National Education Day was observed across the country on Friday without paying homage to some 180 teachers and over 300 students who lost their lives in the decade long conflict.

School in rural areas (File photo)
Not only the warring groups failed to declare the schools as ‘Zones of Peace,’ there were no signs that over 500 schools — where more than 15,000 students had been studying—will re-open sometime soon.

Talking to Nepalnews, vice chairman of the Private and Boarding Schools Organisation of Nepal (PABSON), Bhoj Bahadur Shah said the mental and psychological terror inflicted by the conflict has greatly affected the social and educational development of the young population. “This may take years and millions of rupees to inculcate into them a culture of peace and love,” he added.

The reason is transparent and obvious. The two warring groups have used educational institutions as their bases of operation. “Maoists rebels find schools as safer places for their activities. In most cases, schools have become the battlefield for them,” said Kundan Aryal, general secretary of Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC)– a leading rights group. “Security forces and the Maoists should not use schools as battlefields,” he added.

Educationist affiliated to the Tribhuvan University, Dr. Mana Prasad Wagle, fears that the warring groups might be competing with each other to capture schools so that they would be able to operate their command easily. “Unless such competition ends, educational institution cannot be declared ‘zones of peace’ and a conducive environment for peace created,” he added.

According to Dr. Wagle, division among educational experts, lack of visionary leadership at the policy making level and inability of the State to create peaceful environment in educational institutions remain the biggest challenge for imparting quality education to Nepali children.

According to PABSON, most of the private schools in Gulmi, Myagdi, Baglung, Dang, Rukum, Rolpa and Surkhet, Arghakhanchi, Pyuthan and Salyan districts have been closed. “Parents refuse to send their children to schools because they don’t have confidence that their wards return home safely in the evening,” said Shah.

Says Nepal office of the UNICEF, “It would appear, however, that children who are least likely to get a school education are those in areas where neither side have gained clear control and thus parents fear for the safety of their children away from home.”

Muktinath Adhikari (Photo source : nepalihimal.com)
Reports say children have seen several battles fought in the school turning the institutions of learning into ruins. Murder of school teacher Muktinath Adhikari by hanging him on a tree accusing him of spying against them was perhaps one of the most inhumane acts committed by Nepal’s “revolutionaries.” Similarly, rights groups say security forces have summarily executed dozens of school teachers accusing them of being Maoist activists or supporters.

Another pressing problem is displacement of teachers and students due to the escalating conflict. While hundreds of teachers have left their schools and are said to be taking shelter at district headquarters or in the capital, Kathmandu, thousands of students have been forced to flee their villages along with their families.

Says Bhoj Bahadur Shah of PABSON, “Over two thousand students cross over to Rupaidiya of India from Nepalgunj daily. We do not know exactly how many children cross over to nearby Indian towns daily through other major border points such as Butwal, Mahendra Nagar, Biratnagar and Bhairahawa,” he added.

Abduction of students and teachers by the rebels for indoctrination into “people’s war” is another alarming trend that has gravely affected the educational environmental. According to Kundan Aryal of INSEC, “The rebels have been forcing hundreds of teachers and thousands of students to undergo indoctrination classes. Similarly, the royal government has been advocating so-called compulsory nationalistic education to be imparted in the government schools. This has put teachers and the students into trap.”

National Education Day on Friday was observed with usual fanfare. But little attention was paid to assess the impact of the decade-old conflict on the education sector and the ways to force the warring sides to return to the table of negotiations.

Educationists say billions of rupee worth investment in education both from the government and private sector won’t be able to produce quality manpower unless peace is restored in the country.

Participants of a two-day Western Nepal Peace Convention, which kicked off in the mid-western town of Nepalgunj on Friday, called on all sides to seek solution of the flaring conflict of the country through talks.

They also urged the Maoists to give up arms and called on the state to give up authoritarian policies, reports from Nepalgunj said.

Speaking at the convention, joint secretary of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Khem Raj Pandit, said solution to the flaring conflict of the country is possible only through dialogues and not through weapons.

“No consensus can be reached without accepting the supremacy of the people, so all sides must sit for talks leaving behind the personnel bias,” he said.

CPN-UML leader Shankar Pokhrel said that end of autocratic monarchy, the initiation of a new constitutional process and inclusive democracy are essential for resolving the present conflict permanently.

Chairman of the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), Subodh Pyakurel called all for finding the solution of the insurgency through peaceful means as the decade long insurgency has claimed lives of 10,000 persons. He further said that families of security forces and political activists had been displaced due to the Maoists.

Democracy and constitutional assembly are the common demands of the Nepalis, senior leftist leader Shakti Lamsal said, adding the state must be restructured to meet these demands.

