Mahendra Police Club (MPC) beat Brigade Boys Club (BBC) 2-0, Jawalakhel Youth Club (JYC) played to a 2-2 tie against Machhindra Football Club (MFC) while Friend’s Club (FC) defeated Mahabir Club (MC) 3-1 in the matches played today in the ANFA Martyrs’ Memorial “A” Division League Football Tournament.
At the match played at Dashrath Stadium, Arjun Rijal headed home an early for MPC in the 4th minute off Bhola Silwal’s cross. MPC stubborn defense line didn’t provide any room to BBC and doubled the tally through Jumanu Rai in the 32nd minute. Rai dribbled past as many as three defenders after collecting a superb pass from Arjun Rijal before firing home a brilliant goal. After taking the lemon tea break, MPC didn’t play aggressive and was satisfied with the half-time margin.
In another match played at same venue, MFC came from behind to lock horns with JYC. AM Michael of MFC put the Red Lions ahead in the 9th minute off the pass of Deepak Rai. A mistake by MFC resulted in an JYC equalizer goal through Doran Serchan. Serchan scored through his jumping header utilizing the cross off Prabeen Manandhar.
The lemon break refreshed the JYC team as they took a lead in the first minute through Dipesh Thapa. But MFC restored parity in the 71st minute through Azad Pradhan. Pradhan utilized his perfect left footed shot that easily went past the goalie kissing the roof of the net.
Elsewhere at Halchowk Stadium, Friends Club collected some hopes to avoid relegation with a comprehensive 3-1 win against Mahabir Club. Sishir Adhikari put FC ahead in the 10th minute but Nigerian recruit Chikwa Akushie drew blood for MC in the 35th minute to level the score.
After the interval, FC pressed their front line with new Nigerian signing Felix Akiojano and doubled the tally in the 70th minute through Rabin Byanjankar. Finally, Felix put the issue beyond the doubt when he found third in the 86th minute.
‘Header king’ back to the green
‘Header King’ Dev Narayan Chowdhary has come back to green after the MPC side lacked strong players in its reserve bench. “It is my pleasure to play for MPC again,” Chowdhary, who had retired from MPC told Nepalnews.
“I have spent glorious days in MPC and I don’t want to neglect when my seniors calling me back to play,” he added. Chowdhary entered the ground in the 82nd minute and got chance to touch the ball thrice and created one move for Bhola Silwal, which he wasted shooting wide off the target.
“Now, I am back to score and to uplift the image of Mahendra Police Club,” he said proudly. But, unfortunately, he sports number 48 instead of his famous number 7 on his back.
A central level coordination of Ministries of Health and Population (MoHP) and Women, Children and Social Welfare with other groups has sought to execute reproductive health programmes and its follow-up activities in the rural areas to ensure efficacy of reproductive health check-up and treatment services in rural areas.
Sulochana Shrestha, gender and development specialist with the United Nations Volunteers, said, “The factor of inadequate efforts is clear from the feedback that has been received from the reproductive health check-up camps and also the treatment support activities carried out in 39 village development committees (VDCs) of 13 districts in 2005 by the Department of Women’s Development (DWD) and the SNIP project of UNFPA,” reports said.
“As matters stand, the coordination at the district-level organised in close collaboration with Women’s Development Office, District Health Office, hospitals, health posts, sub-health posts, local authorities and concerned NGOs is not enough to effectively hold reproductive health camps,” Shrestha added.
Shrestha also said that a total of 7441 women have benefited from the reproductive health camps.
The majority of these women were identified as suffering from various problems, including prolapsed uterus, uterine erosion, lower abdominal pain and leucorrhea (white water discharge), sexually transmitted infections (STI), irregular and painful menstruation, bleeding, back pain, problems in pregnancy, pain after operation of the uterus.
The DWD and other organisations also try to help the women overcome their shyness in approaching the health service providers and disclosing to them their problems, Shrestha added.
