Freedom Forum has said it was concerned over the detention of arrested protestors and political leaders in security posts where Maoists rebels have threatened to attack.

In a press release, the forum said that at least 15 protestors, including political leaders, students, leaders of professional groups and trade unions have been kept in security posts in Kushma, Beni and Baglung where the rebels have threatened to attack.

The group has asked the government to transfer them to a secure place and treat them in a humanitarian manner.

The government has arrested a large number of political leaders, students, professors, teachers and trade union leaders for demonstrating against the municipal elections and detained in different security camps. Human rights groups in Kathmandu have complained that the detainees have not been treated well in detention centers.

Senior government officials have said that unlike the report made by the Institute for Development Studies (IfDS), the economy is on the right track and that there is no possibility of the country going bankrupt over the next few some months.

State minister for Finance Roop Jyoti (File photo)

State minister for Finance Roop Jyoti (File photo)
Addressing a news conference at the Department of Information on Monday, state minister for Finance Dr. Roop Jyoti said, “The government refutes the validity of the study as it is not based on facts and figures; it is rather a product of political bias.”

A study of the IfDS — that was made public last week– said that given the present trends, the state would turn bankrupt within four months.

Talking to journalists on February 2, executive director of Institute for Development Studies (IfDS) Dr Raghab Dhoj Pant said, “The fiscal situation of His Majesty’s government is at a very alarming state. The supplementary budget has added fuel to the fire. In the current fiscal year, the authorities have not cared even to maintain simple consistency and coordination among revenue, expenditure, budget deficit and the source to finance the budget deficit,” he added.

However, Dr Jyoti maintained that the new Ordinance has all the policy initiatives announced by the budget for the current fiscal year which he said was very much in line with the Tenth Five Year Plan and its main goal of poverty alleviation.

The IfDS report said that the problem emerged due to the over estimation of revenue collection and under estimation of the government expenditure in the budget of the current fiscal year.

Dr Jyoti, however, said the total revenue generation during the first six months of the 2005/06 stood at Rs. 31.58 billion compared to Rs. 29.83 billion during the corresponding period last year. On the public expenditure front, Nepal Rastra Bank has so far released Rs. 47.86 billion with Rs. 40.30 already disbursed. “The public expenditure is within the limits and criteria set by the annual budget.”

With regard to foreign assistance, the government has so far received Rs. 7.88 billion compared to Rs. 4.93 billion during the corresponding period last year. “These figures indicate that the government will be able to achieve its set goals and ensure economic stability.”

Talking to Nepalnews, Keshav Acharya, chief of the research division at the Nepal Rastra Bank said there was no possibility of the country going bankrupt within June this year (as claimed by the IfDS) as the flow of remittance in the country was very encouraging and export of intermediary goods and raw materials was also good.

He said as there was no probability of drastic decline in the remittance, the economy will not spiral down. He, however, acknowledged that the economy was not in a comfortable position as the growth rate and revenue collection was not as per the target.

The growth of capital expenditure is very high and if the rate of revenue growth continues in the same pace and the country did not receive any foreign aid, the economy will be in a very difficult situation, he added.

When asked how sustainable remittance will be for the development of the country, Acharya said it was not a very reliable source of national income, but was very important for the time being as it was giving life to the ailing economy of the country.

Contrasting IfDS’s inflation projection of 27.7 percent with NRB’s prediction of 7.0 percent, Dr Jyoti termed the former calculation totally baseless.

He attributed inflation to external reasons like increasing cost of petroleum and rise of prices in Indian market rather than a tendency to hoard goods among the consumers as stated in the study.

When asked about the role of Nepal Rastra Bank to manage the growing inflation rate, Acharya added, “We are also facing pressure of inflation from India, as we have to largely depend on India for the import of goods. The central bank is monitoring the situation seriously and will adopt necessary measures in the appropriate time.”

Acharya also said that the government had capital reserves to cover imports of goods and services for the next ten months. He said the internal borrowing of the government so far had amounted to Rs 3.13 billion against a ceiling of Rs 11.85 billion set in the ordinace.

Dr Jyoti denied the IfDS stance that the inflow of remittance had recorded a downturn.

The damaged Municipality building in Panauti after the

At least ten people, including seven security personnel, two Maoists and one civilian, were killed in separate clashes at Panauti of Kavre and Gaighat of Udaypur district on Monday night.

The Directorate of the Public Relations (DPR) of Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) told Nepalnews that five security personnel including three soldiers and two Armed Police Force personnel were killed when Maoists attacked the RNA post at Bokse, Triyuga Municipality-1, Gaighat in Udaypur. Security force recovered two dead bodies of Maoists from the incident site.

Likewise, two security personnel were killed in Panauti when Maoists launched an attack at a security base camp and Panuti municipality office on Monday night.

