January 3
|
The Terai-Madhesh Democratic Party
submitted an 11-point demand to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.
The demands put forth by the party include constitutional guarantee
of autonomy with right to self determination for Terai-Madhesh
region; declaring the 42 people killed during the Madhesh agitation
in 2007 as martyrs; providing relief and compensation to injured;
formation of a new independent commission to probe alleged atrocities
during the Madhesh agitation; recruitment of Madheshi people in
Nepali Army proportional to their population; and allocation of
budget based on population, among others.
|
January 4
|
Cadres of the Jwala Singh faction
of the Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM-J)
shot dead a civilian, identified as Hari Prasad Chaulagain, a
resident of Bardibas-3 of Mahottari district.
The Young Communist League (YCL)
cadres assaulted local traders in the Khodpe Bazaar of Baitadi
district for organising a vehicle strike in protest against the
YCL atrocities.
|
January 6
|
YCL cadres assaulted and injured
a former chairman of the Lamachaur Village Development Committee
(VDC), Durga Bahadur, and a Communist Party of Nepal – Maoist-Leninist
(CPN-UML) activist, Om Bahadur Kunwar, in the Kaski district alleging
that the duo was involved in corruption.
In a reference to the integration
of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with the Nepali Army, the
Chief of Army Staff, Rookmangud Katawal, has said that the Nepali
Army would not accept induction of any political ideology in the
army. "In the name of institutionalising the peace process,
any political ‘ism’ or ideology should not be introduced in the
Nepali Army," he said. Katawal added that there should be
no political influence on the Nepali Army. "Political influence
on the Nepali Army will only invite bigger problems in the country,"
he stated.
|
January 7
|
Cadres of the Prithvi Singh faction
of the JTMM detonated three bombs at three different places in
the Birgunj town of Parsa district. According to police, the explosions
occurred at Ghantaghar, Bypass Road and near the Truck Entrepreneurs
Association office in the town.
Police arrested a leader of the
JTMM-J, identified as Raj Kumar Mandal, from Lalitpur. A revolver
was also seized from his possession.
|
January 8
|
Security forces arrested two cadres
of the JTMM-J, identified as Bhavikhan Mahato and Lal Babu Mahato,
at Jeetpur in the Bara district. A twelve-bore gun and a homemade
pistol were also recovered from their possession.
|
January 9
|
A senior officer of the District
Development Committee of the Kapilvastu district, Niranjan Poudel,
was abducted by a group of armed cadres of the JTMM from the Tirtikhi
VDC area.
YCL cadres seized over a tonne
of ginger planted in a farm belonging to one Laxmi Das Shrestha
of Sarandanda-5 in Panchthar district. Later Shrestha said that,
"They asked for donation and when I denied to pay up they took
control of the ginger plantation on over two ropanis of land worth
NR 20,000."
|
January 11
|
A cabinet meeting decided to hold
the Constituent Assembly elections on April 10, 2008. Emerging
from the cabinet meeting, Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula
said, "The cabinet meeting made the decision in an amicable
manner and the government will concentrate on the Constituent
Assembly elections setting it as the major agenda." Leaders
of the three major political parties, Prime Minister and Nepali
Congress leader Girija Prasad Koirala, Maoist
Chairman Prachanda and the Communist Party of Nepal – Unified
Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal
has also reached an agreement not to make any remarks in public
that would adversely affect the environment for the elections.
|
January 12
|
Cadres of the JTMM-J shot dead
a journalist, identified as Pushpa Shrestha, in front of the Kanya
Lower Secondary School in Birgunj Municipility-3 of Parsa district.
The Parsa district in-charge of JTMM-J, Toofan Singh, claimed
responsibility for the killing.
A CPN-Maoist Central Committee
meeting decided to relieve deputy commander Barsha Man Pun a.k.a.
Ananta from his position as the YCL ‘faction in-charge’ amidst
reports of the increased high-handedness of the YCL cadres. According
to sources, the Central Committee meeting took the decision to
this effect after some of its members criticised the recent activities
of the YCL and held Ananta responsible for it.
|
January 14
|
Eight persons were injured when
a bomb exploded near Bhotahiti in the capital Kathmandu, minutes
after a mass gathering of the seven parties to launch their election
campaigning concluded. Eyewitnesses said they heard explosion
in the middle of the road at the busy Ratnapark-Bhotahity intersection
which lies few hundred meters from Khula Mach, the venue
of the seven-party mass meeting. The bomb hurled by an unidentified
person also damaged two vehicles.
A team from the Informal Sector
Service Center (INSEC), a Kathmandu-based human rights non-governmental
organisation, found that the Maoists are continuing to operate
labour camps in many parts of the country. INSEC found that six
persons in Salyan, 20 in Rukum, seven in Pyuthan, and six in Jajarkot
districts are serving jail terms in such labour camps. The terms
were handed down by the CPN-Maoist 'Kangaroo Courts' in the past.
"The detainees cook food, clean the school and cooking utensils,
serve the teachers and students, and carry loads for Maoists,"
said Pratibedan Baidhya, the leader of the INSEC team. The detainees
are also reportedly not paid for their work.
|
January 17
|
Himalayan Times reports
that the Maoists are still running their kangaroo court in the
Dhangadhi municipality of Kailali district, in violation of the
agreement with the government. Kharga Rana of the Beladevi Village
Development Committee received a letter from the people’s justice
cooperation committee asking him to attend the people’s court
on January 27. The CPN-Maoist district secretary Utsav said that
the people’s court was trying to streamline the issues between
the people, police and administration, adding that, "This is not
against the spirit of the peace treaty."
JTMM-J leader Jwala Singh said
that his party is ready to negotiate with the government under
the supervision of the United Nations or any other reliable international
agency, according to Nepal News. He set a precondition that the
government should give its commitment that major demands of his
party would be addressed by the time formal talks begin.
|
January 19
|
Security forces arrested two cadres
of the JTMM-J, identified as Shanker Giri and Mahadev Sahani,
with a pistol at Gaur Municipality-1 in the Rautahat district.
|
January 20
|
JTMM-J cadres abducted and subsequently
shot dead a government servant, Purna Prasad Dhakal, in the Banke
district. Dhakal, who worked as a clerk at the Land Reforms Office,
was whisked away from Raniyapur village in Banke district on January
19-night, and his bullet-ridden body was found on January 20-morning
three kilometers away from Sidhiniya Ghaat in the Gamdi VDC.
JTMM-J cadres seized five tractors
in Maryadapur VDC in the Rautahat district. JTMM-J area no. 3
in-charge, Jhaman Yadav, has said that the tractors were seized
for failing to secure permits.
|
January 20
|
YCL cadres abducted three activists
of the Nepali Congress, identified as Satya Narayan Yadav, Ram
Ekwal Yadav and Nem Kumar Thakur, in the Siraha district.
|
January 21
|
The Madhesh Mukti Tigers (MMT)
cadres detonated seven bombs in Rajbiraj, headquarters of the
Saptari district, ahead of the visit of the Minister of state
for Home Affairs, Ram Kumar Chaudhary, to his hometown. A bomb
exploded at the district development committee meeting hall prior
to Chaudhary’s arrival, where a welcome ceremony was scheduled
to be held. Later, a series of blasts continued at Siraha road,
near the municipality building, near the Nepali Congress office,
near the Sajha offset press, next to Ansari Mini Market and at
Jana Andolan Chowk. However, no casualty was reported in the blasts.
|
January 23
|
Cadres of the YCL killed the three
Nepali Congress activists, Satya Narayan Yadav, Neem Chandra Thakur,
and Ram Ikbaal Yadav, who were abducted by them on January 20.
Police found their dead bodies buried on the bank of Kamala River
at Kichana VDC in the Siraha district.
|
January 25
|
Cadres of the Joint Madhesi Morcha
showed black flags to the Nepali Congress central leaders who
came to Rajbiraj to address a party cadres’ assembly. One policeman
and six demonstrators were hurt in the riot that ensued. While
the meeting was going on at the District Development Committee
hall, two bombs were exploded, but no casualties were reported.
Number 4 area in charge of the JTMM-J, Ranjit, claimed responsibility
for the blasts. One dozen demonstrators were also arrested.
|
January 26
|
Several bombs were detonated at
different places in Janakapura on January 25-evening ahead of
the seven parties joint meet to be held at Janakapura. Two bombs
were exploded at Piradi Chowk and another at Ramananda Chowk.
Only minor damages were reported as the bombs weren't very powerful.
MMT triggered a series of bomb
explosions in Inaruwa, headquarters of the Sunsari district. The
blasts occurred at Bihibarehat area where senior Nepali Congress
leaders were attending a gathering of the party workers. However,
no casualty was reported in the blasts.
Maoists allegedly seized a Nepali
Congress activist, Pratap Devkota, on the charge of gathering
people for a Nepali Congress mass meeting at Khalanga in the Rukum
district. Maoists detained Devkota for one hour when he was returning
to his village after the meeting. He was later released with the
help of Police.
|
January 27
|
JTMM-J cadres exploded a petrol
bomb at the CPN-Maoist district office at Rajhaul in the Dhanusa
district. However, no casualties were reported in the incident.
|
January 28
|
Cadres of the JTMM-J shot dead
a youth in the Dhanusa district. A group headed by JTMM-J cadre,
Tiger Singh, shot dead Madan Kumar Lama while he was on his way
home at Puspalnagar in the Dhanusa district from Kathmandu, on
charge of spying against them.
Cadres of the YCL captured a house
belonging to one Bhuwan Singh Gurung in Khandbari-3 in the Sankhuwasabha
district after he failed to pay the donation amount demanded from
him.
|
January 29
|
YCL cadres clashed with some policemen
at Kabeli bazaar in the Panchthar district when the policemen
attempted to check a passenger bus carrying some YCL cadres, among
others. During the clash which continued for half-an-hour the
YCL cadres reportedly seized the weapons of a policeman.
CPN-Maoist cadres surrounded the
Rautahat District Administration Office demanding release of their
detained colleague, Jaya Ram Yadav, on a murder charge. The Maoists'
district in-charge, Ashok Jaysawal Yadav, threatened to boycott
elections in the Rautahat district if Yadav were not released.
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala
said he is ready to meet all the just demands made by disgruntled
Madhesi groups if they show a readiness to take part in the forthcoming
Constituent Assembly election. Addressing a function in Kathmandu,
Koirala said, "I want to tell the Madhesi friends that they just
need to become ready to participate in the elections, then it
will be for me to meet all the just demands they are raising."
Stressing that only dialogue can resolve the Terai problem, the
Prime Minister also urged the Terai groups to come to the negotiating
table.
|
January 30
|
Around 54 persons, including the
Chief District Officer of Parsa district, Bhola Prasad Siwakoti,
were injured in an explosion that occurred outside the Narayani
Stadium in Birgunj where the Seven Party Alliance was holding
its final electoral assembly. Meanwhile, Kanchan Bidrohi, the
Parsa district in-charge of the MMT, has claimed responsibility
for the blasts.
Police arrested the Siraha district
commander of the JTMM-G, Prithvi Lal Yadav alias Jasho Lal.
A report of the National Human
Rights Commission regional office in Biratnagar has revealed that
the Maoists are yet to return the seized land and property belonging
to 38 families of Rajbiraj in the Saptari district. Maoist district
secretary Suryanath Yadav alias Subash said that they were ready
to return the seized land and property as per the direction of
the party. "We have returned most of the land and property we
had seized," he claimed. Seized land and property will be distributed
to the poor, needy, landless and squatters, he added.
|
January 31
|
Cadres of the JTMM-J shot dead
a guard at a community forest project in Sarlahi district. Police
informed that the security guard, identified as Karna Bahadur
Biswokarma, was shot dead while he was on duty at the Sagarnath
Community Forest Project at Gaurishankhar VDC.
|
February 2
|
An 8-year-old girl was injured
when an explosion occurred few meters away at Sakhuwagachi of
Inaruwa in the Sunsari district, where senior Nepali Congress
leader Sher Bahadur Deuba was attending a mass meeting. The MMT
has claimed responsibility for the blast.