Director of Department of Women’s Development, Keshav Prasad Regmi said, “Reproductive health camps have always been carried out in collaboration with the health sector, both at the local and central levels.”
He added that the DWD works on the management side of the camps and encourages more participation of women in the camp while the health sector works on the technical side of the camps.
As the capital city braces for gloomy and uncertain days ahead with political parities announcing joint movement and the Maoists back to their violent ways to disrupt the upcoming municipal polls, the denizens of this city can atleast take some respite from all this madding chaos by visiting Nepal Association of Fine Arts located inside the sprawling Rana mansion of Sitabhawan in Naxal where the 36th National Art & Craft Exhibition – 2062 is currently on.
You walk in through an entrance of the Rana mansion with the board of NAFA and National Birendra Art Museum hung atop it, walk through a dark corridor and climb a flight of stairs to reach the top floor that houses NAFA and National Birendra Art Museum, and immediately after you saunter inside you come across the paintings that are on display here. For the first few minutes you may simply need to think where to start.
With altogether 276 artists from around the country participating in this annual art and craft competition in four different categories (contemporary painting, contemporary sculpture, traditional and craft), with some artists putting up more than one work of theirs; the paintings literally occupy every inch of the wall of different galleries and also the hallway that connects it along the entire top floor. Hence it is tiring to go through each work of art individually. To add to it the haphazard placement of the paintings on the walls, according to one visitor, creates problem in taking in all the paintings on display properly.
But this messiness notwithstanding, some paintings and sculptures give some kind of order to this exhibition. Take for instance, artist Asha Dangol’s arresting painting titled ‘Tantrik Love,’ done on acrylic color which was also adjudged first in contemporary painting category. The painting is so sensuous and at the same time mystical that one could only express awe at the achievement of the artist. The same goes for Kriti Chand’s painting titled ‘Rachana’ which came second and Jasmin Rajbhandari painting titled ‘The street’ which came third, although one could clearly see the influence of Picasso on both these artists. Works by Roshan Pradhan and Gautam Ratna Tuladhar are equally splendid and the judging committee did well in giving special prizes to them.
In the contemporary sculpture, Sudarashan Bikram Rana’s work received first prize, but it was Bhuwan Thapa’s depiction of ‘current situation’ on wood that seemed to hold some ring about it. The artist should be appreciated for his splendid effort in depicting the troubled times we are living in, and his creation rightly claimed the second prize in the category.
But it is not only the works of prizewinners that makes the visit to this exhibition worthwhile. Other paintings and sculptures on display are equally remarkable and only add to this fascinating experience. To name a few, paintings by Puran Khadka and Buddhi Thapa are, as always, splendid, as are those by young artists like Erina Tamrakar, Rabin Koirala and Krishna Prakash Shah.
Other prizewinners of the 36th National Art & Craft Exhibition, 2062 are as follows:
Bijaya Maharjan ‘s ‘Desire’ claimed third prize in the sculpture category while special prizes were given to Narendra Prasad Bhandari and Roshan Marjan.
Ram Prakash Shrestha was declared first in the traditional category while Sundar Sinkhwal second and Devendra Sinkhwal third. Bijaya Sarga Jyapoo and Kunchhang Lama received special prizes.
Similarly in craft category, Bibhusan Navin Tamrakar received the first prize, Binod Shakya second, and Shyam KC third. Shyam Sundar Yadav and Thirtha Man Sthapit received special prizes.
And lastly for the regional prizes, Chhetra Lal Kayastha was awarded from the western region, Tirtha Niraula from the eastern region and Uttam Shakya from the central region.
by Preeti Koirala
There has been much debate on whether the curfew clamped by the government on Jan. 20th was actually needed. While some have said that it exposed the defeated mentality of the government in not allowing a supposedly peaceful rally by the 7 agitating parties others have maintained that to avert any possible violence in the capital city this preventive measure was essential.
