The jubilant Nepali squad posing with the trophy after beating New Zealand in the ICC Under-19 World Cup Plate Championship in Colombo on Saturday.
(Photo source: THT)

Nepal has won the title of the plate championship of ICC U-19 World Cup defeating New Zealand by one wicket in Sri Lanka Saturday.

New Zealand opted to bat first after winning the toss and made 204 runs losing all wickets in 49.2 overs in a match held at P Saravanamuttu Stadium.

In reply, Nepal achieved the target in 49.2 overs.

Left-armer Basanta Regm, who held his nerve at the end of that match against South Africa, recorded figures of 3-41, Sharad Vesawkar picked up 2-32 and Raj Shrestha took 1-30. But all bowlers played their parts in restricting a batting line-up that scored 305 and 295 in their previous matches against Ireland and the United States of America respectively.

Left-arm swing bowler Amrit Bhattarai took two early wickets, including of in-form Andrew de Boorder, leg before wicket, in the first ball, to finish with 2-25 and his opening bowling partner Paras Khadka picked up 1-20 in nine economical overs.

The only one of Nepal’s bowlers to go wicketless was off-spinner Ratan Rauniyar but he was still very tidy, delivering his 10 overs for just 44 runs.

New Zealand was indebted to opener Todd Astle, one of their more consistent performers on the tour, for helping to ensure they reached a competitive total.

Astle made a patient 66 from 86 balls in just over two hours at the crease in an innings that included nine fours.

Three other batsmen, Kieran Noema-Barnett (26), Shaun Fitzgibbon (29) and Roneel Hira (26) were the only other batsmen to reach 20 and Fitzgibbon and Hira’s contributions were especially important.

When they joined forces New Zealand were 145-6 and in serious trouble but they added 47 before the innings subsided badly in the final four overs as the last four wickets fell for the addition of just 12 runs.

Nepal wicketkeeper Mahesh Chhetri had to leave the field suffering from dehydration for six overs and Prem Chowdhury took over the keeping duties. Chhetri later returned and finished the innings with three stumpings.

New Zeland’s fall of wickets was as follows:

1-12 (Guptill, 2.3 ov), 2-12 (de Boorder, 2.4 ov), 3-60 (Ellison, 18.1 ov), 4-113 (Noema-Barnett, 29.3 ov), 5-122 (Astle, 31.5 ov), 6-145 (Karaitiana, 39.5 ov), 7-192 (Fitzgibbon, 46.1 ov), 8-197 (Hira, 46.6 ov), 9-199 (Southee, 47.3 ov), 10-204 (Munro, 49.2 ov).

In reply Nepal met the target in 49.5 overs losing nine wickets.

Man of the match of the Saturday’s tournament Basanta Regmi had contributed 66 runs for Nepal.

Bennett took three wickets, while Munro, Donnelly and Guptill took two wickets each.

Nepal’s fall of wickets was as follows:

1-36 (Chaugai, 7.2 ov), 2-43 (Chhetri, 11.5 ov), 3-62 (Malla, 21.4 ov), 4-63 (Vesawkar, 22.3 ov), 5-72 (Subedi, 25.1 ov), 6-75 (Khadka, 26.1 ov), 7-145 (Chaudhary, 42.1 ov), 8-148 (Kesari, 43.1 ov), 9-192 (Regmi, 48.2 ov).

With this victory Nepal became the ninth-ranked team in the tournament.

However, this victory was not very encouraging to Nepal as the Plate Championship is the competition for the eight sides that failed to qualify for the Super League.

Nepal did not get entry into Super League after England defeated Nepal by 77 runs in the first match and Zimbabwe defeated Nepal by 2 runs in the second match. The top two teams from each group qualify for the Super League series while the bottom two go to the Plate Championship.

Political parties, professional groups and the students have slammed the government decision to allow Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to increase the price of petroleum products, demanding that the government immediately withdraw its ‘anti-people’ decision.

They said the ‘illogical’ decision would put extra economic burden to the consumers who have already witnessed periodic price hikes in petroleum products.

Issuing separate statements on Saturday, the Nepali Congress, CPN (Marxist Leninist), CPN-UML-affiliated Democratic National Youth Association and All Nepal National Free Students Union and Nepal Teachers Union denounced the increase in petroleum prices and warned of launching strong protest against the decision.

Students affiliated to the seven-party alliance staged protest rallies in front of various campuses in Kathmandu this afternoon against the fuel price hike.

Likewise, Civil Servants Association and Nepal Taxi Drivers Association also flayed the price hike asked the concerned authority to withdrawal the decision.

