Maoist rebels set fire to the Divisional Road Office and detonated four bombs at its premises in Charikot on Sunday midnight.

The rebels set fire and detonated the bomb after taking the watchman and the storekeeper into control, according to reports.

The store building, residential section of the divisional chief and the workshop building were set ablaze, reports said. They also destroyed some vehicles of the office.

Meanwhile, a report from Mahottari said Maoists set fire to the Custom Office Bhithamod on Monday.

The rebels robbed some 15 thousand rupees during the incident.

At least sixteen persons, including fourteen policemen and two rebels, have died during fresh clashes in eastern Nepal on Tuesday.

According to security sources, at least 13 policemen were killed during early morning raid by Maoist rebels at the Ilaka Police Post at Birtamod in eastern district of Jhapa this morning. Two rebels were also killed during the clashes.

In separate Maoist attack, one policeman was killed in eastern town of Dharan. Many policemen are reported injured during these clashes. Reports say rebels fled immediately after mounting surprise attacks.

Details are still awaited.

Meanwhile, three policemen and two civilians were injured when Maoist insurgents opened fire at the patrolling security forces at Gulariya, the district headquarter of Bardia district of mid western development region.

Talking to Nepalnews, Chief District Officer of Bardia, Bimal Prashad Poudel informed that the Maoists opened fire at the patrolling security forces in front of District Development Committee.

He informed that both sides exchanged fire for 10 minutes but the loss incurred on the rebels’ side was not immediately available.

Three seriously injured were airlifted to Nepalgunj for treatment.
At least 13 soldiers and a Maoist rebel were killed during clashes at Dapcha area of Kavre district on Monday.

At least 20 rebels were killed in a security operation carried out by security forces at Dare Chowk area of Dhading district, west of Kathmandu, on Tuesday morning.

Officials at the Directorate of Public Relations (DPR) of the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA), informed Nepalnews that they were killed after security forces launched security operation in the area after receiving information that Maoists are assembled in the area.

According to the DPR, 20 dead bodies of the rebels have been recovered from the incident site so far. There was no loss on the side of the security forces.

Security force also confiscated some weapons from the site.

The DPR added search operations are underway. Further details are awaited.

The Indian government is to provide an assistance of Rs 24.4 million for the construction of a bridge on the Bagmati River at bordering town of Gaur in Rautahat district, eastern Nepal.

A press statement issued by the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu said, “The Indian Embassy and District Development Committee, Rautahat signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to this effect.”

The bridge is located at one of the 22 transit points listed in the Transit Treaty, the statement adds.

The District Technical Office of District Development Committee, Rautahat will construct the bridge, within a year.

The bridge in Rautahat will benefit the population of more than 300 thousand in 41 VDCs of the district that borders India.

A cooperation committee was formed in Japan to mark the 50th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between Japan and Nepal.

A press release issued by the Japanese Embassy in Kathmandu on Tuesday said the committee has appointed Ryutaro Hashimoto, the former Prime Minister of Japan as President and anthropologist Dr Jiro Kawakita as Honorary President of the Committee.

“The Committee will organize various cultural programs in Japan and Nepal to mark the 50th year of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Nepal throughout the year,” the statement added.

Among these programs, the celebration of Nepal Week in Japan is scheduled in September and Japan Week in Nepal in November respectively, the statement further said.

Speaking at a programme organised to launch the new committee, Chairman of the Committee, Hashimoto, expressed his belief that the year of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Nepal, which also coincides with the 50th Anniversary of the first ascent of Mt. Manaslu, will be instrumental in further strengthening the friendly relations between the two countries.

Speaking at the same programme, Royal Nepalese Ambassador to Japan Dr Rameshananda Vaidya elaborated the friendly relations between the two countries at people to people level, the statement said.

Nepal has welcomed the establishment of the Human Rights Council by the General Assembly of the United Nations last week.

In a statement on Monday, Minister for Foreign Affairs Ramesh Nath Pandey said the establishment of the UN Human Rights Council “is a positive step in advancing the reform process in the United Nations.”

He said the Nepal government had from the very beginning been working with fellow UN member states for early creation of the Council.

“The Council will be allowed to function in a fair, balanced and realistic manner, freeing it from being politicized by member nations,” minister Pandey assured.

On 15 March, UN’s member states at the General Assembly decided to establish the United Nations Human Rights Council dissolving the Commission on Human Rights.

Based in Geneva, the Council will start work from 19 June and its agenda would be finalised at the 62nd session of the Commission which resumed on Monday. The mandate of the Commission on Human Rights will end on 16 June.

