Police arrested nearly a dozen political activists from the western district of Dang to prevent them from participating in the anti-poll campaign of the alliance of seven agitating political parties.
Police arrested district leaders of the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML.
Those arrested NC leaders are – District Working Committee members Shanta Giri, Khag Raj Pundit, Top Bahadur KC and Keshav Acharya.
Similarly, district secretary of the UML, Shree Mani Acharya, former mayor from UML Dhundi Raj Lamichhane and Rima Nepali were also arrested, among others.
Police arrested them during raids in their residences, a report from the district said.
The seven political parties that are actively boycotting the municipal poll slated for February 8 are carrying out various programmes to disrupt the poll.
With nine days left for the municipal elections, the Election Commission (EC) has begun the issuance of certificates to elected candidates from Sunday.
The government-run Gorkhapatra daily reported that Chief District Officer (CDO) of Tanahu Tej Bir Jung Rayamajhi, who is also the district election officer, gave away certificates to newly elected candidates of Vyas municipality.
Sundar Bahadur Gurung, who was the only candidate filing his nomination for municipality chief received his certificate amidst a function. Similarly Deputy Mayor Gau Maya Gurung and eight other candidates who were declared elected unopposed also received their certificates during the same function.
Only 32 persons have filed their nominations for 57 seats of Vyas municipality and 22 of them withdrew their candidacy on Saturday.
Similarly, the district election office in Gorkha gave away certificates to its newly elected Mayor Man Bahadur Shrestha, Deputy Mayor Ram Kumar Shrestha and ward chairmen of ward nos. 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 on Sunday.
Reports say that certificates have been distributed in Butwal and Nepalgunj municipalities as well.
The EC had declared 24 candidates for Mayor and 31 for deputy mayors as elected unopposed. Similarly, 390 ward chairmen, 618 ward members and 210 female representatives have been declared elected.
Most of the elected candidates are affiliated to dissident faction of Rastriya Prajatntra Party led by Home Minister Kamal Thapa. A few of them represent Nepal Sadbhawana Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Rastrabadi) and Independent candidates.
Candidates in 22 municipalities across the country have been declared elected unopposed. Polls are to be held only in 36 municipalities on February 8.
The government has decided to assist Bharat Keshar Singh, president of World Hindu Federation with Rs 4.5 million in grant, reports say.
Reports say that Singh had demanded Rs 9 million for his organization.
The pro-king Hindu outfit would receive this amount to celebrate the federation’s silver jubilee anniversary.
WHF is one of the advocates of the king’s active participation in politics and had announced him to be the emperor of Hindus. WHF had already received the grant of Rs 1.2 million immediately after the royal takeover last year.
More than two dozen women activists of seven political parties that have been waging a pro-democracy movement were arrested from anti-election protest rallies in Kathmandu on Tuesday.
Women activists of the seven political parties being arrested at New Baneswore during their anti-election protest rally in Kathmandu on Tuesday, Jan 31 06. nepalnews.com/rh
The women activities took out a rally from Gaushala but riot police immediately intervened into the rally and arrested some of them. Carrying banners and flags of agitating political parties, the protesters chanted slogans against the government and the February 8 municipal elections.
Our correspondent on the site said over the phone that the over 20 protesters were arrested form Old Baneshwor and the surrounding areas. The demonstrators scuffled with the police at different places but no violence took place during the protests.
Calling for active boycott of the upcoming elections, the seven-party alliance has been organizing nationwide protest programs during which hundreds of activists have been detained.
Nearly half the respondents of an opinion poll survey carried out by an independent organization have said that they don’t believe the forthcoming municipal polls will be held in free and fair manner.
Click on pic to enlarge
An opinion poll survey carried out by the Interdisciplinary Analyst, a Kathmandu based research organization said that only 16.4 percent respondents believe that the municipal polls will be held in free and fair manner.
According to surveyors, samples have been collected from 32 municipalities of 25 districts of the country.
Of the 1,500 total respondents, nearly half of them expressed their wiliness to vote in the forthcoming municipal polls while nearly 30 percent respondents said they have not yet decided on it. Nearly 20 percent respondents said that they will not cast votes in the upcoming municipal elections.
