Maoists have abducted two persons, one of them a government official, in Doti district and four teachers in Sindhupalchowk.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said a group of Maoists abducted Dan Bahadur Karki, an overseer working at the District Development Committee of Doti and Netra Bahadur Bom, member of District Drinking Water Consumers’ Committee, on Tuesday.

Likewise, the rebels abducted four teachers of Sunkoshi Secondary School in Budepa area of Sindhupalchowk district last Thursday, according to the ministry.

On Friday, two children were injured when a bomb left behind by the Maoists went off in Rangsi area of mid-western Rolpa district.

Om Prakash Dangi, 8, and Noksiram Dangi, 11, were severely injured in the blast, the ministry said.

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

The Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US for South Asian Affairs, Donald Camp, is to arrive Kathmandu on a two-day visit of the Himalayan kingdom, officials said.

An official at The American Center in Kathmandu told Nepalnews that Camp is arriving Nepal “on a routine visit.” He did not provide details.

Officials said Camp will meet senior government officials during his visit to Kathmandu and will also hold a press conference on Thursday. He is also expected to meet senior opposition leaders during his Nepal sojourn.

Mr. Camp had arrived Nepal in June last year.

Camp’s visit to Nepal is taking place barely a week after US President George W Bush and Indian premier, Dr Manmohan Singh, called on His Majesty King Gyanedra to reach out to the political parties to restore democracy in Nepal.

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.

“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 US president told reporters.

Mr. Bush said the US and India also agreed to work for protection of human rights in Nepal and Myanmar.

Along with India and the United Kingdom, the US suspended its military assistance to Nepal in the aftermath of the royal takeover of February 1, 2005.

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.

The winner of 4th Aaha Gold Cup Football Tournament, African United Club (AUC), survived the ANFA rookies scare, sealing the match 2-1 in the 8th Buddha Subba Gold Cup Football Tournament at Dharan today.

AUC, that assembled MMC’s Nurudeen and Emoh Daniel after clinching the Aaha title, was sluggish against ANFA rookies, but took a lead through Nurudeen Salau in the 15th minute. Salau scored through his flick header utilizing the cross off Mahabir’s IK Okushie from the right flank. Skipper and goalie Rupak Shrestha was late to judge the ball, which kissed the net flying over his head.

ANFA rookies did not give up hope, instead fought hard and restored parity off AUC’s Iaisah Ologun’s blunder allowing Ranjit Shrestha to score an easy goal. Ologun tried to dribble past Ranjit at the edge of box but faltered and Ranjit scored in the 26th minute. This happened right after Chetan Ghimire’s shot was half cleared by goalie Uche Onyebule.

Two minutes later, the referee pointed for a controversial spot kick when Rabin Shrestha unintentionally handled the ball inside the box. Obabgbemiro Junior scored with a powerful spot kick giving his team a 2-1 lead.

After the re-start, the ANFA boys labored hard to tame the African team and attacked, but to no avail. Emoh Daniel nearly got a goal in the 55th minute but his tricky shot was saved by Rupak Shrestha.

In the 57th minute, playmaker Ranjit Shrestha was fouled hard on his knees, but no card was given by referee Amber Bahadur Pokhrel. Play had to be stopped for six minutes with the ANFA side objecting the referee’s non-decision.

AUC played a physical game rather than a technical one as they were bereft from creating goal scoring chances in the second-half.

The ANFA boys, that defeated Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan a few months ago to be selected for AFC U-17 Asia Cup to be held in Singapore in September this year, tried hard to equalize but the final whistle blew their hopes to stand for the title clash.

The hard fought win for AUC set a semifinal date with Knight Chess Club on Thursday.

“We lacked coordination and they (ANFA) played a superb game,” AUC captain Obabgbemiro Junior told reporters. ANFA coach Diken Suwal was upset with the referee decision, but appreciated his teams performance. “We need goals in football,” Suwal said and added, “I am happy with my boys.”

On Wednesday, Mahendra Police Club will lock horns against hosts Dharan FC for the final spot.

The government has said security forces have been kept on alert ahead of the February 8 municipal elections.

Minister of State for Information and Communication, Sirish Shumsher Rana (File Photo)

Minister of State for Information and Communication, Sirish Shumsher Rana (File Photo)
Speaking at a press briefing at the Department of Information in Kathmandu on Monday, government spokesperson and Minister of State for Information and Communication, Sirish Shumsher Rana, claimed that the government has made necessary security arrangements for the elections and that significant number of voters would cast their votes on Wednesday.

“Security forces have been kept on alert to ensure security during the elections,” minister Rana said, “Candidates registered their candidacies daring the Maoist bullets. The government believes the voters will go to cast their votes.”