Protesting the detention of over
two dozens YCL cadres by India’s Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) in Maheshpur
border area in the Jhapa district, the YCL cadres resorted to
vandalism and rampage, and targeted at vehicles with Indian number
plates in Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari district on February 2, Nepal
News reports. They set ablaze to two Indian vehicles - one truck
and a jeep – in the Jhapa district and an Indian truck at Biratnagar
in the Morang district. The YCL has also imposed a ban on the
plying of Indian vehicles in the three districts.
|
February 3
|
More than a dozen of bomb explosions
rocked Rajbiraj town, the headquarters of Saptari district on
February 3. The blasts took place close to Raj Stadium where the
Nepali Congress was organising its election rally which was to
be addressed by senior Nepali Congress leader and former Prime
Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Around a dozen of persons, including
two policemen, were injured in the blasts. 51 persons suspected
to have been involved with the blasts have been arrested so far.
|
February 4
|
20 persons, including eight policemen
were inured at Nepalgunj in the Banke district when cadres of
the United Madhesi Front (UMF) clashed with police on February
4 on the second day of the bandh called by the UMF. Marketplaces,
educational institutions and industries remain largely closed
and vehicular transport came to a halt in Siraha, Saptari, Bara,
Parsa, Mahottari, Rautahat and Dhanusha districts. The bandh has
partially affected Sunsari, Morang, Kapilvastu, Nawalparasi and
Rupendehi districts.
Eight MJF
cadres, including president of the Youth Madhesi Forum Rajendra
Yadav, were injured in a clash with police in Nawalparasi. The
clash ensued as police tried to reopen the Butwal-Bardaghat road
section. MJF supporters barred vehicles from plying on Basachowk
of the road section along the Mahendra Highway.
Cadres of the YCL assaulted the
District Education Officer of Saptari, Afsad Ali, in his office.
Three YCL cadres were arrested in connection with the manhandling
Ali.
JTMM-G published a list of 37
persons of Sunsari district and threatened to initiate ‘physical
action’ them. ‘Physical action’ ranges from physical assaults
to murder. The list includes names of person from various walks
of life such as civil servants, teachers and entrepreneurs.
|
February 5
|
At least 20 persons, including
three policemen, were injured after cadres of the Tarai-Madhesh
Democratic Party and United Madhesi Front clashed with the police
at Jaleshwor in the Mahottari district. The clash ensued after
the protesters staged demonstration outside Jaleshwor Stadium
where Nepali Congress senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba was addressing
workers’ meeting.
JTMM-J cadres detonated six bombs
on the premises of the District Education Office, at Zero Mile
and Sahujipatti area in the Mahottari district.
Activists of Nepali Congress and
CPN-Maoists clashed in the Latinath Village Development Committee
area of Darchula district after the Maoists tried to disrupt the
election campaign of the Nepali Congress. Two Maoists were injured
in the incident after police used force to foil any untoward incidents.
Police arrested two JTMM-J cadres,
identified as Jibat Kumar Mahato and Ram Chadra Mahato, from Lahan
area in the Siraha district and recovered two hand-made guns and
3 rounds of SLR bullets from them.
|
February 6
|
Several bombs were detonated at
Malangawa, the district headquarters of Sarlahi, where a mass
meeting of the Nepali Congress was in progress. The bombs were
detonated some 100 metres away from the venue of the meeting.
However, no casualties were reported.
Police raided the central office
of the YCL at Balaju in Kathmandu, reportedly, for concealed weapons
inside the office.
|
February 7
|
Two JTMM-J cadres were killed
by police in the Saptari district. According to the police, Chandreshwar
Kamat alias Sher Singh and Raj Kumar Mandal alias Ranjit of the
JTMM-J were shot dead when they clashed with police at Belichapena
VDC.
Cadres of the JTMM-G shot dead
an elderly person, Keshab Bahadur Gurung, in the Rupandehi district.
Gurung, a canteen owner at Sukha Bandargaha in Bagaha VDC, was
reportedly killed on charge of spying against the JTMM-G.
|
February 10
|
YCL cadres set ablaze a post set
up by the Rautahat District Development Committee to collect revenue
near Dhansarpur of East-West Highway.
|
February 11
|
Around 100 YCL cadres disrupted
a programme organised by the Nepali Congress in the Rupakot VDC
area of the Tanahu district. They also assaulted the former minister
and Nepali Congress leader, Govinda Raj Joshi, and vandalised
the podium erected there.
|
February 13
|
Around 3,000 Maoist insurgents
attacked the Latinath police post in Darchula district for arresting
two of their cadres who were arrested for their reported involvement
in the recent attack on Nepali Congress leader and former minister
Dilendra Badu in Latinath.
JTMM-J cadres abducted a Rural
Health Worker, Rajeshwor Prasad Sah, from Siraha district.
|
February 15
|
Two persons were injured when
cadres of the JTMM-J detonated a pressure cooker bomb at the District
Election Office in Nepalgunj in the Banke district.
|
February 17
|
The Bara-Parsa districts coordinator
of the JTMM-G, Binod Mahato, was shot dead by an unidentified
group at Bairganiyaa Bazaar in Bihar in India.
|
February 18
|
At least 20 persons were injured
when JTMM-J cadres attacked a wedding house at Katani village
in the Rangapur VDC area of Rautahat district. They also abducted
four girls from there, three of whom were released later. They
also looted property worth NR one lakh, including gold ornaments.
|
February 21
|
Around 60 persons were injured
in six districts of the Terai region on the ninth day of the indefinite
strike called by the United Democratic Madhesh Front (UMDF). More
than 100 people were arrested and 30 buses were vandalised during
the strike. Curfew was imposed in headquarters Siraha and Lahan
municipality of Siraha district, Inaruwa and the Mahendra highway
section in Sunsari district, Biratnagar of Morang district, Nepalgunj
of Banke district and in the Parsa district.
|
February 22
|
60 persons, including five policemen
and four journalists, were injured in clashes between activists
of the UMDF and police in Rautahat and Dhanusha districts.
Four Maoists were injured in a
clash that broke out between workers of the CPN-UML and the Maoists
in the Arghakhanchi district. The clash ensued after the Maoist
cadres tried to obstruct the election rally of the CPN-UML in
Hatiya of Nuwakot VDC in the district.
An Armed Police Force head constable,
Shyam Kumar Kashyap, was abducted by cadres of the JTMM-J at the
Krishnanagar custom office in the Kapilvastu district.
|
February 23
|
Cadres of JTMM-J led by the area
in-charge, Gabbar, abducted a civilian, Narayan Prasad Upadhyay,
in Mahottari district. The JTMM-J district in-charge, Surya, told
journalists that, "Upadhyay was abducted as he was tilling
14 bighas of land that was seized by JTMM-J without the permission
of the party."
|
February 24
|
21 persons were injured in clashes
between agitators and the police across the Terai region as an
indefinite strike called by the UMDF. Four persons were injured
at Janakpur in the Dhanusha district when clashes ensued between
agitators and police at the Bhanu Chowk, municipality office,
Shiva Chowk and the Mills area. Agitators also set ablaze the
Election Commission office at Kalaiya of Bara district. One policeman
and three UMDF cadres sustained burn injuries while three cadres
were hurt in police action.
|
February 25
|
Cadres of the JTMM-J shot dead
Sukraraj Majhi Chaudhary, head constable of Armed Police Force,
at Inaruwa bazaar of Sunsari district.
The Government and the UDMF arrived
at a consensus on the key UDMF demand - One Madhesh One Pradesh
- which they said would be decided through the Constituent Assembly.
They also agreed to form an autonomous Madhesh state and other
autonomous states. "We have agreed on autonomous Madhesh state.
But we are still discussing proper words to reflect the desire
of Madheshi people regarding the autonomous Madhesh state," said
Madheshi leader Hridayesh Tripathi. The government and UDMF have
also agreed to recognise all those killed in the course of the
Madhesh movement as martyrs and provide their families with proper
compensation. They have agreed to amend the Election Commission
Act, which provisions that any political party which secures at
least 20 percent result or more under the First-Past-the-Post
system must prepare an inclusive list of candidates for the proportional
electoral system. "We have agreed to increase the provision from
20 to 30 percent," said Tripathi.
|
February 26
|
One person was killed in police
firing in the Nawalparasi district on the 14th day of the indefinite
strike called by the UDMF. The victim was identified as Jagadesh
Pashwan of Badahada, Bubailia-3.
YCL cadres assaulted a school
teacher, Sanukaji Baniya, in Ghyampesal village of the Gorkha
district.
|
February 27
|
One person, identified as Mohammad
Biskut Miya, was killed and six others were injured when police
opened fire at a group of protesters for violating the curfew
orders in Duhabi area of Sunsari district.
Two persons were injured when
cadres of the JTMM-G attacked a passenger bus, which was part
of a convoy of vehicles coming from Kathmandu under a police escort
for security, with petrol bombs in the Golbazaar area of Siraha
district.
|
February 28
|
The Government and the agitating
UDMF signed an eight-point agreement bringing an end to the indefinite
strike in the Terai region.
Three minor partners of the Seven
Party Alliance - the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, Janamorcha
Nepal and United Left Front - expressed disagreement with the
deal reached between the Government and the UDMF.
|
March 1
|
JTMM-G killed Gokarna Kandel,
a Nepali Congress leader, near his house in the Rupandehi district.
Cadres of the Terai Mukti Tigers
abducted two police personnel of the Loharpattti area police office
from Kataiya village in the Mahottari district. Superintendent
of Police Purna Singh Khadka said that constables Santosh Kumar
Singh and Suresh Kumar Raut Kurmi were abducted by the TMT cadres
when they went to Sitapur Bhangaha to settle a dispute over a
drinking water tank there.
|
March 2
|
JTMM-G, which was formed on July
25, 2004, has changed its party’s name to All Terai Liberation
Front (ATLF). The JTMM-G central coordinator Goit said that the
name of the party has been changed so as to be distinct from other
factions of JTMM.
Three armed outfits in the Terai
region – the Samyukta Jantantrik Terai Mukti Morcha, Madhesi Mukti
Tigers and Terai Cobra - have reportedly agreed to sit for talks
with the government provided there is "enabling atmosphere for
it." Issuing a joint statement they said that, "We are not against
talks, and if there is an enabling atmosphere for it then we are
ready to come for talks."
|
March 3
|
Cadres of the JTMM-J detonated
a ‘pressure cooker bomb’ at the residence of Krishna Man Shrestha,
the Nepali Congress Banke district president and the party’s candidate
for Constituent Assembly election from constituency no. 4, at
Adarsha Nagar in Nepalgunj. The blast caused minor damage to the
house, but there was no human casualty.
Eight Nepali Congress leaders,
including six incumbent lawmakers, quit the party and joined the
MJF to "emotionally integrate the Terai to assimilate it with
the whole national feeling." The six leaders - Bijay Kumar Gachhadar,
Sarat Singh Bhandari, Ram Janam Chaudhary, Laxman Prasad Mehata,
Hari Narayan Chaudhary, Mangal Singh Tharu - quit the party and
also announced quitting the parliament. Others quitting the party
are Nepali Congress Mahasamiti member, Arjun Thapa of Dhankuta,
and former Member of Parliament Shukra Raj Samyok Limbu of Morang.
|
March 4
|
Cadres of the MMT shot dead Uday
Yadav, a Nepali Congress member of Mahottari district, at Mangalpur
Bazaar in the Dhanusha district.
Senior Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai
said that the Maoists will launch a new revolution if they lose
the forthcoming Constituent Assembly election. Addressing an election
rally in the Bhachhek village of Gorkha district, Bhattarai said,
"If we lose, there will be a new type of revolution," without
elaborating. He also said that no other political party can address
the agenda raised by them. "To fulfill the agenda raised by Maoists,
we must win the election. There is no question of losing it,"
Bhattarai said.
|
March 7
|
Cadres of the Akhil Terai Mukti
Morcha (ATMM) - the group formerly known as JTMM-G - set ablaze
a vehicle belonging to the Kantipur daily newspaper at
Babhanagamakatti village of Saptari district. Two persons were
injured in the incident.
|
March 9
|
Suspected Maoists abducted Mangal
Gurung, the CPN-UML candidate in the Manang district.
|
March 10
|
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala
ruled out holding talks with the agitating Terai-based armed groups
ahead of the key CA polls, saying the demands of the Madhesi community
for greater representation and autonomy has been accepted.
|
March 11
|
Cadres of the YCL obstructed a
group of workers of the Rashtriya Janashakti Party from campaigning
in the Dhankuta district. YCL cadres seized NR 130000 cash from
them and also confiscated citizenship certificate of the RJP president
and former Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa.
|
March 12
|
Armed cadres of the JTMM-J shot
dead a civilian, identified as Hitlal Singh, at his residence
in the Hardiya area of Bara district.