Only one third respondents said that the election is important to restore the stalled democratic process in the present circumstances, while 25 percent marked if not important at all.
Speaking at the report release programme, Dr Sudindra Sharma, Interdisciplinary analyst said that the result may be different as the poll was conducted before Maoists started action against the municipal candidates.
The survey was conducted in Kathmandu valley before the Maoist attack at Thankot checkpoint.
Another Interdisciplinary analyst, Pawan Kumar Sen, said that they had collected samples from various groups to minimize error in sampling.
The survey was conducted between Januray 5 to 25.
Sen informed that nearly 54 percent respondents were of the age group 18-35, 35 percent of the age group 36-55 and 11 percent of the age group 56 and above.
He claimed that they had given more attention in sample collection to represent larger population through small samples.
“Nearly 14 percent respondents were directly affected by the conflict,” he added.
Of the total people who had expressed their willingness, nearly one third said that they will vote for the independent candidates. Nearly 26 percent said they will vote for party candidates.
Despite the government’s commitment to provide full security to the poll candidates and voters, among the people who had said they won’t vote in the upcoming municipal polls, nearly 25 percent of them said it is unsafe to go to the polling centres, while 23 percent said they were not voting because the elections were unconstitutional. However only 8 percent respondents said that they were not voting as the party they would like to vote for was boycotting the polls.
The government is holding municipal poll on February 8 despite the call of seven party opposition alliance to actively boycott it and the Maoist threat to disrupt it.
The survey was conducted before the date of filing of candidacy for the municipal poll.
The Interdisciplinary Analyst conducted opinion poll surveys in earlier elections also.
Hundreds of activists of the seven agitating political parties were arrested across the country on Tuesday ahead of a planned nationwide demonstrations to observe last year’s February 1 royal move as ‘black day’.
Women activists of the seven political parties being arrested at New Baneswore during their anti-election protest rally in Kathmandu on Tuesday, Jan 31 06. nepalnews.com/rh
Nepali Congress spokesman Krishna Prasad Sitaula told Nepalnews that hundreds of leaders and activists of the seven-party alliance were apprehended by the police in various districts including Jhapa, Dang, Makwanpur and Palpa.
The exact number of arrested could not be confirmed independently but the NC spokesman claimed that more than 500 activists were arrested today, most of them from their houses. Similarly, over 50 women activists of the seven parties were arrested during protest rallies in Kathmandu in the afternoon.
“The government has made these arrests in order to thwart our protest programs on Wednesday. But the parties are set to organise massive protest rallies across the country,” he said and informed that dozens of professional organizations and human rights groups are also participating in the ‘black day’ protests.
The King sacked a four-party government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba and assumed direct power on February 1, 2005. The seven parties and the civil society groups have been waging a movement against the royal move since then.
The United Nations Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal has renewed its call to the leadership of the CPN (Maoist) to state publicly and to all its cadres that it is against its policy to harm unarmed civilians, including electoral candidates, in violation of their right to life and physical integrity.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Representative of the UN OHCHR in Nepal, Ian Marin, said, “I regret that the Maoist leadership has been silent since I urged them to condemn the killing of Bijay Lal Das in Janakpur on 22 January. This silence calls into question the commitment expressed by Party Chairman Prachanda that physical action against unarmed individuals had been halted, and the assurance given to me recently that this would apply to candidates and officials in the municipal elections.”
Representative of the UN OHCHR in Nepal Ian Marin (File Photo)
Representative of the UN OHCHR in Nepal Ian Marin (File Photo)
In addition to the killing of Mr. Das, OHCHR-Nepal immediately requested information from the CPN (M) about the abduction on 25 January of Ram Kumar Tharu, prospective mayoral candidate in Gulariya, Bardiya District; no response has yet been received. “OHCHR-Nepal condemns the shooting of Dal Bahadur Rai, deputy mayoral candidate in Lalitpur, on Monday. It calls for the CPN (M) to state whether its cadres were responsible in each of these cases, which have occurred in the context of several threatening statements by local CPN (M) representatives, including the 28 January press statement by Prabhakiran on behalf of the CPN (M)’s Valley Bureau threatening “the most serious consequences” to those filing candidacy or participating in the elections, the statement said.