Civilian Ganesh Lal Shrestha, 32, a resident of Panuati municipality- 6 also died in the cross- firing.

Security forces suspected heavy causalities on the rebel side.

“The Maoists might have suffered casualties, but we have not recovered any bodies so far. The search operation is still continuing,” the DPR said.

Security forces recovered one 303 rifle, several magazines of Self-Loading Rifles (SLR) and socket bombs from the incident site.

The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the authorities to produce 77 student leaders and cadres before the court on 13th February.

Acting upon a petition filed at the Supreme Court, a single bench of Justice Rajendra Kumar Rajbhandari asked the authorities to present 71 people including student leader Khim Lal Bhattrai before the court on 13th February.

Likewise, a single bench of Justice Permananda Jha also ordered the authorities to present six student leaders including Mahendra Sharma before the SC on the same date.

All students were arrested from pro-democracy protest programmes.

In a bid to pressurize the Bhutanese government to take back its citizens living as refugees in several camps in eastern Nepal since 1991, the Bhutanese community in the Netherlands organized a daylong silent protest on Monday coinciding with the visit of Bhutanese Foreign Minister Khandu Wangchuk.

A press statement issued by the Bhutanese Community in The Netherlands said more than 50 Bhutanese living there organized the protest in front of the Dutch foreign ministry at the Hague.

According to the statement, the programme was organized to press Bhutan to take back its citizen living as refugee in several camps in eastern Nepal since 1991 and also to pressurise Bhutan’s donors like Netherlands to put condition of refugee repatriation before any future aid to Bhutan.

The protestors carried out banners with the slogans, “Resolve Bhutanese refugee crisis immediately”, “We are Bhutanese and we want to go back to Bhutan”, “Stop racial discrimination in Bhutan” and others.

A memorandum was also submitted to the Head of South Asia at the Dutch Foreign Ministry, Mrs Caro Krijger demanding their urgent attention to the Bhutanese refugee crisis and to resolve it immediately.

Bhutanese Foreign Minister is in Netherlands to lobby for the forthcoming Roundtable Meeting of the Bhutan’s development partners to be held at Geneva from 15-16 Feb 2006.

A similar protest program has been planned for the Roundtable Meeting of the Bhutan’s donors to be held at Geneva from 15-16 Feb 2006.

Over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees of Nepali origin are languishing in the seven UNHCR-maintained camps in eastern Nepal for the last 15 years. There have been over a dozen rounds of bilateral talks between Nepal and Bhutan in as many years, but to no avail.

Surya Nepal Pvt. Ltd., a leading Nepal-India joint venture, has demanded for immediate and unconditional release of its three senior employees abducted by the CPN (Maoist) affiliated trade union from southern district of Bara on Friday.

Issuing a press statement on Monday, the Company asked the Maoists to release them in the interest of justice and abiding by the human rights commitments expressed by the underground outfit. “The employees are innocent and employed themselves at the company for their livelihood,” the statement added.

Maoists abducted chief of the manufacturing division of the Surya Nepal, Prabhakar Bikram Shah and managers Damber Mani Limbu and Sarbajit Rana from Chhata Pipara of Bara district Friday evening.

In its statement, the company said that the company was not involved in the ongoing political conflict and it had a history of excellent employee-employer relationship built over its ‘philosophy of teamwork, trust and transparency.’

“The wages of employees, welfare and benefits are significantly higher than the prescribed rate by the prevailing statutes,” the company added.

Meanwhile, family members of Prabhakar Bikram Shah, production manager of Surya Nepal who was abducted on Friday evening, have appealed for his immediate release.

They have also called on national and international human rights organizations to request Maoists for his immediate release.

Issuing a press statement on Monday, the Industrial Security Group (ISG) also condemned the recent abduction of employees working in industrial and commercial activities and the Maoist threats against them.

Formerly known as Surya Tobacco Company (P) Ltd., Surya Nepal is the largest private sector company in the country. Its promoters include ITC of India and Soaltee Group of Nepal.

With an annual turn over of around Rs three billion, Surya Nepal captures over 60 percent of the Nepali cigarette market. The company is the single largest contributor to the Nepali exchequer, accounting for nearly 4% of the country’s revenue, according to the official website of the Company.

The Maoist rebels had recently abducted a group of contractors working with the company but freed them later. They had also targeted the company’s production plant in the past.

However, Maoists are yet to take the responsibility of their abduction.

Though more vehicles were plying on the roads and more shops were open on the third day of the wek-long bandh (general strike) called by the Maoists on Tuesday, common people said they were facing various problems due to the bandh.

A sizeable number of tempos, micro-buses, taxis and minibuses were seen plying to provide services to commuters. However, such vehicles were charging more money to the passengers. Passengers said vehicles were charging nearly double the fair saying they were providing service to the people at risk.