Maoists attacked an election campaign
meeting of the CPN-UML in Preeti VDC area in the Ramechhap district
and injured 12 persons, including the CPN-UML candidate for Ramechhap
district’s constituency number 1, Dev Shankar Poudel.
Maoists abducted two workers of
the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) in the Chitwan district.
Maoists severely assaulted a Nepali
Congress activist, Ganeshman Shrestha, of Ghyalchowk VDC area
in the Gorkha district.
|
March 13
|
Maoists stormed the RPP office
in Chitwan and ransacked all the furniture and documents before
setting ablaze the building.
A group of YCL cadres misbehaved
with Nepali Congress leader Shiva Raj Joshi and several other
party workers when they were in Ghatgaun VDC in the Surkhet district
on a poll campaign.
YCL cadres assaulted a CPN-UML
cadre, Khadga Bahadur Pariyar, of Kaskikot-5 in the Kaski district.
Maoists assaulted two cadres of
the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) - Raj Bahadur Budha
and Dan Bahadur Budha - in Jumla and filed fake cases against
them.
|
March 15
|
Four activists of the CPN-UML
were injured when the YCL cadres attacked their meeting at Taparsu
VDC in the Dhading district.
Maoists assaulted two Nepali Congress
activists in the Gorkha district. Maoists picketed the home of
Chandra Prasad Neupane, the NC candidate from Constituency Number
2 in the district, at midnight and assaulted his son Achyut and
another NC activist Amar Bhitav.
An Armed Police Force team arrested
two cadres of the JTMM-J in the Rautahat district.
|
March 16
|
In the Bardiya district, CPN-Maoist
cadres led by Hem Narayan Kafle assaulted a CPN-UML activist,
Jhapulal Jaisi, in his house after accusing him of doing poll
publicity work.
Maoists laid an ambush, hurled
stones and fired shots at a Nepali Congress election procession
led by party candidate Bal Krishna Dahal for the Constituent Assembly
polls from Constituency Number 1 in the Okhaldhunga district.
A NC cadre, Lila Dahal, was injured in the attack.
|
March 17
|
At least 10 persons were injured
when activists of the Nepali Congress and the MJF clashed at Narasingh
in the Sunsari district.
Maoists attacked a group of CPN-UML
supporters when they were returning from an election rally at
Khurkhure of Birendranagar VDC in the Chitwan district. The Maoists
assaulted three CPN-UML supporters while five insurgents also
received minor injuries in the scuffle.
A group of CPN-Maoist cadres tried
to obstruct the Nepali Congress programme at Sankh VDC in the
Rukum district.
|
March 18
|
Unidentified armed persons shot
dead a CPN-Maoist cadre, Bhakta Bahadur, at Jaimakasala in the
Rolpa district. Bhakta Bahadur, a resident of Uwa VDC-7, was dragged
out of the hotel where he used to work and was killed.
Another Maoist, Tek Bahadur Gharti,
was shot dead by a group of three people at Gam VDC-5 in the Rolpa
district.
A candidate for the CA election
from the NPF in Banke constituency 2, Kamal Prasad Adhikari, was
shot dead by militants of the Jwala Singh faction of the JTMM-J
cadres. Claiming responsibility for the killing, Bhagat Singh,
the Banke district Chairman of JTMM-J, said, "JTMM-J was pressing
him to withdraw his candidacy. Adhikari was killed as he did not
listen to JTMM-J’s request."
|
March 22
|
An unidentified group shot dead
a Maoist ‘area committee’ member Shiv Pujan Kurmi at Shivlava
village in the Kapilvastu district, near the Nepal-India border.
In protest, Maoist cadres staged a sit-in outside the main gate
of the hospital and also vandalised vehicles belonging to Nepali
Congress candidates and the party's poll publicity office in the
district.
A suspected member of an armed
group was killed during police retaliation in the Dhanusa district
when a few persons attacked a patrol of the area police office.
A 12-bore gun was recovered from the incident site.
|
March 24
|
Cadres of the YCL attacked the
former Deputy Prime Minister and CPN-UML leader K.P. Sharma Oli
in Bhadrapur in the Jhapa district. YCL cadres hurled stones at
Oli’s vehicle, smashing its windowpanes, district Superintendent
of Police Rajendra Shrestha said, adding that police inspector
Durga Thapa was also injured in the incident. CPN-Maoist cadres
Bhumika and Ganga Prasain were hurt in the incident, central member
of the YCL Agni said.
Police arrested three People’s
Liberation Army cadres at Ghargharye in the Rolpa district and
seized an AK-47 and INSAS rifle from them.
Maoist chairman Prachanda has
said there would be a big revolt if efforts are made to disturb
the CA election. Addressing an election rally in the Jawalakhel
area of Lalitpur district, Prachanda said that monarchists, domestic
and foreign reactionaries were plotting to foil the election.
|
March 25
|
An unidentified armed gang of
five persons shot dead an ‘area commander’ of the JTMM-J, Sekh
Nasir of Gamhariya Parsa Village Development Committee. Superintendent
of Police Ram Krishna Lama claimed that Nasir might have been
killed by his own friends.
In the last three months, there
have been around 170 incidents of election-related violence across
the country, said Democracy and Election Alliance, an organisation
working on election observation issues. According to its report,
20 persons were killed, 623 injured and 24 abducted. The report
points that majority of these incidents were carried out by armed
outfits operating in the Terai. That apart, Maoists, Madhesi Janadhikar
Forum and other parties were also involved in some of those incidents.
Bhutanese refugees began arriving
in the US, the first of what the UN described as one of the world's
largest resettlement efforts. The first group, arriving throughout
the week, includes 121 refugees. The US has offered to resettle
60,000 of the estimated 107,000 Bhutanese refugees of Nepalese
origin now living in seven UN camps in south-eastern Nepal --
their home for the past 17 years. Six other nations -- Australia,
Canada, Norway, Netherlands, New Zealand and Denmark -- have offered
to resettle 10,000 each. So far, however, only about 25,000 of
the refugees have registered for resettlement, according to the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and not many more than 10,000
are expected to leave Nepal by the end of 2008.
|
March 26
|
A CPN-Maoist cadre was killed
when police opened fire during a scuffle between the members of
NC-affiliated Tarun Dal and the Maoists in the Solukhumbu district.
A statement issued by the Information Bureau of the Maoists said
that Ganga Bahadur Bhujel 'Gajendra', a member of the district
secretariat, died on the spot in the police firing.
Reports from other districts of
mid-western region said that the Maoist combatants cantoned at
various cantonment sites have started deserting their camps to
involve in the election publicity of the party. The Maoists are
said to have been mobilising at least 50 combatants in each district
for this purpose.
Prachanda has said that his party
will not accept defeat in the forthcoming Constituent Assembly
election if there is a conspiracy by regressive forces. Addressing
an election rally in the Pathari area of Morang district he claimed
that western Nepal was a base area of Maoists while there was
huge wave in favour of his party in the eastern region, which
he said would ensure victory for his party.
|
March 27
|
Around 200 CPN-Maoist cadres left
the Shaktikhor cantonment in Chitwan district to take part in
an election rally addressed by Maoist chairman Prachanda at Gaur
in the Rautahat district.
A total of 3,936 people were killed
in the mid-western region during the decade long insurgency, a
report stated. A book released by the INSEC Mid-Western Regional
Office revealed that these people were killed by the State, Maoists
and unidentified groups during the armed insurgency. Though statistics
said that over 13,000 people were killed during the armed insurgency,
the exact number and identity of the people is yet to be verified.
|
March 28
|
Government urged the four armed
outfits of Terai to come forward for peace talks without proposing
any pre-condition. In a letter sent to the rebel groups, the peace
talks’ team of the ruling SPA said that their demands would be
looked at during negotiations. The four armed outfits - Samyukta
Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha, Terai Cobra, Madhesi Mukti Tigers
and Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha - had earlier agreed to hold
talks with the Government but later demanded that their detained
cadres be released first.
The Maoist chairman Prachanda
said that a conspiracy is being hatched to defer the Constituent
Assembly elections after a wave was seen in favour of his party.
Talking to party cadres in Narayangarh, he said that regressive
forces have become irritated after it is almost definite that
his party will win 150 seats in the polls.
|
March 29
|
Two persons, identified as Firoz
Khan and Parwez Iraqi Ansari, were killed and two others injured
when unidentified assailants lobbed a bomb inside a mosque in
the Sarauchiya area of Biratnagar. A group called National Defence
Army claimed responsibility for the blast.
|
March 30
|
Two persons of a family were killed
when a bomb, allegedly left behind by the Maoists, exploded inside
the house of one Parasuram Shah in the Garkhakot VDC of Jajarkot
district. Officials at the Jajarkot District Police Office said
a rocket launcher, a sub-machinegun and some explosives were recovered
from the house. They suspect that the Maoists were using the house
to store arms and explosives.
The YCL cadres threatened villagers
in the Nawalparasi district with eviction if they did not vote
for the CPN-Maoist candidates and the party. Locals of Arkhala,
Bharatipur, Jaubari, Mithukaram, Ruchang, Dedgaon and other villages
in the northern part of the district blamed the YCL of threatening
them to vote for the Maoists or face torture and even forceful
eviction from the villages.
|
March 31
|
Four persons, including a child,
were injured when a bomb was exploded at Maisthan in the Birgunj
district by the Madhesh Mukti Tigers.
Maoists abducted 10 CPN-UML cadres,
who were on an election campaign at Bhagwati VDC in the Jajarkot
district.
|
April 1
|
10 Nepali Congress cadres, including
the party’s candidate from Rasuwa, Bal Chandra Poudel, were injured
when a group of around 200 YCL cadres attacked them in the Bhorle
VDC.
Around 100 YCL cadres attacked
the Nepali Congress central member and candidate from constituency
no 2 in Baitadi, Binay Dhoj Chand, at Srikot VDC-4. Several Nepali
Congress leaders and cadres were injured in the attack.
Maoists abducted six Nepali Congress
cadres from Dadeldhura and took them to an undisclosed location.
Maoists abducted district chairman
of Amnesty International, Madhav Gautam, in Arghakhachi 1. He
was abducted from Tagre area of Pokharathok while he was there
on an election monitoring purpose and taken away to an unknown
location.
|
April 2
|
Six policemen were injured in
the attack when the YCL cadres pelted stones at them as they reached
Kalikasthan in the Rasuwa district.
CPN-Maoist cadres abducted two
Nepali Congress members, Rabindra Shahi and Keshav Bista, from
Jajarkot district.
|
April 3
|
Five persons were injured in a
bomb blast at Birgunj Bus Park in the Parsa district.
Three CPN-UML activists were injured
in a clash with cadres of the YCL after the latter attacked their
election programme at Bharatpur in the Chitwan district.
Chitwan district joint secretary
of the RPP, Dinesh Adhikari, and other local leaders Dillip Thapa
and Upendra Shrestha sustained injuries when about 90 YCL cadres
attacked them with batons. The YCL cadres also set ablaze all
the election material kept at the RPP office in Madi.
|
April 4
|
A District Committee member of
the CPN-UML, Dutta Bahadur Rokaya, was injured in an attack by
a group of 65 Maoists in the Dolpa district.
|
April 5
|
YCL cadres attacked a Nepali Congress
team led by the party’s candidate for Nawalparasi constituency-3
Om Kala Gautam. Two policemen and six NC cadres were injured in
the attack at Kawasoti along the Mahendra highway.
Five CPN-UML activists, a poll
monitor and a Nepali Congress activist were injured in Maoist
attacks in the Ramechhap district.
|
April 6
|
Unidentified assailants abducted
and subsequently killed Deepak Dahal, a Rastriya Janashakti Party
activist of Bhirgaun VDC-4.
|
April 7
|
At least 10 persons, including
two children, were injured when a bomb exploded at Ghantaghar
in the Parsa district when the Nepali Congress rally was converging
into an assembly.
Suspected cadres of the JTMM-J
abducted Rajendra Pandey, an election official designated to oversee
the Banauta polling centre in the Mahottari district.
|
April 8
|
Seven Maoists were killed in police
firing in a clash that erupted between the Maoists and Nepali
Congress workers at Lamahi bazaar area in the Dang district.
A candidate of the CPN-UML from
Surkhet-1 constituency, Rishi Prasad Sharma, was killed after
being hit by a bullet during a clash with Nepali Congress workers.
A group of 50-60 Maoists led by
Sher Bahadur Bhandari abducted 22 Nepali Congress cadres, including
13 women, from Dhading-1 area.
12 Nepali Congress activists were
injured in an attack by YCL cadres at Korthar VDC in the Nawalparasi
district.