One incident, which is still afresh in the people’s minds, is what happened on the fateful day on September 1st 2004 in the valley. Taking cue from the killing of innocent Nepali laborers in Iraq, thousands of protestors poured into the streets of Kathmandu and started vandalizing vehicles, burning and destroying manpower offices, throwing stones at travel agencies, burning the holy mosques and pelting stones at policemen. There was scene of setting ablaze of manpower offices (although these houses were rented) and devastating office apparatus such as computers, burning of passports, etc. Within a few hours the angry mob of sympathizers of Nepalese being killed in Iraq had metamorphosed itself into a gang of looters, muggers and hooligans. By 12 in the afternoon, offices of prominent media houses such as the Spacetime, Kantipur Publications were attacked. Spacetime daily since then has ceased publications. The investigation committee that was formed after the incident could not find out who these bunches of looters were and could only recommend to the government that a timely curfew would have saved millions worth of government and private property on that horrible day in Kathmandu.
The same civil society groups, human rights activists and journalists that are clamoring today of abuse of civil liberties by the government had at that time groaned over government apathy and sluggishness in imposing a curfew. They even said that the government was non-existent and the Prime Minister (Sher Bahadur Deuba at that time) remained a mere spectator till everything had gone out of hand. The government even failed in giving compensation to the owners of properties that were looted or destroyed.
So, what is correct? To allow a frenzied mob to take things into their own hands and let worse to happen in the name of civil liberty and democracy or take a timely measure and ensure that the sovereign people’s life and property is not destroyed by the same bunch of people that claim to be the messiah of democracy. Any sensible government would choose the latter. At least people are secure, at least private houses are not burnt, shops not looted even though they have to sit inside their own houses under a curfew. It is indeed a difficult choice but the choice has to be made. The Maoists could well have planted a bomb in Basantpur rally and blamed the Royal Nepal Army for murdering party workers, or shot one of the senior leaders and blamed the royal government for committing a heinous crime. It is better that the leaders are locked up inside their own houses if it saves their own lives.
What is most appalling is the reaction of one section of the international community mainly India, and the US over this incident. Just a month ago, there was a big riot in Haryana and the Haryana police lathi-charged, used rounds of tear gas shells and even misbehaved with the locals. Dozens of protestors and CPI (M) leaders were arrested. They beat up the protestors who apparently were workers of a multinational company so much that it became national news. Curfew was clamped in the city. Did the Nepal Government issue a statement saying that it “was greatly disturbed and concerned by the incident?” Did Nepal Television over-blow the footage of the scene and questioned Prime Minister Dr Man Mohan Singh for being out of Delhi at that time?
During the elections in Iraq, thousands of Iraqis were killed, several more thousands of American soldiers have already lost their lives trying to bring “democracy” in Iraq but the majority Sunni population decided to boycott the elections. The elections were important because it was already a prestige issue for President Bush and indeed for the cause of democracy, freedom, and stability in that country. Without elections there would never be an elected government, and the Americans would continuously be hammered for remaining without the mandate of the people of that country. So, with or without the Sunnis, the elections were held. When Nepal is trying to do the same by trying to hold municipal elections in 58 municipalities which are very crucial in bringing back democracy de-railed by the democratically elected Prime Minister and when a group of Sunni like 7 parties vow to disrupt the polls, why does America take the side of the same election boycotters? Did Nepal say that Sunni leaders should not have been arrested, whatever mischief that they did; Or, America should only abide the dictates of the mullahs and high priests of Sunni mosques because they had once represented the voice of the majority people of Iraq? Did Nepal ever condemn the atrocities committed by American soldiers in trying to disrupt grand Sunni rallies in Iraq? Did our government spokesman ever call for reconciliation between the American soldiers and the Bathists at the earliest?
After the audiotape warning of Osama Bin Laden a few days ago that they would try a major attack yet again, President Bush categorically said that he doesn’t negotiate with terrorists (Period). So, why does the American envoy James F Moriarty incessantly urge us that there is no military solution to the problem in Nepal? If there is none, why doesn’t his own government try negotiating with the Al Qaeda? It is clear given the scale of violence around the world that the American and the British Army will never be able to curtail the Al Qaeda, let alone defeat it. Why doesn’t Prime Minister Blair therefore accept the genuine demands of Bin Laden or else tell his foreign office to shut up on the case of Nepal?