He said the army has been given ‘certain responsibilities’ to ensure security for the polls.

Reiterating the government’s argument that the elections are meant to consolidate the representative system, minister Rana said the objective of the elections is to reinstate the civic rights.

“It is unfortunate that a sizeable number of organised people are boycotting the elections,” he said referring to the anti-election drive of the seven agitating political parties. He insisted that no political section had right to pressure anybody to boycott elections.

When asked how the elections would be free and fair at a time when hundreds of opposition political leaders and activists, human rights defenders and journalists, have been detained, the minister said the arrests were ‘need-based’ as they asked the voters not to cast their votes. The detained persons, according to him, would be released soon.

Voting is going to take place in 58 municipalities including Kathmandu Metropolitan City and five sub-metropolitan cities around the country on Wednesday.

Speaking further, the government spokesperson claimed that a section of the international community had been trying to turn Nepal as a ‘rogue state’. “But we are not going to become one,” said he without making naming the international party.

He also informed that the government was going to introduce new media law as it lacks authority to take action against ‘irresponsible’ journalists and the media houses.

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) is holding a donors’ meet on Monday to review the ongoing reform initiatives of the government and the Finance Ordinance issued by the government, officials said.

Talking to Nepalnews, Bhuwan Karki, Under Secretary at the Foreign Aid Coordination Division at the (MoF) said that the meeting with the local donors was a regular one and aimed at discussing the recently promulgated Finance Ordinance and other economic issues of the country.

He informed that discussions will also be held about the tenth plan and other reform measures taken by the government.

Officials at the MoF said no new commitments had been made by the donor communities except Japan and Germany. They, however, said the previous commitments had been continuing.

Monday’s meet is the first meeting after Dr Roop Jyoti was appointed as Minister of State for Finance late last year.

The meeting is taking place at a time when major donors are reviewing their assistance in the wake of the royal takeover of February last year.

Economists have warned that the economy might be bankrupt within a few months if the economic situation of the country remained same and donor agencies did not make fresh commitments.

The royal appointed state minister is expected to try to convince donors regarding the reform measures being carried out by the government.

Meanwhile, reports said the government is not happy with the recently set up “Rights, Democracy and Inclusion Fund (RDIF)” suspecting that it might be diverted to support the pro-democracy movement being launched by the seven party opposition alliance.

The UK Department for International Development (DFID) and Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) have, however, made it clear that the Fund will promote human rights and democratic strengthening programmes in Nepal, and will not fund political parties.

Officials have said over 100 inmates at the District Prison in Ilam have escaped following overnight Maoist attacks at the district headquarters on Sunday.

They said some of the inmates have come into contact. It was not immediately known how many of the inmates were Maoist activists.

At least one policeman and one rebel were killed and over a dozen security personnel were injured during a major Maoist attack in Ilam Bazaar, the district headquarters of eastern district of Ilam, on Sunday night, according to police sources.

Preliminary reports said two more civilians also died during the clashes. Details are still awaited.

Eye witnesses said over one thousand rebels launched coordinated attacks on key government installations including the District Administration Office and the District Police Office from around 9:30 p.m. that lasted till 4.00 a.m. on Monday morning.

The security forces and the Maoists were engaged in fighting in different parts of the town, reports said. Security sources said the casualty on the part of the rebels could have been higher during the close battle.

The rebels also engaged the Royal Nepalese Army personnel by attacking at the RNA base in the district headquarters.

The rebels had attacked and freed over 170 inmates after raiding the district prison at Dhangadhi in far-western Nepal last year.

Some experts on the Constitution and legal practitioners have opined that drafting a new constitution through a constituent assembly was the most viable way to end the festering conflict in the country.

One of the drafters of the 1990 constitution and former Justice of the Supreme Court, Laxman Prasad Aryal, said that the 1990 Constitution does not bar people from going to an election to a constituent assembly if the sovereign people want to draft a new constitution.

According to him, since the King promulgated the 1990 Constitution giving sovereign power to the people, this does not bar them from going to the constituent assembly.

“There is nothing left since the King has already given power to the people,” reports quoted Aryal as saying.

President of the Nepal Bar Association, Shambhu Thapa, said since the King has violated the 1990 Constitution, there is no other option than to draft a new constitution.

He also questioned as to why the King does not want to act with the parliament.

Former Law Minister Nilambar Acharya said the present Constitution does not have any provision for an active monarchy. “The King should be ready to go for a constituent assembly,” he added.

However, advocate Balkrishna Neupane said he would not support the NBA’s decision to go for a constituent assembly polls.

Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey has clarified that Nepal will never seek military or diplomatic assistance from any international quarters including India for brokering peace and stability for resolution of the Maoist problem.

In an interview to the Press Trust of India in Varanasi on Saturday, Pandey said, “Nepal will never seek military or diplomatic assistance from any international quarter, including India, for brokering peace and stability for resolution of the Maoist problem.”

The rebels were operating in collusion with their ultra-Left counterparts in India and “acting on a common programme to supplant the political system of the two countries with the Communist set-up in the long run,” the PTI quoted foreign minister Pandey as saying.

Their common agenda of Maoist was to destabilise peace, democracy and the political setup through insurgency and violence in both countries, Pandey said.

He asked the global community to treat the Maoist insurgency as a “phenomenon of international terrorism” as the ultra-left agenda aimed at destabilising democracy, peace and stability in Nepal and neighbouring countries.

He sought to equate the Maoist problem with religious militancy in other countries “as all these divisive forces are posing a threat to peace and democracy”. The global community should have a singular view on terrorism irrespective of it being region specific, Pandey said.

Foreign Minister Pandey’s response came at a time when major donor countries have stalled their assistance following the February 1 royal takeover of the last year.

The military assistance from India, the United States (US) and the UK remained stalled following the royal takeover of last year.

A team of experts from Norway, who arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday to help solved the armed conflict of Nepal, said they were here to build confidence between the warring groups for negotiation.

Addressing a seminar organised jointly by the Nepal Council of World Affairs and the Norwegian Embassy in the capital on Sunday, the peace initiators stressed the role of civil society in resolving the conflict of the country. They also stressed the importance of a third party to build confidence between the two warring groups to sit for peace talks.

Reports quoted Fredrik Arthur, currently a counselor at the Norwegian mission to the United Nations in Geneva, as saying that government has to rule according to the will of the people and that the rebels are part of its citizens whose issues have to be addressed by the state. The state should be more responsible than the insurgents, he added.

Another member of the team, Tore Hattrem, who is the deputy Director General at the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, said the country and the people in responsible positions should identify and address the needs of all armed and non-armed parties in the conflict.

He added that the agitating political parties should also come to the negotiating table. Hattrem further said internal armed conflicts are very difficult to solve and that the conflict won’t end with an armed takeover of the state. It lingers in the society in the countryside, he added.

Addressing the seminar, Norwegian ambassador to Nepal, Tore Toreng, said Norway was ever ready to work for negotiations in Nepal if it is invited by both the warring groups.

Toreng said that there should be willingness in both the warring groups to solve the conflict. It’s up to Nepal to decide what sort of help it wants, the ambassador added.

Norway has been playing an important role in peace negotiations in Sri Lanka and has repeatedly said that it was willing to help Nepal in negotiations. The government has been refusing involvement of third party for negotiations in Nepal’s conflict. The royalists say the involvement of a third party is foreign interference. The Maoists, on the other hand, have said that they were interested in laying down arms in presence of a reliable third party.

Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has launched a ‘New Tourism Brand’ with the slogan ‘Naturally Nepal, Once Is not Enough’ incorporating the entire spectrum of tourism products/services, which provides leeway to Nepal to promote and market its tourism product in a complete package.

The New Tourism Brand will be adopted by all the travel trade and other concerned agencies that market Nepal nationally or internationally.

Minister of State for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Yankila Sherpa, unveiled the brand amidst a function the capital on Sunday.

The brand is also aimed at repositioning Nepal’s image in the international tourism market. It incorporates a strategy to attract additional 300,000 tourists in Nepal in a year by making around Rs 100 million investment in tourism promotional campaigns.

Some ‘art’ posters depicting the ‘New Tourism Brand’.
Explaining the New Tourism Brand, Tek Bahadur Dangi- Chief Executive Officer of NTB said, “New Nepal Brand will be instrumental in increasing the number of tourists to Nepal. Prior to this campaign, we were solely dependant on the individual overseas tour operators to promote Nepal, but we will now all be working together in a concerted, focused and centralized effort to penetrate the new segment of consumer market that also has great potential.”

Dangi informed that the new Nepal brand was developed by Indian based social infrastructure agency Alchemy, which has plans to reinvent Nepal’s diversity, modernity and cultural heritage to make the country a more popular tourism destination.

Dangi further said, “Three new tourism brand has evolved with three major segments: Weekends breaks, Adventure holidays and Lifetime experience.”

Weekend break deals specially for Indian markets and other regional markets due to their proximity and easy air connectivity and Adventure and Lifetime experience aims at long haul markets like USA, Europe, Australia and others.