Three CPN-UML activists were injured
at Hasaura in the Nawalparasi district when YCL cadres attacked
them.
|
April 9
|
Police arrested 31 YCL cadres
along with weapons while they were going towards Butwal from Ranyaura
of Rupandehi district in a vehicle. The police seized one pistol,
three rounds of bullets, four knives, 30 sticks and an iron rod
from them.
|
April 10
|
Voting for the Constituent Assembly
elections concluded with approximately 60 percent of the electorate
exercising their franchise.
One activist of the CPN-UML, Rishiraj
Subedi, was killed by some unidentified persons at Saumarang VDC
in the Kaski district.
|
April 12
|
Seven persons were injured when Maoists clashed
with the security force personnel at Gaur.
|
April14
|
A group of 25 Maoists attacked
and injured Nepali Congress leader and the Finance Minister, Ram
Sharan Mahat, at Dudhdevi VDC of Nuwakot district. Seven other
persons, including two Nepali Congress supporters, a police inspector
and four children were also injured in the incident.
|
April16
|
Senior CPN-Maoist leader Baburam
Bhattarai has said that the first meeting of the CA will respectfully
bid farewell to the monarchy. "We want to respectfully remove
monarchy," Bhattarai said.
CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda
urged King Gyanendra to vacate the Narayanhity palace on his own.
He said, "The people have already given their mandate. He should
vacate the palace. That will make the job easier for us. And that
will be in the interest of the country, him and all of us."
All the seven ministers from the
CPN-UML quit the Government after its defeat in the CA elections.
|
April 17
|
Cadres of the YCL set ablaze a
house of a Nepali Congress leader Padam Niraula at Sapteshwar
VDC in the Khotang district.
One YCL cadre, Wastemba Sherpa,
assaulted a Nepali Congress activist Bhakta Bahadur Parajuli in
the Eiselukharka VDC of Khotang district.
|
April 18
|
CPN-Maoist Chairman Prachanda
said that he is in favour of providing King Gyanendra a ‘graceful
exit’ from the throne that the Shah dynasty has occupied for the
last 240 years. "Even after he leaves the throne he should be
allowed to continue with his business affairs or other activities,
including engagement in politics in future if he so desires,"
Prachanda said.
|
April19
|
CPN-Maoist Chairman Prachanda
announced that he will lead the new republican Government in the
country.
|
April 21
|
At least 22 Nepali Congress workers
have been displaced from their villages in the Rukum district
after the CA election due to threats issued by Maoists in the
district.
The US Ambassador in Nepal, Nancy
J. Powell, said that the US is expected to remove the CPN-Maoist
from its terrorist watch list with just a few ‘technicalities’
remaining for doing so.
|
April 22
|
The US State Department's Deputy
spokesman Tom Casey has said that there has been no change yet
in the status of Maoists as a terrorist outfit despite their winning
the election. "We have an organization being placed on the list
of designated foreign terrorists organizations. (It) has legal
requirements that are placed on us. We have to honour those legal
requirements and we'll certainly do so in the case of Nepal,"
he stated, and hinting of a possible review, said, "You have an
organization that moves away from violence and terror and participates
in a political process and engages in those kinds of legitimate
activities, that would certainly, I think, give people an opportunity
to at least look again at that situation and that organization."
"But at this point, you know there's no change in their status
and we'll follow the law as appropriate," he added further.
The CPN-Maoist officially claimed
that the party must head the new Government. A meeting of the
Maoist Central Secretariat held at party Chairman Prachanda’s
residence at Naya Bazaar in Kathmandu decided to lead the still
to-be-formed Government claiming the polls outcome to be positive.
The meeting also decided to implement a republican system of governance
from the first meeting of the CA and added that there would be
no compromises on the issue with other parties.
|
April 23
|
The counting of votes under the
Proportional Representation (PR) system has been completed. The
CPN-Maoist lead the tally with 3144202 votes out of the total
10739088 votes cast - 29.27 percent of vote share. The NC and
the UML are in second and third positions, respectively, bagging
2269863 (21 percent) and 2183370 votes (20.33 percent). The Madheshi
Janadhikar Forum (MJF) and Terai Madhes Loktantrik Party are in
fourth and fifth positions, respectively, wining 678327 (6.31
percent) and 338930 votes (3.15 percent). The Rastriya Prajatantra
Party is in sixth position with 263431 votes. The Election Commission
has said that it would apply the Modified Saint Logue system to
calculate exact number of seats won by these parties based on
votes they have garnered. However, rough estimates suggest that
the Maoists could secure around 100 seats. There are 335 seats
under PR category and approximately around 30000 votes will account
for one seat.
|
April 24
|
The CPN-Maoist Chairman Prachanda
said that he could not rule out the use of violence in future.
"Right now, I cannot renounce every kind of violence," Prachanda
told journalists after meeting ambassadors and United Nations
(UN) staff.
|
April 28
|
The CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda
said that there is no alternative to leadership of the next Government
since the people have already given the Maoists the mandate by
making them the largest party. Speaking at its central committee
meeting, Prachanda said that his party will lead the next Government
but all decisions will be taken based on understanding.
|
April 29
|
The kin of a Member of Parliament
from the CPN-Maoist, Binod Kumar Upadhyaya, was killed in a bomb
blast carried out by unidentified persons in the Bodhbar Village
Development Committee-3 area of the Rupandehi district. Binod's
uncle Surendra Uyadhyaya was killed in the blast that occurred
inside Binod's house. The regional coordinator of the Akhil Tarai
Mukti Morcha, Rakesh, and Anil of the Madhesi Tigers said their
outfits had triggered the blast. They also claimed the explosion
was triggered to punish the Member of Parliament for contesting
the Constituent Assembly polls.
Police seized a cache of weapons
and ammunition from a taxi at Lekhnath in the Kaski district and
arrested one person in this connection. Two bags containing an
Italian revolver and a locally-made pistol, bullets, grenade and
a khukuri were recovered.
|
April 30
|
The US, which still regards the
CPN-Maoist as a terrorist organisation, has indicated it would
seek "legitimate reconciliation and reintegration politically"
in Nepal after the Maoists’ election victory. "In any terrorist
organisation or any terrorist situation, if there is a way for
reconciliation legally and lawfully through the political system,
obviously, we prefer that," said Dell L. Dailey, Coordinator of
the Office for Counter-terrorism, while briefing reporters on
the State Department’s annual terrorism report. The Country Report
on Terrorism 2007 acknowledged that Nepal experienced no significant
acts of international terrorism in 2007, but said "several incidents
of domestic terrorism and politically-motivated violence occurred
in urban areas and in the Terai."
|
May 1
|
The US ambassador to Nepal, Nancy
Powell, met with CPN-Maoist Chairman Prachanda at the latter's
residence at Nayabazaar in Kathmandu. According to a Maoist source,
Prachanda said the US should remove the Maoists from its terrorist
list. "Powell said the act of removing the Maoists from the US
terrorist list is delayed due to bureaucratic process," the source
said.
|
May 2
|
The deadline to submit the final
list of candidates to be elected under the PR system to the CA
ended. All the 25 parties qualified to win at least one seat in
the CA submitted lists. Under the PR system, the Maoists have
100 seats, the Nepali Congress 73 seats, the CPN-UML 70 seats,
the Madhesi People’s Right Forum 22 seats, and the Terai Madhesh
Democratic Party 11 seats. The rest will go to the fringe parties,
from far-Right to the far-Left. The UML, however, decided not
to send any of its standing committee members to the CA. The Election
Commission will now ask the parties to make necessary corrections,
if any, in their PR list and announce the final names of the 575
members. The Cabinet will nominate the remaining 26 members, taking
the total to 601.
|
May 3
|
The dead body of an abducted VDC
secretary of the Bispitti VDC, Allauddin Ansari, was found buried
at the bank of Chharahara River in the Sitamarhi district of the
Indian State of Bihar. According to Ramshila Devi of Halkhori-5,
who was arrested in connection with Ansari's abduction, Ansari
was murdered a week after his abduction by an unidentified armed
group on January 10 from his rented home.
|
May 5
|
The CPN-Maoist Chairman Prachanda
directed the YCL cadres to strictly avoid intimidation and attacks
against the activists of rival political parties.
|
May 6
|
The Sunsari Morang in-charge of
the Akhil Terai Mukti Morcha, Chit Narayan Kherbar a.k.a. Sanket,
joined the CPN-Maoist. At a programme organized at Inaruwa, Sanket
along with over 350 ATMM cadres announced their defection from
the underground group to join the Maoists.
|
May 7
|
A spokesperson of the United States’
State Department, Sean McCormack, said that there is "no change"
in the status of CPN-Maoists, who are listed in the US terror
watch list. "I don't think there's any change. There's no change
in their status," McCormack said.
|
May 8
|
CPN-Maoist Chairman Prachanda
warned of revolt if his party was barred from leading the new
Government.
|
May 12
|
Around 35 armed Maoists raided
the houses of two CPN-UML cadres in Ward No 1 of Jaljala VDC in
the Sankhuwasabha district.
Maoists cut off a pipeline supplying
water at ward no-8 in the Nawalpur VDC as an action against the
villagers for not voting for the party in the CA election and
for denying donations to the party.
|
May 13
|
Maoist chairman Prachanda said
that he has sent a message to King Gyanendra, suggesting him to
leave the Narayanhiti Palace by May 27, a day before the first
sitting of the Consm the palace if he refused to quit voluntarily.
"We have advised him to live like a comtituent Assembly formally
abolishes monarchy and declares the country a republic. Prachanda
also warned that the King could face a forceful eviction fromoner
or else we will have to use force to kick him out," Prachanda
said.
|
May 14
|
A group of approximately 60 YCL
cadres assaulted Krishna Bahadur Adhikari and his four brothers
at Pame in the Pokhara area of Kaski district over a land related
dispute.
YCL cadres assaulted and injured
two school teachers of the Someshwor Higher Secondary School at
Madi in the Chitwan district.
|
May 15
|
YCL cadres compelled four school
headmasters in the Gorkha district to resign from their posts.
YCL cadres assaulted Rameshwor
Pokharel, a teacher at the Nepane Secondary School at Kerabari,
accusing him of campaigning for the NC during the Constituent
Assembly elections.
|
May 17
|
The CPN-Maoist Chairman Prachanda
said there is a possibility of counter-revolution in the country
because of growing differences among the parties. "I'm saying
this sincerely. There is a possibility of counter-revolution in
the country," Prachanda said.
Jwala Singh has been suspended
from the post of chairman of the JTMM-J amidst accusations of
him of working against the party's policies and alleged involvement
in financial irregularities by the party’s politburo meeting.
The meeting appointed Ranabir Singh as the outfit's commander.
Armed cadres of the JTMM-J, currently
led by Ranbir Singh, abducted Nabal Kishwor Yadav, a ranger at
Samasi Range Post, from Kathadhar bazaar of Shreepur VDC in the
Kailali district.
|
May 18
|
19 persons, who were staging a
demonstration at Koteshwor in Kathmandu protesting against the
murder of businessman Ramhari Shrestha, were injured in Police
action. A clash also ensued between cadres of the YCL and the
demonstrators when they found that YCL cadres were taking video
grabs of the demonstration from their office with the intention
of taking revenge.
The National Human Rights Commission
(NHRC) of Nepal has expressed serious concern over the activities
of the YCL and affirmed that these activities have violated the
fundamental rights enshrined in the Interim Constitution, Comprehensive
Peace Agreement and international humanitarian laws, reports Nepal
News. The NHRC also urged the Government to independently and
impartially probe crimes committed by the YCL and punish them
on charges of criminal offence.
|
May 20
|
An unidentified armed group shot
dead Purushottam Khanal, a member of the YCL, at Chapiya VDC in
the Rupandehi district.
Armed YCL cadres assaulted an
activist of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Dinesh Rai, at Sombare
bazaar in the Sankhuwasabha district.
|
May 21
|
YCL cadres assaulted and injured
a Nepali Congress activist, Bhim Bahadur Oli, of Baphikot ward-8
in the Rukum district.
|
May 24
|
Three CPN-Maoist cadres were injured
in a clash with cadres of the MJF during a meeting of the council
of Jigadwa Belbichhwa VDC in the Rautahat district.