This double standard of preaching others without even realizing one’s own burning problems at home only expose the myths of the kind of democracies that India, UK and the US are. The first responsibility of any government anywhere in the world is the protection of its citizens. Democracy, civil rights, the right to assembly, right to information are all secondary and in a country like ours which is experiencing one of the most brutal communist insurgencies in the world, it is the foremost duty of the government to ensure that these terrorists don’t take advantage of any situation to plant bombs, hurl grenades and assassinate prominent personalities.
The municipal elections due for Feb 8th must be held at any cost. To borrow the words of American First Lady Laura Bush, “Nobody likes war but democracy is too important especially in that part of the world.” Sovereign Nepalese have a right to have their own elected representatives with or without the 7 agitating parties. It has been nearly seven odd years without having elections and the people are desperate to vote. Democracy is too important to leave it in the hands of hooligans on the Basantpur durbar square.
(Editor’s Note: Nepalis, wherever they live, as well as friends of Nepal around the globe are requested to contribute their views/opinions/recollections etc. on issues concerning present day Nepal to the Guest Column of Nepalnews. Length of the article should not be more than 1,000 words and may be edited for the purpose of clarity and space. Relevant photos as well as photo of the author may also be sent along with the article. Please send your write-ups to [email protected] and your comments/suggestions to [email protected])
Video footage shot by CNN-IBN and Star News TV channels on Friday of soldiers inside the Koteshwor residence of CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, who has been placed under house arrest, was erased by the army, a newspaper report said on Saturday.
The tapes were returned nearly five hours after they were seized, Parul Malhotra, The Kathmandu Post daily quoted senior correspondent of CNN-IBN channel as saying.
According to Malhotra, the soldiers objected to being shown on tape surrounding Nepal’s residence and inside it, and asked the Indian TV channel crews to hand over the tapes. The crew refused and the argument went on for nearly an hour. “The officer demanding the tapes became quite unreasonable; he started contacting his seniors and became panicky.”
It was then that the TV crews offered to erase the footage, but the officer demanded that the tapes be handed over
Later, the offer to erase the tapes also became unacceptable as the officer “insisted” that since he did not know the technicalities, it had to be handled by a technical team.
In the end, he told the TV crews to either wait for about three hours for the tech team or leave the tapes behind and come back later to collect the erased tapes.
“Seeing no option, we had to leave the tapes and I had to go back at 5 p.m. and collect them, and the concerned footage was erased,” Malhotra informed.
Top leaders of the major opposition political parties have been placed under house arrest from Thursday ahead of the proposed mass meeting of the seven party alliance for Friday.
Radha Krishna Mainali
Radha Krishna Mainali
(File photo)
Minister for Education and Sports and Pro-Chancellor of Pokhara University, Radha Krishna Mainali, has stressed that education should be made qualitative, affordable, employment-oriented and life skill-based, rather a vehicle to churn out the educated but unemployed persons.
Addressing the fifth convocation of Pokhara University in Pokhara on Friday, Minister Mainali said that the process has been initiated for drafting a University Act to bring all the universities of the country under an umbrella.
He expressed the government’s readiness to extend cooperation in resolving the problems of the university.
Educationist Dr Harka Gurung underlined the need to provide the opportunity for higher education on a proportional basis as several districts in the country remain deprived of higher education, in sharp contrast to the mushrooming of institutions of higher education in Kathmandu valley.
Dr Gurung also pointed out the need of making education meet the needs of the country and employment oriented.
Vice-chancellor (VC) of Pokhara University, Dr Purushottam Baskota, said that the university is committed to providing education that is useful to the nation.
VC Baskota said the university is providing quality education despite limited resources.
