Finnish forensic experts who arrived in Kathmandu Monday on the request of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the OHCHR-Nepal have immediately given themselves to the works of discussing with Nepali experts and testing materials collected from the suspected cremation site of 49 people detained and allegedly killed by the army during the Maoist insurgency.

Professors Helena Ranta of the University of Helsinki and Pekka Saukko from the University of Turku started discussion with Nepali investigators over the sample materials collected from Shivapur National Park, Gauri Pradhan, member of the NHRC, told Nepalnews. He said that they would also visit the site for further study.

The forensic experts will stay for two weeks and work in close cooperation with a team of Nepali experts led by Dr Harihar Wasti that has been carrying out investigations at the site since it was located.

Asked if there are any chances for the forensic experts making any important discovery amidst concerns from rights bodies that evidences may have been trampled upon at the site, Pradhan only said that the NHRC was quite happy with the round-the-clock security arrangement made by the police to secure the site and that they had not received any complaint whatsoever regarding it.

The NHRC had in December found the site with half-burnt logs, partially buried pieces of clothes and plastic bags on a forested slope in the army-protected Shivapuri National Park at the outskirts of Kathmandu. The site is believed to be the burial or cremation site of about 49 Maoists made to disappear by the army during the conflict period. nepalnews.com ag Feb 05 08

General Secretary of Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) Madhav Kumar Nepal, addressing the central committee meeting, at the party central office in Balkhu, Tuesday
The central meeting of the CPN (UML) started at the party head office in Balkhu, Kathmandu, on Tuesday.

The meeting, which is expected to run for at least five days, will discuss party general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal’s political report as well as the party’s election manifesto before endorsing them.

UML sources said the central committee meeting will also work out the party’s strategy for the forthcoming constituent assembly election and discuss the CPN-Maoist’s offer for a working alliance in the polls.

The meeting is also likely to extend the term of the party leadership elected in the 7th general convention held in Janakpur in 2003. The five-year term of the general secretary and the central committee members ends today. nepalnews.com mk Feb 05 08

Rajesh Hari Joshi has been elected as the president of Nepal Chess Association defeating Arun Kumar Shrestha in an lection
held in Kathmandu.

Prakash Sijapati and former National Champion Nabin Tandukar have been elected as vice presidents of the association.

Raghubir Pradhan has been elected as general secretary while Krishna Prasad Shrestha is the new treasurer.

Ramsurat Shah, Gynendra Khaiju, Jung Dewan, Madhav Pradhan, Binita Shrestha and Dhan Laxmi Duwal have been elected as members of the association. nepalnews.com bt Feb 05 08

Many schools in Kathmandu valley remained shut Tuesday after being unable to ferry students in school buses owing to stark fuel crisis in the country.

The schools have closed down just a day ahead of the nationwide closure of schools as announced by Nepal Educational Republican Forum (NERF)

School operators say they were forced to give the students holiday as most of the buses that ferry them to school are in serpentine queues in front of petrol stations in the valley.

Principal of Little Angel’s School Umesh Shrestha said schools were left with no option but to close down as their repeated plea to the government to provide diesel and petrol to schools have fallen on deaf ears. “If the government doesn’t ensure a regular supply of diesel and petrol [to us] then many more schools would be forced to close down,” Shrestha warned

Meanwhile, the Guardian’s Association Nepal (GAN) has urged Nepal Education Republican Forum (NERF) not to shut down schools to press their rights as it would violate children’s right to education.

In its statement issued Monday, GAN said, “Teachers’ closing down school for their sake carries a very negative message to the students. They will be more disturbed this time as the final exam of the academic session is nearing.”

The statement added that NERF and the government should hold dialogue to settle down the issue instead of closing down schools. “The government should address the just demands of the teachers,” it stressed.

NERF announced Monday that it will enforce a nationwide closure of schools on February 6, 7, and 8 and start a new round of protest program to press the government to implement its past commitments, which includes providing appointment letters to private school teachers; give permanent status to all government teachers after completing certain procedure and so on. NERF has also been calling for scrapping of the current Education Act, which it says has become obsolete.

The problem has resurfaced at a time when little over a month is left for the crucial School Leaving Certificat (SLC) examinations. nepalnews.com ag Feb 05 08

The local authorities in the eastern district have intensified mobilisation of the security forces along the highways from Tuesday as strike by Limbuwan groups continued to hit normal life in the eastern region.

The strike called by the Limbuwan State Council since three days has crippled the public life in nine eastern districts.

The decision to mobilise the security forces along the highway was taken during the joint meeting of the political parties and the government authorities on Monday.

Hundreds of personnel of the Nepali Police and Armed Police Force have been escorting the passenger buses and goods carrier trucks east to Itahari, Sunsari.

The Limbuwan cadres obstructed the highway between Pathari and Urlabari and vandalised some vehicles Tuesday morning. Police arrested at least 12 Limbuwan cadres trying to obstruct the highway.

Despite the repeated calls by the government for talks, a faction of the Limbuwan continues agitating in the eastern region. nepalnews.com ia Feb 05 08

A news report from the US says the reportedly missing Nepali workers might rather have left the company to join another in search for better earning after hints were given by the employing company.

Of the 200 Nepali workers at Cinram, a local DVD production company, 150 left the job last week that made headlines in Nepali newspapers.

