As a clear sign of weak economic situation of the country, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has slashed the projected GDP growth rate for the fiscal year 2005-06 by one percent to 3.5 percent.

The half-yearly review bases this correction in projection on the overall state of the economy of the country, mobilisation of foreign resources, progress of budgetary policies and programmes and expenditure and implementations of projects.

Increase in the cost of petroleum products in the international market has led to an increment in the average price index by 7 percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year as compared to the 4.6 percent increment over the entire period of the previous year, according to reports.

Inflation however is expected to be maintained at 7 percent with effective implementation of Value Added Tax (VAT).

Deposit mobilisation, which witnessed a 4.2 percent increment in the fiscal year 2004-05, has gone up by 5.8 percent in the current year.

Increase in imports as compared to exports has inflated the trade deficit. Export has increased by 10.5 percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year, amounting to Rs 31.03 billion whereas imports increased by 18.6 percent, amounting to Rs 82.15 billion.

Foreign currency reserve has increased by 7.8 percent, mainly due to increased remittance.

In the first six months, contracts amounting to Rs 14.28 billion have been signed with donor agencies out of which Rs 12.35 billion has been in the shape of aid and Rs 1.92 billion as loans. During the same period last year, foreign resource contracts was worth Rs 23.12 billion.

In terms of development budget expenditure, Rs 40.27 billion has been spent which is a rise by 8.9 percent compared to the previous fiscal year. Current expenditure till mid-January 2006 was Rs 28.54 billion while capital expenditure stood at Rs 4.9 billion. Rs 4.24 billion has been spent for repayment of principle loans.

The revision came at a time when economists have warned that the economy might be bankrupt within a few months if the economic situation of the country remained the same.

The Supreme Court (SC) has refused a writ petition questioning the constitutionality of the incumbent cabinet headed by His Majesty the King.

The SC administration said that it had rejected similar writ petitions in the past as well.

“Since the case has already been settled by the Chief Justice’s bench, there was no need to register the case as per the SC Regulation and Court Management Chapter of the National Code,” the rejection order passed by the registrar of the SC Dr Ram Krishna Timalsena stated.

A single bench headed by Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Paudel had nullified a similar case a few months ago.

Terming the present government unconstitutional, advocate Laxman Thapaliya on Tuesday placed the petition seeking the apex court order to scrap the Council of Ministers. The writ petitioner questioned the constitutionality of the Council of Ministers chaired by the King and its vice-chairmen.

The advocate also sought the SC’s order to return the salaries drawn by the vice-chairmen Dr Tulsi Giri and Kirtinidhi Bista, saying they have no right to draw salaries from the state treasury.

The Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US for South Asian Affairs, Donald Camp (File Photo)

Visiting US Principal Deputy Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Donald Camp is meeting leaders of seven agitating political parties and government officials today.

He is scheduled to meet with Nepali Congress (NC) President Girija Prasad Koirala, CPN-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, who is under house arrest since January 20 and NC (Democratic) President Sher Bahadur Deuba and some representatives of the civil society.

Party sources confirmed Camp’s meeting with party leaders.

Camp will also call on Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey, this afternoon.

The top US official will hold a press conference in Kathmandu before leaving Nepal this evening.

His Majesty the King granted an audience to visiting Camp at Ratna Mandir palace in Pokhara on Wednesday.

The Himalayan Times daily reported that Camp conveyed US President George W Bush’s message to the King during the meeting.

Camp had arrived in Kathmandu on Wednesday on a two-day visit to Nepal.

The purpose of Camp’s visit is said to be to convey an elaborated message of the crisp statement on Nepal made by US President George W Bush in New Delhi recently and also to update himself on new developments here. However, Camp did not comment on his visit upon his arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport.

Addressing a joint press conference in New Delhi last week, the US President said he and the Indian premier “agreed” that the Nepali monarch should restore democratic process.

The US has been reiterating on the need for reconciliation between what it calls the constitutional forces, that is, the King and the mainstream political parties in the country.

At least four security personnel were killed and five others injured in an explosion carried out by suspected Maoists at a temporary security post in Ghorahi Bazaar of the mid-western district of Dang Thursday morning.

According to security sources, the explosion took place as security personnel were entering a temporary security post near Traffic Chowk in Ghorahi at around 8:10 a.m. Security personnel had been using the building to watch over the movement of people during the day and they would leave it vacant during night.