On the occasion, Minister Mainali presented the “Vice Chancellor Medal” to Binita Shrestha, who secured the highest marks in all the Bachelor level examinations conducted by the university this year and the “Chancellor Medal” to Pujan Shrestha who secured highest marks in the Master level examinations.
At the convocation, some 1,000 students completing Bachelor and Master level studies at the university were conferred different degrees.
In what is seen as an indication of growing international pressure upon the royal regime, the governments of India and US have said they are “concerned by the latest actions of the King in Nepal.”
File photo of US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns with Indian Foreign Secreteray Shyam Saran (Photo source: www.spacewar.com)
File photo of US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns with Indian Foreign Secreteray Shyam Saran (Photo source: www.spacewar.com)
Addressing a joint press conference in New Delhi on Friday, Under Secretary at the US Department of State Nicholas Burns, who is currently in India, and Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Sharan called on His Majesty King Gyanendra to restore democratic processes and release the arrested leaders and human rights activists immediately. Nicholas told reporters that India and US should ‘try to assert’ democratic reconciliation in Nepal.
“We are very concerned by the actions of the King,” Burns said referring to the arrest of top political leaders and hundreds of political activists and imposition of curfew ahead of an anti-king rally in Kathmandu.
In an official communiqué, the US administration has criticized the actions of Nepal government against the protesting political and human rights leaders. The US government also criticized the Maoists saying that they should not use violence as a political weapon.
Reports noted that it was the first time India and the US directly referred to the King instead of the Nepal government while commenting upon the on-going political turmoil in the Himalayan kingdom.
Meanwhile, a powerful political party of India, the CPI (Marxist) has condemned what it called the renewed `repression’ by the royal regime in Nepal.
In a statement issued Friday, the CPI (M) Politbureau said, “There is no doubt whatsoever that the King will not allow any democratic political activities. The CPI (M) is confident that the people of Nepal will respond in a big way to the call for ending the autocratic regime.”
Local authorities in Kathmandu and Lalitpur have reduced curfew hours within the Ring Road area by one hour on Saturday. The curfew will be enforced overnight from 10:00 p. m. until 4:00 a.m. on Sunday.
The curfew orders will remain in force until further notice, an official announcement said.
The government had imposed curfew in the capital beginning last Monday– two days after one dozen security personnel were killed in simultaneous Maoist attacks on two police posts in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur districts.
The district administrations in their notices said the security forces have been allowed to shoot anybody trying to break the curfew orders.
Himal Media, a reputed Kathmandu-based media house, has test-launched its Nepali news portal www.himalkhabar.com.
The news site, which will be officially launched on February 1 this year, aims to reach out to Nepalis and Nepali-speaking readers living around the world, said Rajendra Dahal, editor of Himal khabar patrika– a leading fortnightly newsmagazine known for his in-depth and investigative news, views and analysis.
Himal khabarpatrika is known for fearlessly criticising the royal takeover and growing role of the Nepalese Army in the country’s affairs post Feburary 1, 2005.
Himal Media also publishes Nepali Times weekly newspaper and Wave, a monthly magazine for the youths.
“Realising the current trend of newspapers and FM radios being replaced by the news portals as first source of the news, we have decided to launch a news portal. It will mainly benefit Nepalis living around the world,” said Dahal adding, “Nepali readers will find Nepali news site to be handy.”
Dahal expressed confidence that Himal Media would maintain its credibility in its new venture also.
At least three Maoist militants have been killed in encounters with the security forces in Palpa and Tehrathum districts.
Two Maoists were killed during a clash with the security forces at Devgiri area of Palpa district Saturday afternoon, a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. The dead bodies were found during a search following the skirmish, it added.
Similarly, one Maoist was killed during a search operation carried out by the security forces in Saghuri Bihibare area of Tehrathum district on Friday. The dead has been identified as Ram Bahadur Limbu alias Lila, a member of the Maoist-affiliated Kirat National Liberation Front, the MoD statement said.