“The response of the CPN (Maoist) leadership to my request for clarification will be an indication of their commitment to respect international human rights and humanitarian law”, Ian Martin added.
OHCHR-Nepal also deplores all other violence or threats of violence against candidates aimed at coercing them to withdraw, or not withdraw, from the electoral process, the statement added.
His Majesty King Gyanendra is to address the nation at 9 a. m. on Wednesday (Feb. 1), an official announcement said.
His Majesty King Gyanendra
His Majesty King Gyanendra
(photo source : nepalihimal.com)
The state-run Nepal Television (NTV) quoted the press secretariat to HM the King as saying that the monarch would address the nation tomorrow morning.
The proclamation will be aired over the NTV at 9:00 in the morning, the state-run TV said.
No details were provided.
His Majesty is addressing the nation upon the completion of the first year of his direct rule.
There are reports of hundreds of arrests across the country today as the opposition parties and rights groups plan to observe Wednesday as a “Black Day.”
Through a royal proclamation in the morning of February 1, last year, King Gyanendra had dismissed a coalition government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba, jailed hundreds of activists across the country, state of emergency was declared and harsh press censorship was introduced.
Though the state of emergency was lifted after three months, critics say civil liberties and press freedom are still curtailed.
Authorities don’t agree. They say Nepali media is one of the freest in the world and certain restrictions on the civil liberties are only temporary in nature “to return towards a democratic process including civic polls.”
Municipal polls are scheduled to take place on February 8, this year.
The United States has said on Tuesday that it remains troubled by developments in Nepal, one year after the King seized power on February 1, 2005.
Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman
(Photo source : state.gov)
In a statement issued in Washington DC today, a spokesman of the US States Department said twelve months of palace rule have only made the security situation more precarious, emboldened the Maoist insurgents, and widened the division between the country’s political parties and the King.
“The United States remains particularly concerned by the Maoist insurgency, which presents the most immediate threat to a peaceful and prosperous Nepal,” the statement issued by Adam Ereli, deputy spokesman at the US state dept. said.
The US government has also urged the Nepali monarch to return to democracy by initiating a dialogue with the country’s political parties. After one year of unsuccessful authoritarian rule, this is the best way to address the Maoist insurgency and to build a brighter future for Nepal’s people.
The US statement has come hours before King Gyanendra is to address the nation Wednesday morning to mark the completion of his direct rule.
Jean Christophe Lafaille—a French mountaineer who was on a mountaineering expedition to climb 8,463 meters high Mount Makalu– has been missing for the past three days, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation said in Kathmandu Tuesday.
A helicopter was flown to the Makalu region to find Lafaille but his whereabouts could not be known, officials said.
Lafaille last spoke to his wife and manager Katie via satellite phone on Thursday, when he was camped at an altitude of 7,600 metres on the eve of his bid for the summit of Mt Makalu, a French news agency AFP reported today.
Mount Makalu is Nepal’s only 8000m mountain that remains unclimbed in winter.
“It’s of great concern to us. This was a solo climb,” AFP quoted Mohan Singh Chhetri, general manager of Asian Trekking, which organised Lafaille’s expedition, as saying. Chhetri said the agency has contacted the French embassy in Kathmandu about possible rescue options.
“No rescue is possible past 7,000 meters,” the news agency quoted a source who asked not to be named. “Choppers can’t go that high and small planes are no use.”
Katie Lafaille initially believed that her husband had failed to call because of a low battery on the satellite phone, Chhetri said. “We have received e-mails from her. She will be coming to Kathmandu to go to the base camp,” he added.
Lafaille has previously scaled 11 peaks above 8,000 meters and has made at least once dramatic reappearance in the past, when he was given up for dead on the south face of Mount Annapurna. In 1992, he first began to scale the Himalayas with a climb on Annapurna with Pierre Beghin, who suffered a fatal accident at 7,000 meters, the news report said.