Chand Party's Killing of School Principal Is a Grim Reminder of the Maoist Conflict
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 282 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 26.8 C -2.0 C Thursday, December 10, 2020 | 25-08-2077 Biratnagar Jumla Poor to miss out Chand party’s killing on inoculation as rich nations have of school principal is hoarded vaccines a grim reminder of Amnesty and other groups urge action to ensure that intellectual property of the Maoist conflict vaccines is shared widely. Analysts say the government appears to be failing in its REUTERS PARIS, DEC 9 approach to deal with the Communist Party of Nepal, Rich countries have secured enough which has been involved in violent activities for long. coronavirus vaccines to protect their populations nearly three times over by BINOD GHIMIRE The Mechi-Koshi bureau of the out- the end of 2021, Amnesty International KATHMANDU, DEC 9 fit had abducted Shrestha from his and other groups said on Wednesday, home in Miklajung Rural Munici- possibly depriving billions of people The brutal killing of a school teacher pality-1 before killing him on Tuesday. in poorer areas. in Morang after abduction by the Shrestha was working as the princi- Britain approved Pfizer’s Covid-19 Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist pal of Saraswati Basic School in vaccine this month, raising hopes that Party of Nepal has raised the spectre Ramite of the rural municipality. the tide could soon turn against a of a renewed conflict in the country. “A group of four to five unidentified virus that has killed nearly 1.5 million The Chand outfit is a splinter of the people abducted Shrestha from his globally, hammered the world econo- Maoist party that led a decade-long house, took him about a kilometre my and upended normal life. war against the state, leaving over away before killing him and fled,” said Amnesty and other organisations 13,000 dead, 1,333 disappeared and Deputy Inspector General Ishwar including Frontline AIDS, Global hundreds of thousands displaced by Babu Karki, the Province 1 police Justice Now and Oxfam, urged govern- the time it ended in 2006. chief. “Shrestha’s hands were tied. ments and the pharmaceutical indus- The KP Sharma Oli administration His body was found in a nearby forest try to take action to ensure intellectual in March last year had branded the with a slit throat.” property of vaccines is shared widely. Chand-led party a criminal outfit and Issuing a statement on Tuesday The World Health Organisation has banned its activities. The move fol- night, the party’s Mechi-Koshi bureau also called on governments repeatedly lowed two blasts in the Capital and the said that the party “took action” this year to make a vaccine protecting death of a person. against Shrestha “for working as an against Covid-19 a “public good”. The Four people lost their lives when informant” for the police. WHO has backed a global vaccine pro- bombs planted by the party went off Analysts and former security offi- gramme scheme known as COVAX, in five places in Kathmandu and cials say people had taken some blasts which seeks to ensure equitable distri- Lalitpur on May 26, 2019. and violent acts by the Chand-led bution of vaccines and 189 countries Though the Oli government had party as isolated incidents but have joined. But some countries such invited the Chand-led party for talks, Tuesday’s killing of a school principal as the United States have not signed the outfit refused, demanding that the has unleashed terror and generated up, having secured bilateral deals. ban be lifted first and it be recognised fear if the country is going back to the COVAX hopes to deliver some 2 bil- as a political party. era of the armed conflict. lion doses by the end of 2021 but that The outfit’s act to brutally kill “A political force doesn’t kill an would still only represent about 20% Rajendra Kumar Shrestha, 54, “in individual in such a brutal manner,” of the populations of countries that retaliation”, however, has raised a said Hemant Malla, a former deputy are part of the mechanism. POST PHOTO: DEEPAK KC question over its claim that it is a inspector general. >> Continued on page 6 A young cyclist practises stunt on an empty road at Manahara in the Capital on Wednesday. political force. >> Continued on page 2 Europeans not impressed by Nepal’s efforts to improve aviation safety yet Breaking up the civil aviation authority is a prerequisite to getting the country removed from the European Union’s Air blacklist, which runs into the eighth straight year. SANGAM PRASAIN “It would be key for this legislation Kasthamandap had been revoked, and KATHMANDU, DEC 9 to be adopted by Parliament and sub- that new carriers Heli Everest and sequently implemented,” said the Kailash Helicopter Services had been While the European Union applauded Delegation of the European Union