As per the provisions of the Council, in addition to retaining some of the best elements of the Commission on Human Rights, such as the system of independent investigators and the broad participation of civil society, the new Human Rights Council will display some significant features, including that candidates for membership will have to make commitments on human rights; elected members will be first in line for scrutiny under a universal periodic review of their human rights records and members that commit gross and systematic violations of human rights may be suspended.

Members will also be required to commit to cooperate with the Council and its various mechanisms.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal in a statement last week welcomed the formation of the Council, saying that its mandate in Nepal would not be hampered by the new establishment of the new rights body.

The government has constituted the five-member National Women’s Commission (NWC) with Bandana Rana as the Chairperson.

Lili Thapa, Pramila Acharya (Rizal), Sadhana Shrestha and Prijma Singh Tharu have been appointed as members of the newly constituted Commission while Ambika Gajmer has been nominated as the member-secretary.

The announcement of the new NWC body was made on Sunday.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sent a letter to the government to draw its attention on the detention of rights activist and civil society leaders.

The NHRC expressed concern over the detention of rights activist Krishna Pahadi, civil society leaders Dr Devendra Raj Pandey and Mathura Prasad Shrestha and journalist Shyam Shrestha.

A press statement issued by the NHRC on Tuesday said the NHRC wrote that it is not appropriate to detain rights activists and leaders of civil society as the United Nations declaration on Human Rights defenders provides special protection to rights defenders.

Stating that the government’s act to detain rights activists and civil society had violated human rights, the NHRC urged the government to immediately release them and respect human rights.

They remained in detention since January 19, one day before the mass meeting of the seven political parties.

The state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) – that enjoys monopoly in the procurement of petroleum (POL) products in the country—has said it failed to get positive response from the leading commercial banks in the country in response to call for a short-term loan of Rs two billion.

Talking to Nepalnews on Tuesday, spokesperson of the NOC, Sushil Bhattarai, said no commercial bank took part in the bid to offer loan the NOC. “Now, we are approaching them individually for the loans,” he said.

Bhattarai said the commercial banks may have become reluctant to offer loan to the NOC after they started publicizing their monthly losses.

“We receive sympathy from the public for our losses. But we don’t get support from any sector to pay back the debt we owe to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC),” Bhattarai lamented.

NOC now owes more than Rs three billion to the IOC, according to officials.

When contacted by Nepalnews early this month, leading bankers said they did not want to provide such a large amount of loan to the Corporation that was well known for weak financial position. “We don’t hope the Corporation will be able to pay back us in time,” they said.

According to NOC officials, the monthly loss incurred by the corporation was running at well over Rs 570 million until few months back. The NOC continues to incur losses of about Rs two million every month despite the government raising prices of POL products five times over the last 15 months, according to reports. NOC officials said this will not be adjusted until the price of LP Gas is increased.

Bhattarai, too, admitted that the NOC was not in a position to clear its debt without support from the government. The government had earlier provided a loan of over Rs 2.5 billion to the NOC to repay its debts. The authorities also instructed the NOC to manage its financial matters on its own.

On March 8 this year, the corporation published a public notice in the state-owned Gorkhapatra daily calling upon the commercial banks to make a bid within four days if they were willing to offer a short-term loan of Rs two billion. It said it would pay back Rs one billion within three months and the rest within the next three months.

Owing to continuous demand for hike in POL products by the NOC and under pressure from donor agencies including the World Bank and IMF, the government gave the nod to raise the price of petroleum products last month as soon as the municipal polls were over. Meanwhile, the NOC has allowed the private sector to fix retail rates of POL products from gas stations.

Analysts say deregulation of the oil sector as well as promoting healthy competition in the petroleum business would go a long way towards easing burden off the consumers as well as the state-owned NOC.

For the time being, the only worry of the NOC officials is how to pay back the debt of the IOC in time.

There has been minor explosion at the office premises of the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC) at Jawalakhel, Lalitpur this evening.

According to police, some unidentified persons left behind improvised explosives inside the premises of KMTNC late in the evening and fled. A staff of the Trust, Madan Chiluwal, and a security personnel stationed at the Trust, were injured.

There have been minor damage at the office building due to the explosion.

Police said a search operation was underway.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the explosion but police blame the Maoist rebels for it.

Crown Prince Paras is the chairman of the board of governors of the KMTNC, which is well known for its conservation activities.

Established in 1982, as an autonomous, non-profit and non-governmental organisation, the Trust works in the areas of nature conservation and has seven partners in the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Germany, France, Netherlands and Japan.

Leading projects being implemented by the Trust include the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) and the Manaslu Conservation Area Project (MCAP).