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala
formally asked the CPN-Maoist Chairman Prachanda to take the initiative
to form the next Government.
|
May 27
|
A meeting of the CPN-Maoist parliamentary
party nominated the party Chairman Prachanda as its leader of
the newly elected Constituent Assembly members of the party. The
meeting also nominated Baburam Bhattarai as the deputy leader
of its parliamentary committee.
|
May 28
|
The first meeting of the Constituent
Assembly declared the country a Federal Democratic Republic and
formally announced the abolition of the monarchy.
|
May 29
|
A group of armed cadres of the
MMT shot at and injured a businessman, Bishwanath Bhagat, chairman
of retailers' association in the Birgunj area of Parsa district.
|
May 30
|
The CPN-Maoist Chairman Prachanda
reiterated that the posts of President and the Prime Minister
cannot be given to the defeated parties.
|
June 3
|
The CPN-Maoist threatened to quit
the Government if they are not allowed to form the next Government
by June 5.
|
June 4
|
YCL cadres attacked and injured
two civilians, Ganesh Thapa and Bishwo Shrestha, at Damauli in
the Tanahun district.
|
June 5
|
At least 20 persons were injured
when Maoist cadres clashed with CPN-UML-backed members of Janahit
Saving and Credit Cooperatives in the Khimti area of Ramechhap
district.
Maoists’ kangaroo court issued
a diktat to one Rehman Miyan of Gobardiha VDC-1 of Dang district
to appear before their tribunal and answer the questions posed
by it.
A meeting of the CPN-Maoist central
secretariat decided to give up its claim for the post of President
and suggested that the ceremonial office should go to a member
of the civil society or to a non-aligned candidate.
|
June 6
|
Two armed cadres of the Akhil
Terai Mukti Morcha (ATMM) identified as Birat Avtar and Jitendra
Tiwari were killed in an encounter with the police at Piparpatte
VDC in the Bara district.
|
June 8
|
YCL cadres barred the contractors,
who went to the Road Division Office at Biratnagar in the Morang
district to submit tenders.
|
June 7
|
Most adult male members of around
50 houses of the village of Pitidil village in the Kalikot district
have moved out of the village to the district headquarters Manma
after the Maoists allegedly threatened to kill them following
a dispute between Dalits and Brahmins over an inter-caste marriage
in the village.
|
June 9
|
Six-member taskforce of the CPN-Maoist,
Nepali Congress and CPN-UML agreed on electing and removing Prime
Minister with a simple majority of the Constituent Assembly. The
taskforce also reached an understanding that President and Vice-President
will be elected through a simple majority but they could be impeached
by a two-third majority.
|
June 10
|
Maoist cadres in Bagarkot VDC
in the Dadeldhura district blocked the source of drinking water
of over five villages for not voting them in the Constituent Assembly
elections.
Maoist cadres at Room VDC in the
Myagdi district prohibited a team of District Forest Office from
staying in the village, citing that the team did not take the
party's consent to enter the village.
|
June 11
|
Former King Gyanendra Shah left
the Narayanhiti Palace after addressing the Nepali people at a
press conference at the Palace.
|
June 12
|
All the five Maoist ministers
in the cabinet - Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Dev Gurung, Hishila Yami,
Matrika Prasad Yadav and Pampha Bhusal - and two other state ministers
submitted their resignations from the government to the party
chairman Prachanda.
|
June 13
|
Maoist leader and deputy commander
of the PLA Barsa Man Pun said that the PLA will be developed into
a separate national security force.
|
June 14
|
The Rupandehi district commander
of Samyukta Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (SJTMM), Akhtar Mushalman,
was killed by the Police.
|
June 15
|
Maoists assaulted and injured
five student leaders of the CPN-UML affiliated All Nepal National
Free Students' Union (ANNFSU) in Madirambeni VDC of Sankhuwasabha
district.
|
June 16
|
CPN-Maoist gave a 24-hour ultimatum
to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to facilitate formation
of the next Government. Maoist Chairman Prachanda said that the
Maoists will quit Government if consensus is not reached on formation
of the next Government under Maoist leadership by June 17-evening.
|
June 18
|
Activists of the Jwala Singh faction
of the JTMM-J abducted and shot dead Lila Prasad Lamichhane, an
employee of Surya Nepal Pvt. Ltd at Simara of Bara district. JTMM-J
district leader Bikrant claimed responsibility for the incident.
|
June 19
|
A meeting of top leaders of the
three major political parties – CPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress and
CPN-UML - reached a consensus on army integration and amendment
to the interim constitution. The meeting arrived at the agreement
on amending the interim constitution in a way that will allow
a Government to be formed or dismantled with simple majority as
against the previous two-thirds majority required for it. As per
the agreement, individual members of the PLA will be inducted
into the Nepal Army after they go through standard competition
while others will be given choices like vocational training and
foreign employment. However, they are yet to clear their differences
over power sharing.
|
June 20
|
The CPN-Maoist decided to walk
out of the present Government after protracted talks between the
three major political parties made no headway over crucial political
issues. Maoist Chairman Prachanda blamed Prime Minister and Nepali
Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala for delaying the process
of formation of the next Government. Senior Maoist leader Mohan
Baidya informed that Maoists have politically pulled out of the
government and will formalize it on June 22. The party will formally
submit the resignations of its ministers to the Prime Minister
on June 21.
|
June 24
|
The leaders of the ruling SPA
agreed to elect the prime minister, the president and vice-president
through a simple majority of the CA. They also agreed to enforce
all past agreements and pacts on peace within 15 days and manage
the Maoist weapons and combatants within six months but decided
to leave the task of new power-sharing in the hands of the newly
elected CA. The parties, however, could not settle differences
over composition of the NSC and decided to settle the issue through
voting in the CA.
|
June 26
|
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala
announced his resignation at the meeting of the CA. "Even though
I am gone, I hope the politics of understanding and unity will
continue," Koirala said, addressing the CA. His resignation, however,
will have to be officially submitted to the President, who is
yet to be elected.
|
June 29
|
Unidentified assailants killed
a former mayor in the Bardiya district. Govinda Prasad Pandey,
convenor of the Bardiya Civil Society Network and former mayor
of Gulariya Municipality, was shot dead by unidentified assailants
inside his house in Khairapur-1 of Gulariya. No group has so far
taken the responsibility for killing, but police suspect one of
the armed Terai outfits active in the area of carrying out the
murder.
|
June 30
|
An explosion at the office of
the IOM in Damak destroyed part of the building near its main
gate. The JTMM-J subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack.
The IOM has been involved in resettling Bhutanese refugees to
United States, which vows to take some 60,000 as a gesture to
end the two-decade long crisis.
The CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda
blamed the Terai-based parties for delaying the formation of a
new Government by obstructing the CA proceedings.
|
July 1
|
The cabinet meeting decided to
extend the term of UNMIN by six months. The term of UNMIN was
going to expire on July 23. The cabinet also decided to reduce
the size of UNMIN.
|
July 2
|
Indigenous groups residing in
the Terai region have expressed objections to the demand of ‘One
Madhesh, One Province’ forwarded by the Madhesh-based parties.
They have threatened to launch a strong struggle if the demand
is fulfilled.
|
July 3
|
Upendra Yadav, chairman of the
MJF, one of the Madhesh-based parties, has said the demand of
a single province in the southern plains would not disintegrate
Nepal.
|
July 4
|
Cadres of the JTMM shot dead a
local businessman, Bir Bahadur Shrestha, after abducting him in
Mohattari district. The whereabouts of Shyam Gupta, another businessman,
who was abducted along with Shrestha, is still unknown.
|
July 5
|
Ex- Gorkha soldiers have warned
of countrywide protests against the CPN-Maoist’s announcement
of closing down the Gorkha Recruitment Centres.
|
July 6
|
YCL cadres allegedly shot at and
injured a CPN-UML member, 22-year-old Dev Bahadur Bista, of Gora
village in the Baitadi district.
An unidentified group of assailants
shot dead Usman Miya at his residence in the Madhawapur Village
Development Committee of Sarlahi district.
|
July 7
|
The indigenous Rajbanshi community
has called for the establishment of Kochila Pradesh in the Terai
parts of eastern Nepal districts where they form the majority.
Nine ethnic organisations demanded
that Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari districts be merged and transformed
into an autonomous state.
|
July 8
|
An YCL cadre, Rajendra Shah of
Dumri-4, was abducted and subsequently killed by an unidentified
group of assailants. A leader of an armed agitating group claimed
responsibility for the killing saying Shah was killed for his
involvement in an abduction and donation drive.
The Kirant Janabadi Workers Party
(KJWP) has reportedly intensified its activities in the Bhojpur
district. The KJWP workers set ablaze the furniture and documents
of three Village Development Committees (VDCs) in the southern
part of the district, including Bhu, Wajing Tharpu and Thidkinkha
VDCs, the Bhojpur District Police Office said
Talking to reporters after a meeting
of the seven parties in Singha Durbar, the CPN-Maoist chairman
Prachanda said the parties had achieved a major breakthrough by
reaching a consensus on the Madhesi parties' demands and that
this development had paved the way for formation of a new Government.
The Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal
said it wanted the CPN-Maoist to form the new Government at the
earliest. "We believe that the Maoists should lead the new Government
and we fully support that. They should be allowed to form a new
Government without any condition," the party’s chairman Kamal
Thapa said.
|
July 9
|
Minister for Finance Ram Sharan
Mahat urged the Tarun Dal, youth wing of the Nepali Congress,
to fight back Maoists if they play with the freedom of others.
Kishore Kumar Biswas, who recently
quit the Gupta-led MJF to join the movement of indigenous people,
particularly the Tharus, is reported to have said that part of
Terai from Morang to Kanchanpur should be named as Tharuhat Province
and suggested dividing Terai into not more than three provinces.
"Jhapa could be named Kochila province and the area from Morang
to Kanchanpur can be named Tharuhat. There could even be two Tharuhat
provinces," Biswas said.
The newly formed TUSC released
a press statement saying it would continue to struggle to get
‘Madhes’ removed from the constitution and get the region from
Morang to Kanchanpur districts declared an autonomous Tharuhat
province.
The CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda
claimed that foreign power centres are weaving conspiracies to
fulfil their strategic interests by dividing the political parties
into various factions.
The CA meeting resumed after two
weeks of obstruction, and the Constitution Amendment Bill was
tabled.
The MJF chairman Upendra Yadav
warned of a third Madhesh Revolution if the Government did not
implement the new Bill. As per the amendment, there would be an
autonomous province in the Terai region.
The Government has handed over
a letter formally requesting the extension of the term of UNMIN
by six more months to the UN Secretary General. The UNMIN’s current
term is expiring on July 23.
|
July 10
|
The UNMIN has closed its regional
offices in the mid- and far-western regions from. UNMIN chief
Ian Martin, upon arrival in Dhangadhi, announced the closure of
the offices in Dhangadhi and Nepalgunj. On the occasion, Martin
said the UNMIN had reduced its size and it would now monitor the
Maoist armies and arms. UNMIN had nearly 170 employees in its
Nepalgunj office and 100 in Dhangadhi. The offices were set up
some 16 months ago.
|
July 11
|
The CPN-Maoist Chairman Prachanda
floated a new proposal to keep the power-balance in the ministerial
council without stressing on the positions of the president and
CA Chairman in the soon-to-be formed Government as part of an
attempt to garner support of the NC and CPN-UML. Speaking at a
programme at the Reporters Club in Kathmandu, Prachanda asked
both the NC and UML, the second and third largest parties in the
CA, not to take up the issues of the presidential and CA chairman
positions as power-sharing.
The UNMIN closed its Pokhara-based
western regional office. The UNMIN has already closed its offices
based in the far-west and mid-west. The office set up 15 months
ago had a total of 68 employees, including 43 Nepalis.
|
July 13
|
The CA meeting passed the Fifth
Amendment to the interim constitution clearing the way for Government
formation on majority basis – a major departure from the three-year-old
practice of moving on the basis of consensus politics. The amendment
also permits election of the President on the basis of majority.
It sets provision for the opposition party and makes the opposition
leader a member of the Constitutional Council. The meeting also
rejected various amendment proposals put forth by 16 groups of
CA members and a proposal presented by the cabinet (with the backing
of Nepali Congress) to place a leader of opposition in the National
Defence Council – which oversees army-related matters. The new
amendment states that the President, Vice President, CA chairman,
Deputy Chairman and Prime Minister would be chosen on the basis
of political understanding. And if such understanding is not forthcoming,
they can be elected by simple majority. The CA will formulate
further procedures for the election of President. The amendment
states that a Prime Minister will have to resign before the President.
The election of President and CA chairman will start after its
election procedure is finalised. The CA meeting was boycotted
by the Madheshi parties.