Janak Raj Giri of the Nepali Congress, Purushottam Dahal of the Human Rights and Peace Society and Surya Thapa of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists also addressed the convention.

A meeting of the seven-party alliance’s taskforce has announced a series of programmes for the restoration of complete democracy in the country from March 1.

Friday’s meeting of the task force decided to carry out the protests, which include pressurizing those elected in the municipal polls held on February 8 to step down.

According to one of the participants in the meeting, the seven students’ organisations would organise a joint rally in Kathmandu on March 2 and the agitating parties would stage ‘gheraos’, display black flags and take out rallies in all the municipalities forcing the “so-called elected members in the municipal elections” to step down,” from March 1 to 7.

Women’s organisations of the agitating parties are scheduled to take out a joint rally in the capital to mark the International Working Women’s Day on March 8 and interaction programmes would be held in all the district headquarters on the ramifications of the Supreme Court decision disbanding the controversial RCCC and “successful boycott” of the municipal elections on March 9.

On March 11, the alliance is scheduled to organise protest rallies and mass meetings in all the 205 parliamentary constituencies, he added. The rest of the protest programmes till the second week of April would be announced after holding a meeting of the alliance’s top leaders within a week.

Friday’s meeting of the task force condemned the government’s act of taking several leaders under illegal detention, including UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the Nepali Congress Ram Chandra Paudel and Treasurer Mahantha Thakur, vice-president of NC (D) Gopal Man Shrestha and general secretary Bimalendra Nidhi, vice-president of Peoples’ Front Nepal Pari Thapa and secretary Ghanashyam Poudel, Hridayesh Tripathi of Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandi Devi) and Prem Suwal of Nepal Workers and Peasants’ Party.

The alliance has been protesting after the February 1 royal takeover of the King last year demanding restoration of “complete democracy” in the country.

King Gyanendra conferred various persons with the Mahendra Vidya Bhushan medals, at a special function organised at Narayanhiti Royal Palace to mark the 31st Education Day, on Friday.

His Majesty the King the recipents of Mahendra Vidya Bhushan medals at the Narayanhity Royal Palace, Friday. (Photo source : TRN)

His Majesty the King the recipents of Mahendra Vidya Bhushan medals at the Narayanhity Royal Palace, Friday. (Photo source : TRN)
According to State run Rastriya Samachar Samiti, a total of 168 persons were conferred with the medals including eighty persons with the Mahendra Vidya Bhushan ‘A’ Class for achieving Doctorate in various subjects from various universities at home and abroad, 57 persons securing highest marks in Masters level with class ‘B’ and 31 persons securing highest marks in Bachelor level with class ‘C’.

Minister for Education and Sports Radha Krishna Mainali and Assistant Minister Bhuwan Pathak were also present on the occasion.

A total of 3,641 persons have been conferred with the medals so far including 1,632 in class A, 1012 in class B and 997 in class C, since the medals were given away for the first time in 1960.

At least six people were injured, some of them seriously, when plainclothes Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) personnel from Panuati Base Camp, beat up villagers of Ganeshsthan in Kavre, on Friday.

Two of the injured are security personnel who were enjoying their leave at home, according to reports.

Makar Dhoj Tamang, who sustained severe injuries on his mouth and back, has been admitted to Sheer Memorial Hospital, Banepa, for treatment.

Reports quoted locals as saying that RNA personnel took villagers under control and beat them up for an hour, on the charge that they had carried the dead bodies of slain Maoists in a recent clash between Maoists and RNA.

(File photo)
The Nepal Bar Association (NBA) has urged His Majesty the King to be ready to resolve the present political and constitutional crises in the country. The Association has also hailed the Supreme Court (SC)’s verdict to scrap the controversial Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) saying that it has upheld the sovereign right of the people.

Speaking at a press conference organised by the NBA to announce its four-day convention starting March 1 to mark golden jubilee of its establishment, NBA president Shambhu Thapa said, “The court verdict is praiseworthy, and everyone should respect it.”

The slogan of the conference is “Human Rights and Rule of Law: Inclusive Democracy and Conflict Management”.

He also made it clear that the NBA this time did not demand any support from the government to hold the convention.

Thapa said the NBA would not invite Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Paudel or ad hoc Justice Pawan Kumar Ojha as guests at the convention of the lawyers’ body.

“We will present our demand to the King, asking him to resolve the crisis in the country,” reports quoted NBA general secretary Madhav Banskota as saying.

According to NBA, more than three thousand lawyers are expected to take part in the conference.

More than 100 working papers will be presented on the occasion ranging from the Constitution, present state of conflict and its management, independent Judiciary and challenges to business law, among others.