Challen Stephens of the Huntsville Times, a local newspaper, quoted remaining Nepali workers at the company that their friends would not have left the job had they been given work for at least 40 hours a week. At Cinram, they earned $8 per hour but received fewer hours than they hoped.

Since the end of the Christmas, workers have had little overtime, working only 33 hours one week, 44 the next while having to pay between $200 and $300 on average as house rent.

“Why they are missing is their primary motivation to work and earn money,” Stephens quoted Dr. Tilak Shrestha, a Nepalese scientist who has befriended several of the workers, as saying. “There is not enough work and they went to other places to find better work than the Cinram.”

The Nepali workers who continue to pack boxes at Cinram say their ‘missing’ countrymen didn’t leave without an official OK. On November 29, a few weeks after Nepali workers began labeling and packing DVDs, a letter marked “personal and confidential” arrived at the workers’ apartments.

The letter stated that employment was at-will of the company, adding that, “Employees are free to relinquish their positions at any time, with or without cause.”

“Before getting that letter, no one went to other places,” said one of the remaining workers.

The company official said the missing Nepali might have returned to their country, who had become homesick. But workers say their friends have not (returned) because they have reached the US after paying as high as US$ 25,000 to the agents.

The case now has reached the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and might be dealt diplomatically. nepalnews.com ia Feb 05 08

Minister for Peace and Reconstruction and government talks convener Ram Chandra Poudel
The Election Commission (EC) on Monday warned the government that if the problems persisting in the Terai including other parts of the country is not resolved immediately, then it might adversely affect the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections.

Inviting Minister for Peace and Reconstruction and government talks convener Ram Chandra Poudel to the EC office Monday afternoon, EC officials urged the government to invite all the agitating groups for dialogue and address their problems promptly in order to create a conducive environment for the election. EC also asked the government to form an all-party mechanism in the district, ward and VDC level for the same.

During the meeting, EC officials also told Minister Poudel that if the problem seen in many parts of the country including the Terai is not resolved, the EC would face difficulty in dispatching election material, deploying officers and setting up election offices across the country on schedule.

Talking to journalists after the meeting, Minister Poudel said that the government calls on all armed and unarmed groups including agitating political parties in the Terai and other parts of the country to come forward for dialogue and find amicable solutions in order to ensure election in time. nepalnews.com ag Feb 05 08

A 12-year-old girl has allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a fan in the ceiling of her house.

Prashansa Shrestha of Godamchowk, Banepa-10 in Kavre district was found dangling from the ceiling of her room three days ago few hours after coming from school, police said.

Prashansa was a 5th grader at Gyansarovar school in Banepa. Her father Pratiman Shrestha told Kantipur Daily that she seemed a little depressed after failing her exams a month ago.

“She used to be quite good in her studies before,” he said, adding, “after she failed in her English subject by just one mark she had turned quite gloomy. But we never shouted at her or put her in any kind of pressure. In fact, we used to let her do whatever she wanted and met all her demands.”

Police Inspector Shyam Krishna Adhikari however said it was too early to determine the exact cause of her suicide and that they are currently investigating the case. nepalnews.com ag Feb 05 08

The government will start tightening the security in Terai region from mid-February, according to Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ram Kumar Chaudhary.

Chaudhary said that since the situation could have further flared up had the government tightened the security in one-go in Terai, the authorities are gradually tightening the knot.

“By the time of election, the situation would have returned to normal,” he told reporters in Biratnagar, on Monday.

He added that the government would now isolate criminal elements and those engaged in foiling election and take stringent action against them.

Chaudhary also said that the government was not considering taking action against police officials of Birgunj who have been accused by some Madhesi groups to have killed their cadres in the name of encounter.

“That was the result of security encounter. The government will not do anything to hurt the morale of security personnel,” he said. nepalnews.com sd Feb 05 08

A senior leader of the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) has expressed his displeasure with the decision of the seven party alliance steering committee to suspend the Free Student Union (FSU) election.

The UML leader Iswor Pokharel has termed as ‘nonsense’ the very proposal to suspend the FSU polls that was introduced at the seven party meeting on Monday morning. The meeting later decided to endorse the proposal.

“It was nonsense to broach the issue at the seven party meeting. If the Prime Minister had so desired, he could have summoned the vice chancellors and ordered them to suspend the election since he is the chancellor (of the universities),” Pokharel said after the seven parties decided to advise the Tribhuwan University and Nepal Sanskrit University to suspend the FSU election slated for February 28. FSU elections are held once every two years in colleges affiliated with the universities across the country

The proposal was made by the Maoists and seconded by Nepali Congress, reports said, while UML had to reluctantly agree to it.

“I cannot buy their argument that the student election would have affected Constituent Assembly election. Even during Jana Andolan, the students had participated in FSU election,” Pokharel reasoned.

Meanwhile, president of UML-affiliated All Nepal National Free Students Union (ANNFSU) Thakur Gaire has questioned the intention of the parties that introduced the proposal to suspend FSU election.

“The parties that made such proposal have given out signals that they do not want the CA election as well,” he said.

Protesting the decision, the ANNFSU activists even burnt tyres and blocked roads in the capital city in the afternoon. nepalnews.com sd Feb 04 08