The central secretariat of the
CPN-Maoist decided to seek political consensus on allocation of
powerful positions, including the President, Vice-President and
the chair of the CA. "We have decided to allocate the posts in
a manner that will satisfy all," said Maoist chairman Prachanda.
|
July 14
|
The CPN-Maoist has initiated talks
with the CPN-UML and NC to form a new Government. The CPN-Maoist
chairman Prachanda met CPN-UML leaders to discuss the issue.
The VDC Secretaries in the Rautahat
district have decided to provide donations demanded by various
underground Terai outfits, following alleged permission from the
Chief District Officer.
|
July 15
|
The CA has fixed July 19 as the
date for election of the first President of republican Nepal.
The United Nations Secretary-General
Ban-Ki Moon has asked his special representative to Nepal, Ian
Martin, to seek clarification from the Government about the scope
of support it would like to receive from the UNMIN before he can
submit his recommendation to the UN Security Council to extend
the UNMIN's term.
|
July 17
|
Three persons registered as candidates
for the first presidential elections. The Maoists nominated Ramraja
Prasad Singh, the NC has chosen Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, and Ram Preet
Paswan was chosen by the CPN-UML. All the nominees hail from the
Terai region.
|
July 18
|
Peace and Reconstruction Minister
Ram Chandra Poudel said that the PLA of the CPN-Maoist cannot
be integrated into any national security organs. Poudel opined
that integration of the PLA combatants into security agencies
would complicate the overall security situation.
|
July 20
|
A nine-year-old girl, Rajani Sahani,
was killed and two of her sisters, Kajal and Asha, and her father,
Bijay, were injured when two bombs exploded inside their house
at Khairahawa-3 in the Sarlahi district.
The UNSC has extended the term
of its downsized political mission to Nepal, UNMIN, for six months
following a request by the Nepal Government.
|
July 21
|
The NC candidate Dr. Ram Baran
Yadav has been elected as the first President of republic Nepal,
securing a comfortable majority in the presidential election.
A total of 590 votes were cast in the run-off poll which was conducted
as none of the candidates had reached the required number of 298
in the July 19 election in which the MJF candidate Parmananda
Jha was elected Vice President.
Maoist leaders have said they
will not join the next Government as their presidential candidate
Ram Raja Prasad Singh has lost the election.
The acting chair of the CA, Gurung,
said in a statement that the CA will elect its Chairman and Vice
Chairman on July 23.
The Government has amended the
protocol ranking to make Vice President second highest in the
order of precedence. Earlier, the Cabinet had placed Vice President
in the fifth position. As per the new order of precedence, President
will have the highest protocol ranking followed by Vice President,
Prime Minister, Chief Justice and CA chairman.
|
July 22
|
Informing that the his party would
sit on the opposition benches in the aftermath of their loss in
the Presidential poll, the CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda said
in Singha Durbar that his party was committed to the peace process
but there was a danger of the peace process collapsing in case
the Maoist army in cantonments were not paid their salaries.
Parliamentary party leader of
the MPRF, Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar, said "The CPN (Maoist) has
the first claim to lead the new government but if the Maoists
do not form the government, MPRF should be allowed to do so."
|
July 23
|
Former Speaker and CPN-UML leader
Subas Nemwang was unanimously declared chairman of the CA.
Newly elected President Dr. Ram
Baran Yadav and Vice-President Paramananda Jha were sworn in at
the Presidential palace (Shital Niwas).
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala
who had announced his resignation before the CA on June 26 tendered
his resignation to President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav after the latter
was officially sworn-in.
The CPN-UML general secretary
Jhala Nath Khanal said the Maoists should come forward to lead
a new Government, as they are the single largest party in the
CA.
The UNSC unanimously endorsed
plans for a gradual drawdown of the UNMIN as it extended its mandate
for six months. The 15-member body adopted resolution 1825 that
renewed the mandate of UNMIN until January 23, 2009.
|
July 24
|
Unidentified assailants abducted
and subsequently killed a local leader of the Nepali Congress,
Pashupati Rana, in the Mahottari district. A group claiming to
be affiliated with the Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (Rajan Mukti
group) telephoned a local journalist and claimed that it has taken
action against Rana because of his support for the rulers of the
hills.
The CPN-Maoist set three preconditions
for it to lead the next Government. "Firstly, the so-called alliance
of the three parties—NC, UML and MPRF—should not exist anymore,
secondly, a common minimum programme should be prepared in which
the topic of the Maoists’ commitment paper should be highlighted
and lastly a political understanding should be made in that the
parties will not play a game of forming and dissolving Government,"
the Maoist Chairman Prachanda said.
Leaders of the three parties –
NC, CPN-UML and MJF – have termed as unjustified the three conditions
advanced by the Maoists to lead the Government.
|
July 25
|
A senior leader of the Terai Madhesh
Democratic Party, Hridayesh Tripathi, said that the first basis
to be considered while determining the federal structure of Nepal
should be geography.
Tharu Kalyankarini Sabha announces
fresh protest programmes against the ‘Madhes-isation’ of the whole
Terai districts.
|
July 26
|
The CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda
warned that his party would launch a nationwide agitation if Girija
Prasad Koirala becomes the Prime Minister again.
|
July 28
|
The general secretary of the CPN-UML,
Jhal Nath Khanal, asked the CPN-Maoist to first apologise for
what he termed as their 'betrayal' before their relations can
be patched up.
The PLA personnel in the sixth
division at Dasharathpur in Surkhet have reportedly been devoid
of their salaries for 11 months. "As the Government has not released
funds, we are managing livelihood by taking loan," division commander
Tej Bahadur Oli alias Prateek said.
|
July 29
|
President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav
called on the CPN-Maoist to form the Government. He urged the
Maoists – as the single largest party in the CA – to form the
Government by forging a political understanding within seven days.
A statement issued from the Office of the President stated that
he has issued the call as per the Article 38 (1) of the interim
constitution.
The CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda
has said a new Government will be in place "in the next few days."
The NC central member, Dr Shekhar
Koirala, said the party would not join a CPN-Maoist-led Government,
as the party's central working committee had decided to help the
Maoist-led Government from outside the Government.
|
July 30
|
Janjati (indigenous) students
have demanded that the State be restructured on the basis of ethnicity,
language including historical and geographical peculiarity.
|
July 31
|
Co-ordinator of the MJF, Upendra
Yadav, said that his party will not be part of the new Government.
|
August 1
|
The CPN-Maoist agreed to form
and lead a Government based on national consensus with a minimum
number of common programmes. However, the Maoists stuck to their
earlier standpoints such as a vote of confidence for two years
until a new constitution is written, a common minimum programme
and the formation of a broader consensus front. The party also
said they are ready to forge an agreement after holding discussions
with all the 25 parties. The Maoists also want an end to the Nepali
Congress, CPN-UML and MPRF alliance.
|
August 3
|
Pointing at the 'irresponsible
attitude' of the Government, PLA personnel of the Third Division
warned to leave the cantonments.
The Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party
(TMLP) has decided not to join the new Government. The TMLP had
sided with the Maoist presidential candidate during the recent
presidential polls.
|
August 4
|
The four big parties – CPN-Maoist,
NC, CPN-UML and MJF –agreed to form a national unity government.
The decision came at a meeting of the four parties held at the
Maoist parliamentary office in Singha Durbar. According to the
CPN-UML general secretary Jhala Nath Khanal, the four parties
have agreed to draft the common minimum programme (CMP) for the
unity Government that will be led by the Maoists. Speaking to
journalists after the meeting, Khanal said the alliance of the
four parties would last at least until the nation gets a new constitution.
Likewise, the NC vice president Ram Chandra Poudel said the Maoist
leadership's promise to abide by the past agreements has created
an environment of trust. Maoist spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara
said the four parties have agreed to correct their past mistake
and form the Government on consensus. At the meeting, CPN-UML,
NC and MJF opposed the CMP proposed by the Maoists, and later
the four parties agreed to prepare a CMP reflecting agendas of
all the parties joining the Government.
|
August 5
|
President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav
has extended the Government formation deadline by three days after
a request from the four major parties. The four parties also formed
a taskforce to prepare the common minimum programme of the upcoming
'national unity government'.
The eastern regional office of
Agriculture Development Bank in the Morang district has failed
to collect NR 1.5 billion loans provided to the farmers after
Maoists persuaded small farmers not to repay their loan.
|
August 6
|
The CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda
has reportedly directed the party organisation, fronts and departments
to immediately control the para-military structure and activities
of the YCL.
The former CPN-UML general secretary
Madhav Kumar Nepal, who earlier rejected a request from Prime
Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to head the statute drafting committee,
again received the same offer from the Maoist leadership. The
CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda reportedly asked him to head the
constitution drafting commission.
|
August 8
|
The Terai National Liberation
Army threatened local journalists working in Janakpur district
to close all newspapers and radio programmes broadcasting in Nepali
language.
The chances of forming a national
Government ended as the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist failed
to muster a consensus among the major political parties.
|
August 10
|
President Ram Baran Yadav asks
the Parliament to initiate the process of electing the new PM
as provisioned in Article 38 (2) of the Interim Constitution.
|
August 11
|
The CA chairman Subhash Nembang
announced that the election of the Prime Minister will be held
on August 15. The nominations for the poll, he said, would have
to be filed on August 14. "If [the] parties agree to elect a candidate
unanimously, the result will be known on Thursday," said Cabinet
Secretariat spokesperson Mukunda Raj Sharma, adding: "Else, it
will be disclosed by the legislative meeting of the Constituent
Assembly on Friday." As per the interim Constitution, the Prime
Minister can be elected by a simple majority of the CA.
|
August 12
|
In the last few years of unrest
in the southern Terai region, around 56 civil servants have been
killed. This was revealed at a programme held by the Nepal Civil
Servants Organisation in Kathmandu. According to general secretary
of the organisation, Punya Dhakal, they were killed by various
armed outfits operating in the region. He said that morale of
the Government employees were low as security organs have not
been able to arrest the killers.
The Finance Ministry approved
the proposal to pay the outstanding salaries of last 14 months
to the PLA in cantonments. The Ministry has made available NR
84 million for the purpose. As such, 19618 PLA combatants will
get NR 42000 each.
|
August 14
|
Trade Unions affiliated to the
CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist agreed to put an end to confrontations
between the Youth Force (CPN-UML affiliated group) and Maoist-affiliated
employees of casinos based in the Kathmandu Valley.
|
August 15
|
Pushpa Kamal Dahal a.k.a. Prachanda,
chairman of the CPN-Maoist, was elected the first Prime Minister
of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal by a huge majority.
In the election in the CA, he won 464 votes against his rival,
Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress, who got only 113 out
of the 577 votes cast.
|
August 16
|
Jwala Singh, chairman of the JTMM-J,
claimed that 30 of the inmates who escaped from Siraha district
prison on August 13 have contacted the party.
|
August 17
|
A bomb exploded at Vice President
Paramananda Jha’s private residence at Gaurighat in the capital
Kathmandu at around 7.25 pm (NST). An army man, Lance Corporal
Shree Prasad Sarbuja, was injured and a windowpane was destroyed
in the blast.
The Supreme Court has passed an
order asking the Government to provide compensation and relief
to victims of conflict. The apex court asked the Government to
form a committee by including representatives of the victims and
work as per its recommendation. The court passed the order in
response to a writ petition filed by victims demanding relief
to over 60,000 who suffered from the conflict and many of whom
were displaced.
|
August 18
|
Pushpa Kamal Dahal a.k.a. Prachanda
was sworn in as the Prime Minister during a ceremony at the Shital
Niwas (office of the President). President Ram Baran Yadav administered
the oath of office and secrecy.
The alliance partners – the CPN-UML
and MJF – have raised strong objections following the CPN-Maoist’s
decision to use its PLA members for the security of the Prime
Minister. Earlier, the CPN-Maoist decided to depute the PLA for
the security of the Prime Minister. The CPN-Maoist central committee
meeting decided that along with the NA and the police, the PLA
too would be involved in the security process.
|
August 19
|
Prime Minister Prachanda said
his party had not decided that the PLA would take charge of his
security. The PLA involvement was just a continuation of the existing
agreement reached between the Government and his party and there
is a suggestion to upgrade the security, but the new cabinet will
take a decision on that, clarified Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur
Mahara.