Following permission from the government, the NOC on Friday announced increase in the fuel price according to which price of diesel has been fixed at Rs 55 per litre—a hike of Rs 7, price of kerosene has been fixed at 46 per litre—a hike of Rs 6 while retail price of petrol has gone up by one rupee per litre.

Reports said NOC has allowed private dealers to fix the price of petroleum products sold from outlets.

According to the NOC, the price has been increased in order to adjust the domestic price with that in the international market. Spokesman of the NOC, Sushil Bhattarai, said NOC would still be incurring a loss of Rs 300 million per month even after the latest price hike—down from Rs 570 million loss per month.

Photo source : Bikram Thapa
Army man Rewati Dahal clinched the prestigious Pokhara Marathon and the Rs 30,000 prize money beating defending champion Akkal Bahadur Bohara in the last lap at Pokhara today.

Rewati finished strong in the last lap and beat Bohara by four seconds. Rewati Dahal time was 2 hours, 30 minutes and 13 seconds to cover the 42.195 kilometer course while defending champion Akkal Bahadur Bohara had to be satisfied with second place 4 seconds behind and Rs 20,000 cash. Another army personnel, Chandra Bahadur Mahato, clinched the third place with Rs 15,000 cash.

The race started from Pokhara Stadium and covered different chowks of Pokhara city and Lekhnath municipality.

In the meantime, Armed Police Force Gagan Bahadur Singh clinched the 10 km race in a time of 35 minutes and 10 seconds. Krishnaswori Sintakala clinched the title of same race in the female category.

Member secretary of National Sports Council Kishor Bahadur Singh and Director of National Finance Bank, the main sponsor, Balram Gautam gave away the prizes.

Brigade Boys Club’s prolific striker Obagbemiro Junior struck four goals and his teammates added more to hammer Rani Pokhari Corner Team (RCT) 9-2 in a high scoring match at Dashrath Stadium in the Martyrs’ Memorial San Miguel “A” Division League Football Tournament today.

The last match for the both teams saw lots of goals in which BBC had taken a two goal lead till interval. Junior was superior scoring goals in the 25th and 29th minute. The crowd applauded his goals and his perfect somersault.

After the lemon break, RCT men could not stop BBC’s attack. Junior scored more two goals in the 64th and 75th minute. Before that, his partner Raju Rai also scored two goals in the 65th and 68th minute. Sanjeev Tamang, Shekhar Limbu and Sachin Rai also got one goal each to thrash RCT.

Surendra Balami and Lokesh Thapa scored a goal apiece to cut the deficit in the 50th and 83rd minute respectively.

Antony Stoke

(Photo Courtesy :The Himalayan Times)
One day after the US envoy to Nepal James F Moriarty expressed dissatisfaction over the 12-point agreement between seven political parties and Maoists, Antony Stokes, the head of the South Asian Group at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office has said that the 12-point understanding with the Maoists was not in ‘favour’ of the parties.

Stokes, who arrived in Kathmandu on Wednesday met Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala on Thursday and conveyed his government’s concerns about Nepal.

Stokes also suggested for ‘reconciliation’ between the constitutional forces (the monarch and parties) to “isolate Maoists nationally and internationally.”

“The British official expressed his government’s concerns and we put forward our stance, which is based on the six-point (common minimum) programme, and the 12-point understanding reached with the Maoists for peaceful transformation of the Maoist insurgency,” The Himalayan Times daily quoted Arjun Narsingh KC, Central Working Committee member of NC as saying.

KC refused to elaborate on what Stokes had told Koirala but said, “The international community may say what suits it, but we have clarified that the seven parties are firm to activate the Constitution and that the 12-point understanding with the Maoists was reached in a realistic context to bring Maoists to the mainstream.”

Party sources quoted Koirala as saying, “Foreigners don’t understand.” Sources add that Koirala told the visiting guest that the international community was ‘misunderstanding’ the spirit of the 12-point understanding. Stokes was also told that the King had failed to do anything to restore democracy.

According to the British embassy, the visiting official, who was here for two days, also met the government ministers, senior party figures and some diplomats based in Kathmandu. He left for New Delhi on Thursday.

15 passengers were killed in a bus accident in the Far Western district of Baitadi on Thursday.

The ill fated bus heading for Gothapani from Jhulaghat skidded off the road and plunged into the Mahakali River at Mahara in Baitadi district.

According to police, the mishap occurred as the bus was in high speed.

One passenger, who was seriously injured in the incident, was sent to India for further treatment after primary treatment at Jhulaghat.

Those deceased in the incident are yet to be identified.

Maoists released the Assistant Chief District Officer of Kapilvastu, Bhawani Prasad Parajuli and administration officer Bimal Acharya on Thursday.