The Ministry of Defence in a statement confirmed that three Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) personnel and a policeman of the Unified Command were killed in the blast.

Local security sources said one civilian was also hurt in the incident. Five security personnel and one civilian who were injured in the blast are undergoing treatment at Mahendra Hospital in Tribhuvan Nagar. The condition of three of the injured persons s said to be critical.

So far, nobody has claimed responsibility for the explosion but police have blamed the Maoist rebels for the incident.

Security sources said search is underway in the area. Details are still awaited.

The Unites States has said the human rights situation in Nepal has worsened over the last few years and that both the Maoist rebels and security forces have committed numerous grave human rights abuses in 2005.

Its ‘Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2005’ released by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington on March 8 said, “the government’s poor human rights record worsened and the government continued to commit many serious abuses, both during and after the state of emergency that suspended all fundamental rights except for habeas corpus.”

On the Maoists, the report said, “During the year (2005) Maoists continued their campaign of torturing, killing, bombing, conscripting children, kidnapping, extorting, forcing closures of schools and businesses, and committing other serious and gross human rights abuses.”

During the year security forces continued to commit arbitrary and unlawful killings, the report said and added, “In most cases of arbitrary or unlawful killings, the security forces claimed the victims were Maoists.” The report cites the INSEC record that states security forces killed 964 suspected Maoists and the Maoists insurgents killed 276 civilians during the year. The reports states that there were some cases of individuals disappeared from the custody of security forces, and their whereabouts remained unknown until much later when the government acknowledged that the individuals were detained under TADO. A total of 1,305 persons remained disappeared since the beginning of insurgency in 1996 and government is yet to confirm the custody of 901 people.

The government failed to conduct thorough and independent investigations of reports of security force brutality and generally did not take significant disciplinary action against those involved, the report said.

The reports said that there were continued abduction and kidnapping from the Maoists rebels. The Maoists were responsible for the abduction of 46,794 persons, and the disappearance of 8,715 persons during the year. It added, however, that Maoist rebels did not kill or injure anyone in Kathmandu during the year.

The US human rights report further said that government-backed vigilante groups were increasing the level of terror and violence experienced by the civilian population and that 36 persons died and 600 houses were destroyed by such groups.

“The RNA set up a national registry of detainees and cooperated with the United National Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) to resolve the status of 106 cases from 2004. The RNA definitively answered 98 cases and was investigating 8 other cases at year’s end. The RNA released 54 persons and found that 4 persons died, 3 on the battlefield and 1 in custody,” the report added.

Altogether 9 persons filed for compensation of torture during the year, and of the 184 cases filed since 1996, the court made a decision to award compensation in 26 cases, but at year’s end, compensated only one claimant, the report stated.

The reports was also critical of the government for introduction of new media ordinance promulgated on October 21. The Maoists imposed restrictions on free press through intimidation and the killing of journalists, the US state department said.

On a positive note, the report said the government welcomed the opening of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Kathmandu in May. “Both OHCHR and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) reported improved access to detention centers and progress in locating persons listed as disappeared,” the report added.

On issues relating to women, the report said, “In September the Supreme Court ruled that, unlike in previous years, children of unmarried women could claim citizenship under the 1990 constitution. In November the Supreme Court ruled that, unlike in previous years, women did not need permission from their husband or parents to get a passport. In December the Supreme Court ruled that women no longer needed to get the permission of their husband, son, or parents if they wished to sell or relinquish ownership of property.”

The US has been concerned over the deteriorating human rights situation of the country and on March 02, during US president George W Bush’s visit to India, he said, “On Nepal, we agreed that the Maoists should abandon violence and that the King should reach out to the political parties to restore democratic institutions.”

The World Kidney Day is being observed throughout the world amidst various programmes to raise awareness about chronic kidney disease.

The aim of celebrating the day is to increase awareness of chronic kidney disease and its associated cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and to draw attention to the urgent global need for early detection and prevention of chronic kidney disease.

Chronic kidney disease and other major chronic non-communicable diseases will claim the lives of 36 million people by the year 2015, reports said.

As an immediate response to this alarming prospect, the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the International Federation of Kidney (IFKF) jointly announced the launch of an annual World Kidney Day (WKD) to be held on the second Thursday of March, beginning with Thursday March 9, 2006.