Acting president of the Nepali
Congress Sushil Koirala expressed serious concern about the Maoist’s
decision to use the PLA in the security.
|
August 21
|
The Common Minimum Programme (CMP)
finalised by the three parties –CPN-Maoist, CPN-UML and MJF –laid
emphasis on writing the Constitution within two years, and consolidating
national interest, among others. Signed by the Prime Minister
and the CPN-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal a. k .a Prachanda,
the CPN-UML general secretary Jhal Nath Khanal and the MJF coordinator
Upendra Yadav, the CMP covers all the major issues from restructuring
of state, implementing inclusion, providing immediate relief to
the people and socio-economic transformation, implementing past
agreements. The CMP states that the CPN-Maoist’s People’s Liberation
Army combatants will be integrated and rehabilitated along with
management of their arms within six months. The victims of conflict
and those who suffered during the People’s Movement, People’s
War and the Madhesh agitation will be compensated, it says. The
parties have also vowed to control inflation and ensure easy availability
of supplies including petroleum products.
The three parties reached a consensus
on sharing ministerial portfolios. According to the agreement,
the Maoists will get nine ministerial portfolios, including Defence,
Finance and Peace and Reconstruction, while six ministerial portfolios
including Home, Local Development and Water Resources, have been
allotted to the CPN-UML while the MJF has four ministries, including
Foreign, Physical Planning, Agriculture and Supply. However, the
parties are yet to reach consensus on Health and Education. The
parties have agreed to expand the cabinet while continuing negotiations
on their differences.
|
August 22
|
Two people were injured when a
bomb exploded in a residential area at Bharatpur in Chitwan. Police
also recovered seven detonators from the incident site.
The Cabinet was formed adding
four members from CPN-Maoist and four members from the MJF. Reports
said that the CPN-UML nominees refused to take oath after they
demanded that their leader be given second position in the Cabinet
after the Prime Minister.
The CPN-UML has decided not to
join the Government if it does not get the second position in
the Cabinet portfolio. It also accused the Maoists of trying to
breach the precedents and traditions in trying to provide second
position in terms of seniority to a Finance Minister instead of
Home Minister. Earlier, the CPN-UML had nominated its senior leader
Bamdev Gautam to lead the party in the Cabinet by assigning him
Home Ministry along with Deputy Prime Ministership.
Central member of the NC, Shekhar
Koirala, said that CA members from his party would resign if the
Maoists tried to frame a constitution with the aim of establishing
a People’s Republic. He also said the CPN-UML and MJF should not
have handed over the defence portfolio to the Maoists because
the peace process has not been brought to a logical conclusion,
he said.
In his first message to the countrymen
as the Prime Minister, Prachanda laid emphasis on the promotion
and consolidation of nationalism, republic and socio-economic
changes.
|
August 24
|
The CPN-UML general secretary,
Jhala Nath Khanal, reiterated his party’s stance of not joining
the new Government led by the CPN-Maoist if the second position
in hierarchy is not given to his party in the Cabinet.
The Kalimati vegetable market
in Kathmandu, the largest vegetable market in the capital, remained
closed due to a gherao (picketing) by the YCL cadres.
At least seven PLA men fled the
fourth division cantonment at Hattikhor of Nawalparasi district,
indicating that they have not been treated well by their seniors
in the camps. According to reports, one fleeing PLA member Deepak
K.C., who came in contact with media persons secretly in Damauli,
said senior members in the cantonment torture combatants excessively
mentally and physically. He told media persons that six other
personnel have left for Kathmandu to contact the UNMIN and also
claimed 1000 out of 2800 PLA members in the cantonment had already
left the camp and more are planning to do so.
|
August 25
|
The Special Representative of
the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict of the UN,
Radhika Coomaraswamy, called upon the Nepal Government and CPN-Maoist
to immediately free all children previously associated with the
Maoist forces. In a statement, she reiterated that the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement called for the immediate release of all children
associated with Maoist forces once they entered the cantonments.
|
August 26
|
Unidentified assailants detonated
a bomb in the Sanischare-based Bhutanese refugee camp in Morang
district. However, no casualty was reported, according to the
Urlabari Ward Police Office.
Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa
‘Badal’ has said that the process of integration of army will
be completed between three to six months. Talking to reporters
in Itahari he said that a special committee will be formed to
initiate the process.
|
August 28
|
Prime Minister Prachanda has agreed
to give second place to the CPN-UML’s Bam Dev Gautam in the cabinet
hierarchy, ending the week long protocol dispute.
|
August 29
|
Police shot dead Kaushal Sahani
alias John, the chief of Terai Army, an underground armed outfit,
along with his bodyguard in the Raghunathpur area of Rautahat
district. Sahani has been accused of masterminding several explosions
in the capital Kathmandu and elsewhere in the country in the past.
According to a report prepared
by the NHRC, almost two years after the State and the CPN-Maoist
in a written document had promised to publicise the status of
disappeared citizens within 60 days, the whereabouts of at least
970 citizens remain unknown. The report said the State is responsible
for the disappearance of 671 citizens while CPN-Maoist is responsible
for the disappearance of 299. During the period of a decade-long
insurgency, State forces killed at least 142 while Maoists killed
21 people who were taken under their control. Of all those disappeared
(as per the complaints filed at the NHRC), the Government has
publicised the status of 1,427 and the Maoist of 739 people.
|
August 30
|
14 persons were injured in a clash
between the YCL cadres and the CPN-UML-affiliated Youth Force
in Dhankuta bazaar.
|
August 31
|
The newly appointed Deputy Prime
Minister and Home Minister Bamadev Gautam said that he will focus
on maintaining peace and security in the country.
The Prime Minister said restoring
peace, formulation of new constitution and economic development
are the main challenges and opportunities for the new Government.
|
September 1
|
The Dhankuta district headquarters
remained tense for the third day in a row because of the repeated
clashes between the YCL and the CPN-UML-affiliated YF cadres.
The CPN-UML has asked its cadres
to maintain restraint. Issuing a statement, the CPN-UML central
office lamented the showdown between the youth groups, and urged
restraint on the part of its cadres.
Some 200 cadres of the CPN-Maoist
have been living in four buildings belonging to the National Construction
Company Nepal in Pokhara, despite Prime Minister Prachanda’s direction
to return the seized land and property to their rightful owners.
Home Minister and Deputy Prime
Minister, Bam Dev Gautam, has said growing violence in Terai would
be controlled by using force. The Home Minister said that he was
committed to return lands and properties seized by the Maoists
to the rightful owners. He stressed that the Government would
not differentiate while taking action against the YCL, Youth Force
and other groups if they take law in their hands.
Prime Minister Prachanda has indicated
that he will not take any action against the Nepali Army chief
General Rookmangud Katawal.
The NHRC suspects most of the
persons disappeared by the State and the non-State sides have
already been killed.
|
September 2
|
The Maoists forced the closure
of the closure of Indian ayurvedic company Dabur’s subsidiary
in Nepal.
Deputy Prime Minister and Home
Minister, Bamadev Gautam, said that the armed groups active in
Terai will be invited for talks within some days. But strict action
will be taken against criminals who defy (the call for dialogue).
|
September 3
|
Nanda Kishor Pun, deputy Commander
of the PLA, has warned that any obstruction in integration of
the Nepali Army (NA) and the PLA into a national army as per the
peace accord would invite conflict. He also said that the integration
process would begin within three months and the task would be
completed within six months. Hinting at the Maoists intention
to downsize the national army, he also claimed that a 50-thousand
strong army would be enough for the country.
The Nepali Congress leader, Ram
Sharan Mahat, said the PLA should not be integrated into the national
army at any cost. He threatened to take strong action if the PLA
combatants are integrated into the national army.
The YCL and the CPN-UML-affiliated
Youth Force that engaged in violent clashes forcing the local
administration in Dhankuta to impose curfew have finally agreed
to stop hostility. The two groups reached the understanding at
a meeting held at the district administration office in the evening.
Former Prime Minister Girija Prasad
Koirala has said that drafting the new constitution would be a
difficult task in the absence of unity, cooperation and consensus
among political parties and alleged that the CPN-Maoist had broken
the tradition of consensus, unity and cooperation.
|
September 4
|
A report said that cases filed
against some senior leaders of the CPN-Maoist during the conflict
are still pending in the Surkhet district court. Cases filed in
2001 against Maoist second-in-command, Baburam Bhattarai, and
spokesperson, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, on charges of attempted
murder and illegal possession of arms are yet to be withdrawn
and the court record states Bhattarai and Mahara are still at
large, the report said. "Fifteen cases, filed against the
Maoists, are still pending in court," said Govinda Basnet,
an official at the Office of the Government’s Lawyer in Surkhet.
At present, three detainees — Krishna B.K., Resham Kumar Bist
and Dil Bahadur Nepali — are lodged in Surkhet jail.
The former general secretary of
the CPN-UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal, has urged the Maoists to stick
with past understandings.
|
September 5
|
The Nepal Police have reportedly
arrested two accused of Mumbai (India) bomb blasts of 1993 from
capital Kathmandu. The police arrested Salim Abdul Gani Gazi alias
Asfak Ahmad Shah Asfak and Riaz Khatri alias Riyaz Abubakar Khatri
alias Riaz Ahmad Lone and handed them over to the Indian government
via the Indian embassy. There was a high priority Interpol red-corner
notice against the duo. Police said they were operating as manpower
agent and pashmina trader in the city.
Prime Minister Prachanda has warned
that the country will head towards grave crisis if the new government
fails, or is brought down prematurely.
|
September 6
|
The Home Ministry, issued instructions
to the Police to establish law and order. The Ministry addressed
the Nepal Police chief Inspector General of Police, Om Bikram
Rana, to enhance security, control smuggling and revenue leakage,
control activities of Tibetan refugees and improve traffic situation.
The Ministry gave 15-point instructions to the Police chief. It
has also asked the Police to strictly enforce the prohibition
of entry for Nepalese nationals in casinos and control criminal
gangs, among others. The instructions have come in the wake of
claims by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Bamdev Gautam,
that he will restore law and order at the soonest.
|
September 7
|
Police arrested five members of
the National Liberation Army (NLA), a relatively lesser known
outfit that claimed responsibility for the blasts at the Vice
President Parmananda Jha’s residence at Gaurighat in capital Kathmandu
on August 17. Police arrested Mohan Karki, Tika Raj Magar, Som
Bahadur Rai, Shiv Bahadur Karki and Prabin Dura from Chahahil.
The Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party
(TMLP) has raised serious objection to the formation of the Ministry
for Culture and State Restructuring, warning of withdrawing support
to the Government if the ministry, held by the CPN-Maoist, is
not scrapped right away.
|
September 8
|
According to National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC) report a total of 200 children below four years
of age are living under pitiable condition inside the No-6 Division
camp of the PLA in the Dasarathpur of Surkhet district. The children
inside the camps lack necessary care and are vulnerable to diseases
too, said a press release issued by the regional director of NHRC,
Bed Prasad Bhattarai.
|
September 9
|
Even as the strike continues in
Siraha, locals of Baireni VDC in Dhading district obstructed the
Prithvi Highway, the lifeline to the capital, in protest against
the capturing of the land belonging to Indrayani community forest
by workers and landless squatters. The locals are accusing the
Maoists of seizing 634 ropanis of land at Sabitar, Baireni VDC-7
and distributing it to the landless squatters.
|
September 10
|
Presenting the government’s policies
and programmes at the fourth session of the parliament of the
Constituent Assembly President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav said, "The
integration and rehabilitation of People’s Liberation Army will
be completed within next six months to take the peace process
to a logical conclusion." However, a day before, Nepali Congress
vice-president Ram Chandra Poudel had said that the Maoist People's
Liberation Army can't be integrated with the Nepali Army as the
former is loyal to a political party.
Speaking at a press conference
held at the CPN-UML headquarters in Balkhu, the party general
secretary Jhala Nath Khanal said that the government's longevity
would depend on the behavior of the Maoists. Khanal said that
the party would see and watch the Maoist attitude towards implementation
of past agreements. About the Youth Force (YF), CPN-UML's answer
to the YCL, he said that though its presence was necessary to
check Maoist "atrocities", it would not tread the path of YCL.
However, a day before, a senior leader of UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal,
had spoken against the activities of YF and called for dissolution
of all such organizations.
|
September 11
|
President Ram Baran Yadav said
that he is against the demand of a single Madhesh province. He
pointed out that such demands could lead to the country's disintegration,
asserting, "The country should be structured on a scientific basis
and not on the basis of caste."
