, opened fire at policemen guarding the police post at BP chowk at Gaur at around 3:45 p. m. Two policemen were killed while another policeman and a civilian were injured in the attacks.

The rebels fled immediately. Police said search is underway in the area. nepalnews.com by Apr 01 06

A team of Chinese topography experts has launched a comprehensive project to map the Nepal-China border using Global Positioning System (GPS).

Chinese media reports quoting Shaanxi Provincial Surveying and Mapping Bureau said the Chinese topography experts would join others to carry out survey in seven counties of Tibet Autonomous Region.

The experts will receive acclimatization training in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, before setting out to the border area for the survey, China People’s Daily said. This is the third survey of the 1400km-long Nepal-China border. Earlier two joint surveys were carried out in 1978 and 1988.

Nepal and China had signed a boundary agreement in 1961. The mapping officials are scheduled to arrive in the joint border this month [April] and the survey is expected to finish by the end of September.

Earlier this month, China’s chief representative of the joint mapping, Li Qingyuan, had told Chinese official news agency, Xinhua, that major mapping work would be conducted by Chinese experts and then Nepali officials would check the data.

The final mapping result, which will be valid only after Nepali and Chinese officials sign it, is expected in 2007. nepalnews.com mk Apr 01 06

The Belgian sisters, Nicole and Ingrid, also called as ‘crazy twins,’ arrived Kathmandu last week over land from India as part of their ambitious programme to visit 55 countries around the world over the span of five years.

Nepal is the 19th country in Asia they are visiting.

Nicole and Ingrid plan to complete their nearly 100,000 km journey in the Kayak, bicycle, roller blades and horses. They said they are planning to try balloon and sledge as well.

The state-run The Rising Nepal daily quoted the Belgian sisters as saying that newspapers in Belgium mostly report negatively on Nepal’s latest situation. “We are surprised to see the hospitality of Nepalis that we received during our travel to Kathmandu from Kakarvitta in the eastern border,”

”The main purpose of our trip is to promote cycling and trekking,” Nicole and Ingrid said during a programme organised by the Nepal Tourism Board in their honour in Lalitpur on Friday.

They will travel on foot and on mountain bike in Nepal on their way to Lhasa of People’s Republic of China .

During their two months stay in Nepal, the duo also have plans to visit the Everest base camp.

Their ‘Journey through the world’ had begun on 17 April 2004. nepalnews.com ia Apr 01 06

US ambassador James F Moriarty held separate meetings with Home Minister Kamal Thapa, who leads a breakaway faction of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), and RPP Chairman Pashupati Shumsher Rana, Friday.

Thapa didn’t disclose details of the meeting, according to reports.

A press statement issued by the RPP said the duo discussed the current situation of the country.

Meanwhile, Chief of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal, Ian Martin, also met Rana on Friday.

The RPP statement further said the duo discussed about the deteriorating security situation of the country. nepalnews.com pb Apr 01 06