The principal focus of World Kidney Day (WKD) is to raise awareness among general physicians and primary healthcare professionals of the role of the kidney as a risk marker in related chronic diseases (such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases) and the pressing need for early detection of any form of kidney impairment.

Police arrested one Malaysian and one Bangladeshi national at the Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, on Wednesday when they were trying to fly to Bangkok with smuggled materials.

The two were nabbed along with an ancient idol and some urns made of gold, which they had hidden inside their luggage, the state-run Radio Nepal said.

The arrested foreigners, whose names were not revealed, have been handed over, along with the seized materials, to the Customs Office for necessary action.

Meanwhile, security officials deployed at Nala Check-point of Bhaktapur District on the Arniko Highway have seized 28 sacks full of herbs being smuggled into Kathmandu, Radio Nepal reported.

The security forces also arrested 12 persons involved in the smuggling.

The Kathmandu-office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said it has reached into an understanding with the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) allowing theICRC to resume its visits to detainees held in RNA barracks countrywide after a gap of nearly one year.

In a statement issued Thursday, the ICRC said the visits have started this week. ” As in the past, the ICRC will provide the detaining authorities with its confidential findings and recommendations on the conditions of detention in
RNA barracks,” the statement said. “It wishes to maintain a transparent and open dialogue with the RNA, to the benefit of persons deprived of their liberty,” it added.

The Geneva-based organized, which specialises in monitoring the conditions of prisoners of war, had put on hold visits to detainees at army barracks in Nepal since April last year saying that the was not complying fully with an agreement on the conditions for the visits. RNA officials, on their part, said they had not stopped the ICRC from paying visits to their barracks.

“We have visited persons detained by the RNA since December 2002 and we had some problems as far as the respect of the ICRC’s worldwide working modalities for and with detainees are concerned,” Nepali Times weekly quoted Friedrun Medert, ICRC’s Delegation Head in Nepal, as saying in June last year. “We have discussed these problems with the RNA and we felt that the steps it took were not sufficient to redress the situation,” she added.

Under its rules, the ICRC is allowed to inspect all the premises of a detention place, meet every detainee, register their names and talk to them in private. The Geneva-based group is also allowed to offer detainees a message exchange service with families and make repeated visits to check if the detainees have been put under pressure after previous ICRC visit. ICRC officials described these working modalities as a “package deal” but refused to go into detail as to which one of the provisions were not respected by the RNA.

ICRC deals directly with the highest army authorities to present its findings with the aim of improving the situation of the detainees and making sure they are protected from disappearance, abuse, torture and psychological anxiety. It does not question the right of the authorities to detain someone but underlines that, while in custody, they must be treated humanely and according to the spirit and the letter of the Geneva Conventions.

“The RNA knows that we work in a confidential way which means that our findings are shared with the detaining authorities only. We do not know the reasons why our cooperation was at times hampered,” Medert had said.

Talking to Nepalnews on Thursday, a spokesman of the ICRC office in Kathmandu, Giuseppe Pogliari said ICRC had paid over 400 visits to a total of 246 detention centers including jails across Nepal last year.

ICRC officials said they continue to visit detainees in the district and central jails, police stations and rehabilitation centres of former Maoists who have surrendered to the army.

The recent understanding between the ICRC and RNA has come just a week ahead of the session of UN Committee on Human Rights in Geneva. Nepali rights groups as well as international rights watchdogs including Amnesty International have called on the UN body to bar the RNA from taking part in the UN peacekeeping operations for its alleged rampant rights violations.

The authorities say RNA and other security bodies are well aware of their human rights obligations.

Human Rights activists have said Agenda 9 could be slapped on Nepal in the upcoming 62nd session of the United Nations’ Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Geneva if the government did not express its clear commitment towards protection and promotion of human rights.

Speaking at an interaction in the capital on Thursday, rights activist Dr Gopal Siwakoti said Nepal is heading towards Agenda 9 due to the increasing instances of rights violation.

The 61st session of the UN-OHCHR last year imposed Agenda 19 against Nepal, and Nepal expressed commitment to improve rights situation in the country.

The government agreed and set up the office of UN-OHCHR in Nepal under Agenda 19 to monitor incidents of rights violations during the 61st session, last year.

However rights activists claim that there has been no improvement in the rights situation.

Enforcement of Agenda 9 refers to a very critical situation of human rights in the country.

