WEEKLY NEPAL MEDIA REPORT: JUNE 17 - 23, 2003

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001169

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC PGOV PREL KMDR NP
SUBJECT: WEEKLY NEPAL MEDIA REPORT: JUNE 17 - 23, 2003

- STATE FOR NP, AC, PM
- STATE FOR IN/R/MR
- STATE FOR SA/INS, PM/CBM, PM/PRO
- STATE FOR SA/PPD


1. POLITICAL AFFAIRS

-- Five parties, Maoists hold massive rallies: The five
agitating political parties and the Maoists took
separate rallies on Friday in the capital against the
"regression". (Media reports, 6/21)

-- Nepal warns king: UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar
Nepal has warned the king to quit the throne and
compete as a political leader if he really wants to be
active in politics. (independent "Nepal Samacharpatra,"
V/D, 6/17)
MAOISTS AND OTHERS ACCUSE U.S. OF INTERFERENCE

-- Maoists ask help from India and China for talks: The
Maoists have said that India and China should help to
make the government-Maoist talks successful. The
Maoist party has claimed that India and China will be
the greatest sufferers if the U.S. plans of thwarting
the peace talks succeed. "The U.S. is now blatantly
involved in a conspiracy to jeopardize the peace talks.
The five year antiterrorism agreement with the Royal
Nepal Army and the inclusion of the Maoists in the
terrorist list are some reflections of the conspiracy,"
said senior Maoist leader Ram Bahadur Thapa "Badal" to
"Rajdhani". The U.S. wants to capture the two huge
markets in the south and north by making Nepal a
strategic and political base, he said. The U.S. has
come to Nepal to stop China and India from becoming its
future rivals, he said. Badal accused the U.S. of
mobilizing the Nepal army with weapons, training and
other support in order to jeopardize the talks.
(centrist "Rajdhani," V/D, 6/22)

-- RNA disrupting peace talks, says Maoist
spokesperson: The "old regime" and the Nepalese Army
are trying to disrupt the peace talks, charged Maoist
spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara. Mahara also
claimed that a big conspiracy was being hatched with
the United States playing its card from behind the
scenes. (Pro-India "Himalayan Times," E/D, 6/21)

-- Dr. Bhattarai charges British and Americans: Maoist
leader Dr. Baburam Bhattarai said: "The British and
Americans have penetrated the Royal Palace and
completely taken control of the governance. This has
compelled the Maoists to fight for our nationality.
The king has put forward Surya Bahadur Thapa as prime
minister to hold elections. But the elections will not
be held for the Nepalese people, it will be in the
interests of the Palace and foreigners." ("Nepal
Samacharpatra," 6/17)

-- Human Rights Service Center criticizes U.S.: U.S.
Ambassador Michael Malinowski's remark that "the U.S.
doesn't like the Maoists' activities in Nepali
politics" has interfered in the right of the Nepali
people to elect their own government. Although America
has welcomed the talks, it is only external. It is
actually trying to jeopardize the talks by directly
interfering in our national freedom and political and
civil rights. We appeal to the U.S. President to annul
the recent secret antiterrorism agreement between Nepal
and the U.S. and take back his troops from here.
(letter by the Human Rights Service Center to the
editor, "Drishti" weekly, 6/17, UML-mouthpiece)

-- Maoist spokesperson charges America: Maoist
spokesperson and talks team member Krishna Bahadur
Mahara said: "Foreigners are running this government
now. This means the major keys of the country are with
foreigners, especially in the hands of imperialists.
The army is in the hand of America, it is not even
under the king." (Mahara's interview in "Drishti,"
6/17)

AR
MY-MAOIST EXCHANGE FIRE

-- 7 Maoists, 1 local killed in clashes with army: At
least seven armed Maoist rebels and a commoner were
killed in exchange of fire between the Royal Nepal Army
(RNA) personnel and the rebels in Jajarkot district.
The army men first opened fire after the rebels blocked
them from conducting a health camp. ("Rajdhani" and the
centrist "Kathmandu Post," E/D, 6/19-22)