An appeal has been filed at the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to grant the status of refugee to one of the top leaders of CPN (Maoist), Mohan Baidya alias Kiran, a leading daily reported.

Senior leader of CPN (Maoist) Mohan Baidya (File Photo)

Senior leader of CPN (Maoist) Mohan Baidya (File Photo)
Anup Mitra, advocate of the rebel leader who has been jailed in the Siliguri prison in the West Bangal state of India for the last two years, sent an appeal to that effect to the UNHCR on Friday, according to Kantipur daily. Mitra had also appealed the High Court in Kolkata to grant the refugee status to Baidya. The appeal was rejected by the Court on July 21 this year.

Baidya’s lawyer has claimed that his client faces threat to his life if he is extradited to Nepal. He claimed that Baidya would be safe throughout the world if he was given the refugee status.

One of the seniormost leaders of the CPN (M), Baidya was arrested by Darjeeling police in Siliguri on March 29, 2004 as per the ‘Red Corner’ notice issued by Interpol. He is facing three separate charges in India including a charge of treason against the Indian state, according to reports.

Officials have seized chemical fertiliser worth Rs four million from a godown owned by Hetauda-based businessman Gyanendra Shrestha at Basamadi VDC-5 of Makwanpur district on Friday, reports said.

Chemical fertilizer imported ?illegally? from India after it was seized by officials in Makwanpur district on Friday (Photo courtesy: Pratap Bista/Kantipur)

Chemical fertilizer imported ‘illegally’ from India after it was seized by officials in Makwanpur district on Friday (Photo courtesy: Pratap Bista/Kantipur)
A team of officials from the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) deployed from Kathmandu captured the fertiliser from the store of Shrestha with the help of officials from the District Revenue Office at Pathalaiya, according to Kantipur daily. The fertiliser is said to have been imported illegally from India without paying revenue. The seized fertilizer has been shifted to the store house of the state-owned National Trading Ltd. in Birgunj, the news report said.

The investigation team also seized 2,600 packs of Potash and Urea from the store. The officials involved in the investigation said that the fertilizer was transported to Nepal from Bara and Rautahat border check points. This is the second time that such a large amount of fertilizer imported illegally has been captured from the godown of Shrestha by the revenue office at Pathalaiya, according to reports.

Shrestha claimed that the sized fertilizer was not imported by him. He further said he had rented his godown out to another person.

Illegal import of fertilizer is taking place in Nepal for the last several years allegedly under the patronage of senior leaders and government officials, the news report claimed.

Meanwhile, himalkhabar.com, a news portal of Himal khabarpatrika, has reported that some 2,400 sacks of fertilser has “disappeared” from the godown even when it was under the government’s control. The news portal quoted sources as saying that the revenue officials had recovered around 5,000 sacks of fertiliser during the raid but later they told reporters that only 2,600 sacks were recovered.

The officials had earlier sealed the godown after people affiliated to Shrestha and company refused them to shift the fertiliser to Birgunj.

Saturday being a public holiday, officials in Kathmandu could not be reached for comments.

At least one policeman was killed and three others injured when armed Maoist insurgents attacked the security forces at Ranjha Chowk of the mid-western town of Nepalgunj Saturday morning.

A gunbattle started at around 11:45 a.m. after the Maoists opened fire at police personnel on duty at a security post at Ranjha Chowk near Nepalgunj Airport, reports said. Policeman Karna Bahadur Tarami died on the spot while three Armed Police Force (APF) officials were injured.

Confirming the incident, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in a statement said Tarami was in civilian dress when he was shot dead by the Maoist gunmen.

Nepalgunj remained tense for hours following the clash while most of the fights from Nepalgunj Airport were cancelled. A Buddha Air airplane that was about to touch down at the airport had to return to Kathmandu due to clash.

Security forces have been deployed in the Nepalgunj and surrounding areas in search of the Maoists, reports added.

Maoist insurgents have seized nine oil tankers belonging to the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) in Banke district.

The tankers were seized by armed Maoists in Agaiya area at around 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, reports quoting officials at the NOC’s regional office in Nepalgunj said. The tankers, en route to Dang, were carrying 100,000 litres of oil.

The condition of the drivers of the tankers remains unknown as security forces are yet to reach Agaiya which is a jungle area, reports added.

In a similar incident, the rebels torched a diesel tanker on the Helambu Highway at Kuntabesi, Kavre district, on Friday evening.

They seized the Na.1.Kha 8622 tanker carrying 12,000 litres of diesel for the Melamchi Drinking Water Project at around 5:00 p.m. and set it ablaze, reports said.