They were abducted from Khunuwa area of Kapilvastu on February 11 while returning from Ayodha of India.

Chief of the Army Staff (CoAS) Pyar Jung Thapa has said that the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) is committed to the protection of human rights and innocent people and will remain committed.

Pyar Jung Thapa

Pyar Jung Thapa (File Photo)
Giving directives to the army staff during his visit to various security camps at Hathuwagadhi of Bhojpur, Salleri of Dhankuta and Chapma of Sindhuli under the central divisional headquarters, he said that all should be united for the protection and promotion of human rights.

He expressed commitment to follow the directives for the protection and promotion of human rights.

A press statement issued by the Ministry of Defense stated the army chief as saying that the Maoists should be welcome if they want to lay down arms and join the mainstream.

He also said that security forces played an important role for the success of the municipal polls.

Meanwhile, the RNA made it clear that no army personnel or officers, who were involved in rights violation, were included in the peacekeeping mission or any other international missions.

Reports quoted RNA spokesperson Nepal Bhusan Chand as saying that the RNA investigated 264 incidents of rights violations and took action against the guilty.

According to RNA, 106 army personnel faced two months to seven years of imprisonment, 59 suspended, 42 demoted, 19 faced postponement of grades and 24 postponement of promotion following the mobilization of security forces against the Maoist rebels.

Likewise, seven army men received warnings, seven were compelled to give compensation to the victims and over 101 faced various actions for violation of human rights.

Earlier, The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal has called upon the Nepali authorities to hold accountable what it called perpetrators of human rights violations within the security forces and exclude them from participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations.

Some eight hundred police personnel injured or disabled during encounters with Maoist rebels have not received compensation from the government, a report said.

According to Kantipur daily, out of 1,180 policemen who were injured or maimed in the war, only 380 have received compensation by the end of the last year. A total of Rs 11.75 million was spent to compensate them. The Police headquarters is in need of an additional Rs 22.5 million for compensation of the remaining injured personnel.

The daily quoted a highly placed government source as saying that the finance ministry takes longer time to disburse budget for compensation to policemen as compared to Royal Nepal Army (RNA) and Armed Police Force (APF).

Spokesperson at the police headquarters, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ramesh Chand, told Nepalnews that the compensation ranges from Rs 20,000 to 50,000 on the basis of degree of injury which is decided by medical board of the Birendra Police Hospital.

However, the compensation has been late due to lack of funds. The report quoted the account chief at the Home Ministry Bhakta Bahadur Joshi as saying that the allocated budget has not been disbursed by the Finance Ministry this year. According to him, the ministry had disbursed Rs 2.397 million last year for that purpose.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ramesh Chand added that details of the police personnel who are eligible to receive such compensation has been sent to the home ministry.

Police have been the most affected of all security agencies in the ongoing conflict. Most of them are from Darchula, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Banke, Bardiya, Kalikot Dang, Rupandehi, Sarlahi and Makawanpur districts, which are the most Maoist affected areas.

Reporters Without Borders, a Paris based international body working for the rights of media has urged the Nepali government to free seven journalists who are still in detention.

A statement issued by the RSF on Thursday said that at least 114 journalists were arrested while doing their job or taking part in pro-democracy demonstrations from 20 January 2006.

The RSF demanded immediate release of Bhim Rai, of weekly Aujaar of Dharan, JB Ghale Magar, deputy chairman of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) Dhankuta, Tikaram Ghimire, of the daily Udghosh Dhankuta, Sudarshan Acharya, of weekly White Paper, Bhaktadhwaj Bohara, an FNJ member, Shyam Shrestha, of monthly Mulyankan and Tej Narayan Sapkota, of the weekly Yojana.

Sapkota has been imprisoned since November 2003.

“Nepal, has since 2004, arrested more journalists than any other country worldwide,” the release adds.

“For the past few years, the Nepalese government has had the distressing tendency to jail journalists in massive numbers. To the knowledge of Reporters Without Borders, the authorities have never succeeded in proving their guilt,” the release adds.

“Whether they were arrested for their articles or for demonstrating for press freedom, their detention is abusive,” said the press freedom organisation.

The RSF also expressed serious concern over the new cases of the security forces carrying out assaults on journalists.

The release further said that Rabindra Shahi, journalist on Dristi Weekly, and an activist colleague with the human rights organisation INSEC, were beaten up by members of the military in Manma, Kalikot district in western Nepal on 13 February. A police officer beat Suresh Koirala, correspondent for the daily Saptahik Janasatta in Bharatpur, central Nepal on 8 February, it adds.