Dr Siwakoti further said that there were no improvement in the rights situation since the last session and the government did not fulfill its commitment for the protection and promotion of human rights so item 9 was a strong possibility in the upcoming session if the government did not express clear commitment in this regard.

He informed that the indicators for the enforcement of any item are illegal detention or disappearances, situation of rule of law in the country, restriction on free movement of people and independence of the National Human Rights Commission. He stated all the indicators are in a negative direction so the government should defend it in the upcoming session to be safe from imposition of Agenda 9.

Senior rights activist Padma Ratna Tuladhar said Agenda 9 is essential to protect rights of the people, as there is no improvement in the rights situation despite the government’s commitment in various international forums.

He urged rights activists who are attending the Geneva session to lobby in favour of Agenda 9.

Chairman of Child Workers’ Concern Centre (CWIN), Gauri Pradhan, said the government either has to reject all reports prepared by the rights bodies in the upcoming session or express commitment for improvement to avert possible sanctions in the upcoming Geneva session.

He informed that ‘smart sanctions’ proposed in the European Union is not to cause problems to the general people but to make the rights violators accountable for their misdeeds.

Stating that the rights activists are not proposing for the implementation of Agenda 9, he made it clear that it might be implemented on the basis of rights situation in the country since 61st session.

Another rights activist, Mandira Sharma, who is also participating in the upcoming Geneva session, informed that Agenda 9 could be imposed as the government did not fulfill its commitment time and again.

She informed that the Agenda 19 was imposed in 61st session, as Nepal did not fulfill its 25-point commitment made in the 60th session for the protection of human rights. As it did not follow the commitment of Agenda 19, Agenda 9 is almost sure to be imposed, she added.

“If the government makes serious commitment and brings concrete Agendas for the protection of human rights, the possibility of Agenda 9 could be averted,” she added.

Chairman of Human Rights Organization of Nepal (HURON) Charan Prasain informed that all rights bodies are working jointly to make a common report to be presented in the 62nd session.

Speaking at the same program, secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretariat, Diwakar Pant, who also looks after the human rights and legal section, however categorically ruled out the possibility of Agenda 9 being imposed in the upcoming Geneva session, saying there have been improvements in the rights situation since the 61st session.

He charged rights activists for being partial and not presenting the reports of rights violations by the Maoists.

He dubbed the government’s decision to set a central register of detainees at the Prime Minister’s office and forming a policy for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as positive development in this regard.

He said that there is no possibility of imposing Agenda 9 on the basis of the report presented by Ian Martin, representative of the UN- OHCHR in Nepal.

He added that the government is ready to answer any question raised during the Geneva Convention about the rights situation of the country.

Danish ambassador to Nepal Finn Thilsted has blamed Bhutan for lengthening the refugee problem, news report said.

Addressing refugees in Beldangi III camp on Wednesday at their hunger strike tent, he said that it was not the government of Nepal who was delaying in the repatriation of refugees, but the Bhutan government by putting obstacles in the process, Kantipur quoted him saying.

He said the Bhutan has repeatedly stalled the Nepal government and the world community in the process of refugee repatriation. He assured the refugees the international community will continue to put pressure on the Bhutanese regime to take back its citizens. He also informed that they have been attracting the concentration of Bhutan government over the issue during the visits of Bhutanese foreign ministers to Europe.

He further said they his country would ask its ambassador to Bhutan to put pressure for repatriation and stressed that until all refugees are repatriated, they should get adequate facilities for living.

An appeal was submitted to the ambassador by Bhutanese Refugee Representatives Repatriation Committee (BRRRC) asking Denmark to play the role of mediator and help find an early solution.

Ambassador Thilsted also distributed red clothes to widows on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

Nepal chief of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Abraham Abraham, said he was hopeful of repatriation of the refugees. He added it was hard to say, at this point, if the refugees would be resettled in their country of origin or elsewhere. He informed that the agency had to review the distribution of relief materials due to budget cut by the donors and increase in prices of goods.

Some 105,000 refugees have been living in seven camps in eastern Nepal for the last 15 years. 15 rounds of bilateral talks held between the governments of Nepal and Bhutan have failed to yield any results. The refugees said they would launch decisive movement for repatriation under the leadership of Tek Nath Rizal, who was released in 1999 after ten years of jail term.