to certified. the Nepal government’s firm commit- Nepal in a statement. “This would “They also reported that Muktinath ment to improving its air safety mech- allow the Commission to advance with Airlines had changed its name to anism, the lawmaking body—the the process of eventually removing Prabhu Helicopters,” according to the European Commission—has ques- Nepal from the EU Air Safety List.” EU’s official journal. tioned the issuance of air operator Based on this announcement, “Since the Civil Aviation Authority certificates to new Nepali carriers Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai of Nepal has not demonstrated a suffi- without sufficient compliance with was quick to say that Nepali carriers cient ability to implement and enforce international safety standards. will soon be removed from the EU Air the relevant safety standards, the issu- The ban on airlines from Nepal Safety List as there has been progress ance of air operator certificates to from flying to Europe for their failure in splitting the Civil Aviation those new air carriers does not guar- to adhere to safety standards has Authority of Nepal into two entities– antee sufficient compliance with entered its eighth year. regulator and service provider. international safety standards,” the journal stated. “In accordance with the common criteria set out in the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005, the Commission, therefore, considers that with respect to air carriers from Nepal the list of air carriers which are sub- ject to an operating ban within the Union should be amended to include Heli Everest and Kailash Helicopter Services in Annex A to Regulation (EC) No 474/2006 and to remove Air Kasthamandap from that Annex.” At least two sources at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said they were unaware of the developments. The European Commission has con- tinued its ban on Nepali airlines for eight consecutive years through an updated EU Air Safety List published on December 2. On December 5, 2013, the Commission had imposed a blanket ban on all airlines from Nepal from POST FILE PHOTO flying into the EU. On December 5, 2013, the European Commission imposed a blanket ban on all airlines from Raj Kumar Chettri, spokesperson Nepal from flying into the European Union. for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, said they were not aware of the On December 7, coinciding with Nepal has yet to fulfil its commit- June report, but that there had been International Civil Aviation Day, the ment to breaking up the civil aviation significant progress on the safety EU said that the Commission was body, a prerequisite to getting the front. “We are confident of being aware of the efforts made by Nepal, country removed from the EU Air removed from the air safety list within notably with regard to a new aviation Safety List. a few months,” he said. bill before Parliament. On June 2, the Commission had The European Commission had questioned the ability of Nepal’s asked that Nepal’s civil aviation body aviation regulatory body to be fragmented with a clear demarca- enforce sufficient safety compli- tion of its powers and responsibilities ance. because its dual functions gave rise to It requested the Civil Aviation a conflict of interest. Authority of Nepal on April 22 to The Civil Aviation Authority of provide a list of all air operator Nepal Bill and the Air Service certificate holders certified in Authority of Nepal Bill, proposing to Nepal as part of its continuous separate the aviation body, were at the monitoring activities. final stages of being passed by the On May 3, the civil aviation National Assembly during the budget regulator informed the session of the federal parliament that Commission that the air opera- ended on July 2. tor certificate of Air >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2020 | 02 NATIONAL Chand party’s killing ... Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal claims >> Continued from page 1 But somehow, according to Malla, it has become apparent that the government failed to deal with the outfit in an effective manner. Chand had deserted the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led Maoist party in responsibility for murder of school principal 2012, along with Mohan Baidya and Ram Bahadur Thapa, saying that the party had left the “people’s war” halfway. Chand formed his own Communist Party of Nepal in 2014 to launch what he calls The party said it took action against Rajendra Kumar Shrestha for being an informant to police and helping them arrest its cadres. “unified people’s revolution” alleging that Dahal’s Maoist party abandoned the revolution after it joined mainstream politics in 2006. MADHAV GHIMIRE & BINOD BHANDARI Two years later, Chand parted ways with Baidya and Thapa; the BIRATNAGAR, DEC 9 latter returned to the Dahal’s Maoist party in 2016.