However, talking to Nepalnews, acting president of Federation of Nepalese Transporter Entrepreneurss and President of Nepal Yatayat, a private transportation company, Hari Narayan Shahi, said they have told their employees not to ask for extra money from passengers.

“I have heard that some buses and other vehicles are charging extra money from passengers, but we have not received any complaint in this regard,” he said.

He said vehicles are being operated as it was hard to survive by keeping the vehicles off the road for seven days. “We have to give remuneration to the drivers and staffs and have to pay loans, so we could not afford to keep the vehicles off the roads for such a long time,” he added.

He said that though they were not assured of the security arrangements, they were operating the vehicles to sustain the business.

Meanwhile, the prices of commodities especially vegetables have gone up sharply due to the bandh. Retail shops are fixing the prices of commodities on their own citing the bandh.

Director of the Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Market Development Committee Bishnudutta Awasthi, told Nepalnews, that the price has gone down in the wholesale market in the recent days as they could not supply vegetables to the retail market.

He said that green vegetables imported from other parts of the country have started to rot in the wholesale market in Kalimati.

He informed that nearly 40 metric tons of vegetable has decayed over the last three days Sunday due to the bandh as the flow of vegetables to the retail market from Kalimati was almost nil.

He said that there was no shortage of vegetable in the market, adding, “Forget about shortage, green vegetables have started to rot in Kalimati.”

Meanwhile, spokesman at the Home Ministry, Gopendra Bahadur Pandey, said life was returning to normalcy thanks to the adequate security arrangements made by the government.

“The effect of bandh has been gradually decreasing as the government is providing adequate security and there has been no untoward incidents during the bandh,” he claimed.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday has urged the Maoists to call off their seven day long Nepal Bandh (general strike) respecting fundamental rights of the people.

A statement issued by the NHRC said, the act of forceful closure through the use of fear and threats violates the very premise of human rights that one should not violate others’ rights while enjoying one’s rights.

The NHRC also called upon the Maoist leadership not to deprive people from enjoying their rights as per their commitment to the universal application of human rights.

Maoists have called the week-long Nepal bandh beginning Sunday to disrupt the municipal polls slated on Wednesday.

Government has banned the plying of vehicles in Kathmandu valley for Wednesday in the areas where polling stations are located.

In a joint notice issued by District Administration Offices of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur on Monday said that operation of vehicles has been prohibited in the areas where the municipal elections are being held in Kathmandu valley on Wednesday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The notice said that vehicles of security forces, fire bridges and ambulances would, however, be allowed. Any other vehicles, including those of media, need to get a permit passes from District Election Offices by Tuesday evening, the notice said.

DAO said that it has been enforced as per the Election Code of Conduct that bans ferrying of voters in vehicles.

Municipal election would be held tomorrow amidst strong protests from political parties, human rights groups, civil society leaders and professional organistions. Most of the people filing their nominations have been declared elected unopposed. The Wednesday polling is to elected representative in over 600 positions in 36 municipalities.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (File Photo)
Two prominent human rights organisations have appealed to the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, regarding the “gross human rights violations” in Nepal in the name of municipal elections.

In a letter sent to the UN secretary general, the Forum for Protection of Human Rights (FOPHUR) and Human Rights Organisation of Nepal (HURON) said the February 8 municipal elections were going to be held in an atmosphere of human rights violation, fear and violent activities.

“We are extremely concerned about the forthcoming local municipal elections being held on February 8 in different parts of Nepal. These elections are being conducted in an atmosphere of series of human rights violations, intimidation, fear and violence, and do not meet the basic principles and standards of free, fair and genuine elections as adopted by the United Nations, particularly the Commission on Human Rights and the Human Rights Committee,” the appeal, which was also circulated to the media, said.

In their seven-point appeal, the rights groups said the elections were being conducted by a government which is liable only to the King – against the popular will– and that the polls would lead the country towards more confrontation between the King and the political parties, including the CPN (Maoist).

“The urge and expectation of the people of Nepal, and the international community have been totally rejected and the generous calls of your Honorable Secretary-General for mediation for peace negotiation with the Maoists have been neglected for the wrong reasons and with wrong intentions,” the letter read, stressing that the polls were being conducted in the situation of violations of all constitutional, legal and international human rights, particularly articles 19, 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICPR).

Highlighting the forced candidacies and clampdown of opposition political leaders and cadres, the FOPHUR and HURON appealed to the UN secretary general to urge the King and his government to “(A) withhold these elections that fail to meet the basis principles and standard of free, fair and genuine elections; and (B) Immediately enter into dialogue and negotiations with all major political parties and the Maoist for peace before conducting elections that lead to more human rights violations, conflicts and violence.”

The rights groups in their letter also said they “highly appreciate your attention to those matters and express our sincere appreciation to your great efforts” of the good offices towards a negotiated settlement of the ongoing conflict in Nepal.