2. STUDENT UNREST

-- Striking student unions to intensify protests: The
seven agitating student unions, demanding free
education till the secondary level, said that they
would continue with their protests including locking
the educational institutions. (Media reports, 6/23)

-- School students forced to join agitation: School
teachers and parents accused the Maoists of forcing
thousands of students in uniform to take part in their
political rally on Friday. The participants in the
rally were mostly school students, neatly dressed in
their school uniforms. They were "forced" to march in
the streets with placards and banners belonging to the
Maoists. (centrist "Kantipur," V,D, and the Kathmandu
Post, 6/21)

-- Students tell parents not to pay school fees: The
seven-student organization announced (6/17) a series of
protest programs, including a plea to parents and
students of both private and public schools not to pay
school fees till the students' demands were met. The
third round of government-student talks ended without
conclusion after the student leaders walked out of the
talks on June 16 when the government expressed
inability to fulfil their demand of providing free
education up to secondary level in public schools.
("The Himalayan Times," 6/18)

-- Government cannot make secondary education free,
says Minister: Education at the secondary-level cannot
be free owing to financial hardships facing the
country, the Minister for Education said. ("The
Kathmandu Post," 6/19)

-- Maoists forcing students to join ranks: The Maoist-
aligned student wing, All Nepal National Independent
Students' Union- Revolutionary (ANNISU-R),is forcing
school students of the Kathmandu Valley to take its
membership. ("Kantipur," 6/20)


3. NEPAL-U.S.

-- Preferential bill out of U.S. Senate: Senator Dianne
Feinstein has withdrawn a preferential legislation from
the U.S. Senate that sought to allow duty-and quota-
free market access to Nepali garments in the U.S. The
latest statement from the Senator's office ends
"whatever" optimism Nepali garment entrepreneurs
harbored. Garment entrepreneurs said that the
government must immediately initiate steps to persuade
and convince the U.S. Senator on the socio-economic
impact of the bill's revocation on Nepal. Nepal's
garment industry employs over 100,000 workers -- half
of them women -- and sustains the livelihood of over
350,000 people. Feinstein's decision to retract her
support for the bill had come in the wake of Nepal's
"poor" handling of the extradition of eighteen Tibetans
recently. However, the Nepali government had deported
the Tibetans stating that they had illegally crossed
over to Nepal. (Compiled from "The Kathmandu Post" and
others, 6/18)

-- Government requests Senator not to withdraw bill:
Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa said the government
had written a letter requesting Senator Dianne
Feinstein not to withdraw the bill for facilitating
entrance of Nepalese ready-made garments to America, in
the Senate. (Kantipuronline.com, 6/17)


4. BHUTANESE REFUGEES

-- Refugee verification report: The long-awaited
verification report of the Bhutanese refugees living in
Khudunabari camp was made public in Jhapa on June 18
inside the camp amidst tight security. The
verification report has recognized only 2.4 per cent
refugees as genuine Bhutanese. (Media reports, 6/19)

-- Verification report receives widespread resentment:
Five leading international humanitarian and human
rights organizations -- Amnesty International, Human

Rights Watch, Lutheran World Federation, Refugee
International, the U.S. Committee for Refugees -- and
the Bhutanese Refugee Support Group in a joint
statement (6/19) criticized the screening process
saying that the Bhutanese refugee situation has become
one of the most protracted and neglected refugee crises
in the world. (Compiled from "The Kathmandu Post" and
others, 6/20)

-- Refugees burn copies of verification report:
Bhutanese refugee students Sunday burned copies of
refugee verification report in front of the office of
the Nepal-Bhutan Joint Verification Team (JVT) in
Jhapa, terming it a document full of flaws. (Reports,
6/23)

5. OTHERS

-- Monsoon begins: The monsoon broke over east and
central Nepal Monday (6/16),five days behind the
normal date, the Department of Hydrology and
Meteorology said. (Nepalnews.com, 6/17)

MALINOWSKI