The NC and 18 other opposition
parties have demanded amendments to the government’s programmes
and policies, which were launched on September 10. Stating that
the programmes failed to address the people's aspirations, the
NC, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Rastriya Janamorcha, Nepal Workers
and Peasants Party, Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party and others
registered a proposal of amendment at the Cabinet Secretariat.
|
September 12
|
Chairman of the RPP-N Kamal Thapa
said that abolition of monarchy had put democracy in Nepal in
the 'ambush of extreme leftist forces.' Thapa argued that there
are now two possibilities - either extreme leftist forces will
take over State power or a new conflict will breed in the course
of retaliating against these forces.
Some RPP-N central members have
asked the party to take initiative to form a youth body that could
retaliate against YCL and CPN-UML affiliated Youth Force.
The Prime Minister and CPN-Maoist
chief Prachanda quit as the supreme commander of the PLA. Nand
Kishore Pun, second in command of the PLA was later chosen by
the central secretariat of the Maoists to head the PLA. Pun was
the senior most deputy commander of the guerrilla army after two
of his seniors contested the Constituent Assembly election in
April and won.
|
September 14
|
A Maoist cadre, identified as
Laxmi Benam, died when cadres of the CPN-UML and Maoists clashed
at Tellabung in the Dhungesanghu Village Development Committee
ward-2 of Taplejung district.
More than 15 CPN-Maoist cadres
and a Deputy Superintendent of Police, Kul Bahadur Thara, were
injured a police team clashed with Maoist cadres led by its district
coordinator, Dilip Shah, in the evening at Ramnagar Mirchaiya
in Siarha. The clash occurred after police raided the Dalit huts
erected in Ramnagar Mirchaiya on the land seized by the Maoists.
After the police arrested Dilip Shah, activists of the party pelted
the cops with stones.
Kirat Janabadi Workers Party (KJWP)
burnt the village development committee (VDC) office of the Sanojoma
VDC in Bhojpur district. The KJWP has been demanding a
separate Kirat state.
The UML General Secretary
Jhalanath Khanal accused the Maoists of taking up violent measures
and said that it may generate conflict in the coalition if they
did not stop their excesses.
The government has decided to
release NR 240 million to compensate for losses incurred during
the Madhes movement two years ago. A large number of vehicles,
houses and other private property was partly or fully destroyed
across the Terai in the 29-day Madhes movement spearheaded by
the MJF during January-February, 2007.
|
September 15
|
Maoist cadres, led by Land Reforms
Minister Matrika Yadav, seized a two-storey 16-room house belonging
to one Birendra Shah and 11 bighas of land belonging to 75 persons
in the Ramnagar Mirchaiya-3 of Siraha district, a day after the
police evicted the Maoists from the property on the direction
of Deputy Prime Minister (PM) and Home Minister Bamdev Gautam.
Reports also said that Matrika Yadav threatened to quit as minister,
and from the party, if the PM intervened in the land dispute.
|
September 15
|
Unidentified assailants opened
fire towards the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist leader, Laksipur
Musalman, in the Kapilvastu district. The bullet, however, missed
the intended target, injuring another person, identified as Akalikahar,
a resident of Rajuwapur in the Kapilvastu district. Akalikahar
succumbed to his injuries later. Subsequently, the SJTMM claimed
responsibility for the attack.
A senior leader of the CPN-UML,
Madhav Kumar Nepal said, in reference to Siraha land seizure incident,
that his party’s youth wing – Youth Force (YF) – will be mobilised
to take care if a government minister himself is bent on spreading
anarchy.
|
September 17
|
Activists of the JTMM-R (Ranvir)
shot dead a CPN-Maoist cadre of Amritgunj-9, identified as Basir
Miya Ansari, at Kalaiya in the Bara district. Bara-Parsa in-charge
of the JTMM-R(Ranvir), Saatya, claimed responsibility for the
killing.
|
September 19
|
Armed cadres of the SJTMM shot
dead Mohan Mainali, a section officer of the district administration
office, Parsa in the Ranighat area.
Minister for Land Reforms and
Management, Matrika Yadav, resigned from his post. Earlier he
had been asked by the Maoist central secretariat to publicly apologise
for his involvement in the Siraha land seizure
|
September 21
|
Army Chief General Rookmangud
Katawal ruled out the possibility of the army inducting anyone
from outside without meeting its recruitment standard.
|
September 22
|
President Dr. Rambaran Yadav has
urged all groups in Terai involved in violence to renounce their
ways and join the process of building new Nepal
|
September 23
|
The YCL cadres started collecting
'tax' on the supply of timber to other districts from timber traders
at Baireni in the Aankhibhui VDC of Dhading district. This is
the first time that the YCL cadres started donation drive in the
district after the formation of the Maoist-led government.
|
September 24
|
Ganeshman Pun, the chairman of
YCL, said the YCL cadres would now establish themselves as the
‘constitution-making force’.
Local Maoist cadres in the Sankhuwasabha
are reportedly collecting "tax" from tourists and hoteliers of
Makalu-Barun National Park area in order to recoup the expenses
incurred by their party during the CA elections.
The CA members of the Nepali Congress
criticized the government and the CPN-Maoist for allowing the
Maoist cadres to roam around the CA venue with arms.
|
September 25
|
Arjun Narsingh K.C., spokesperson
of the Nepali Congress, warned that the country would face a new
round of conflict if the government attempts to integrate PLA
into Nepali Army in violation of peace pacts and earlier agreement.
A senior leader of the MJF, Sarat
Singh Bhandari, warned that the party may take "unpleasant decision"
if the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist initiates merger between
the Nepal Army and the PLA.
|
September 26
|
CPN-UML General Secretary Jhalanath
Khanal warned the Maoists that their failure to immediately control
the violent activities of YCL may cost continuity of the coalition
government.
The CPN-Maoist would form a Special
Commission to investigate on the past incidents of killings and
disappearances within one-and-half month. Finance Minister Baburam
Bhattarai informed about forming such a commission.
Leaders of 14 armed groups operating
in the Terai region, including JTMM-G, Madhesi Tigers, Terai Madhesh
Mukti Tigers, Terai Liberation Force and Terai Cobra meet in Bihar
(India) to forge an alliance. One Chandrashekhar, who heads the
'unification coordination committee', said the 14 organisations
would try to reach a decision on unification within five days.
|
September 27
|
The Parsa district chief of the
JTMM-J, Dharmanath Kurmi alias Sudhir Pandey was killed by an
unidentified gang in the Maniyari VDC of Parsa district. Before
joining the JTMM-J, Kurmi was Parsa district in-charge of the
Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha-Prithvi.
Finance Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai
announced that the government would provide families of the ones
who lost their life during the armed insurgency with one million
rupees each as compensation.
|
September 28
|
An explosion at the office of
the Maoists in the Rajaul area of Janakpur municipality damaged
a portion of boundary wall of the office. However, no one was
injured. The Madhesi Mukti Tigers, one of the underground armed
outfits operating in the Terai region, claimed responsibility
for the blast.
The CPN-UML General Secretary
Jhala Nath Khanal said that the Maoist combatants should meet
national criteria to be integrated into the Nepal Army.
|
September 29
|
A passenger was killed when MMT
cadres opened indiscriminate fire on a passenger bus for defying
MMT’s three-day bandh in Nawalparasi’s Tilakpur on the East-West
Highway. Four passengers were injured in the firing.
The CPN-Maoist plans to mobilize
YCL under two separate units — production force and construction
force — to help bring about prosperity and sustainable peace in
the country, a party leader said. Maoist lawmaker and former YCL
in-charge for the Kathmandu Valley, Chandra Bahadur Thapa, a.k.a.
Sagar, said it was important to keep the youth employed, for the
unemployed youth bulge is more than likely to drive the country
to conflict again.
The NC Vice President Ram Chandra
Poudel said that the country has not been freed from the state
of civil war yet as the Maoists are still continuing their parallel
governments.
Minister for Peace and Reconstruction
Janardan Sharma said the government would soon start work to find
the condition and whereabouts of the people who went missing during
the decade-long armed conflict. He said that an effective law
would also be formulated to ease the process.
The Chief of ATMM, Jaya Krishna
Goit, said that all the armed groups operating in the Tarai are
going to unite under his leadership shortly. Goit claimed that
rumours about 14 armed groups mulling a plan to select a new leader
for a "united front" after removing him and another leader, Jwala
Singh, were false.
CPN-Maoist Constituent Assembly
member Matrika Prasad Yadav distributed the one million rupees
meant for constituency development programmes to martyrs' families
in Sarlahi district.
CPN-UML General Secretary Jhalanath
Khanal said that the CPN-M must implement all the past agreements
in order to take the peace process to a logical end.
|
September 30
|
A report released by Informal
Sector Service Center (INSEC), an NGO working in the human rights
sector, says that altogether 1,855 people died in the western
development region of Nepal during the decade-long armed conflict.
|
October 1
|
Two insurgent groups operating
in Terai, JTMM-R and Madhesi Virus Killers, declared that they
would not carry out their armed activities for two weeks during
Dashain with effect from September 30.
The CPN-Maoist cadres assaulted
the Nepali Congress district member, Purna Bahadur Lamtari, in
the Baldyanggairi-2 village of Palpa district allegedly for giving
an anti-Maoist speech in the village on September 25.
|
October 2
|
Finance Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai
said that his party, the CPN-Maoist, which leads the current coalition
government, was in talks with Nepali Army over the issue of army
integration.
|
October 3
|
Following a cabinet meeting held
at the prime minister’s office at Singha Durbar, the government
invited the armed groups active in the Terai region to come to
the negotiating table. It also formed a three-member committee
led by Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Janardan Sharma to
hold dialogue with the armed outfits. Responding to the offer,
the armed groups operating in Terai announced that they would
hold talks with the government. They also declared a cease-fire
during Dashain festival.
|
October 4
|
Unidentified assailants detonated
a powerful bomb at a mosque in Hattimuda Village Development Committee
ward-9 of Morang district, leaving four persons injured. No group
has claimed responsibility for the blast yet.
The Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist
warned that it would resort to agitation if the Taplejung District
Court fails to review its decision to release some people who
were held on the charge of killing local Maoist leader Laxmi Banem
on September 14. Incidentally, all of those held and subsequently
freed are activists of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist
Leninist.
|
October 5
|
After armed Terai groups expressed
willingness to sit for 'meaningful' talks, the newly-formed Talks
team said that the government was open to hold discussion on all
issues with the agitating armed groups.
The meeting of the
council of ministers decided to increase the salary of the PLA
combatants by 66.6 percent. The PLA combatants will now get NR
5,000 as monthly salary. Previously they were receiving NR 3,000
per month.
|
October 6
|
At least three minors were injured
in an explosion at a dumping site at Ranichhetra in Biratnagar-21.
An unidentified group detonated the bomb.
Minister for Education Renu Yadav,
who is a member of the negotiating team that the government recently
formed, said that dialogue with the Terai outfits will be carried
out immediately after the Dashain. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister
and Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam said the government would treat
those armed groups of Tarai that do not heed to government’s call
for dialogue as criminal elements.
|
October 10
|
Prime Minister Prachanda said
that the current government would be expanded before the next
big festival of Tihar. He further said that the integration
of PLA with the Nepali Army would also begin soon.
|
October 11
|
Nepal Workers and Peasants Party
President Narayan Man Bijukchhe ‘Rohit’ said that the government
should not agree to the conditions like "One Madhesh One
Province".
|
October 12
|
Issuing a press statement Rajan
Mukti, chief of the JTMM-R, said it is willing to sit for a dialogue
with the government provided that the latter forms a new ‘trustworthy
talks team’, withdraws all court cases against the outfit’s cadres
and releases his men currently serving in jail. The group also
demanded fulfilment of other demands for what is described as
liberation of the Terai from ‘internal colonization’. These demands
include holding a referendum in the Terai to let the Terai people
decide whether to opt for a separate Terai nation.
Coordinator of the newly-formed
government talks team, Janardan Sharma, said the government is
trying to establish contact with the agitating armed Terai groups
for dialogue.
The United States said that it
would continue to support the new elected government in Nepal,
but will not change its policy on the CPN-M, which is on the U.S.
terror list. The United States, however, seems to have relaxed
travel bans on Maoist leaders. It has also started engaging with
the Maoist leadership. The U.S. statement not to immediately review
its position on the Maoists came when Finance Minister and Maoist
second-in-command Dr. Baburam Bhattarai met with U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State Richard Boucher.
|
October 13
|
The government sent an official
letter to JTMM factions led by Jwala Singh and Ranvir Singh, respectively,
inviting them to come for a dialogue, according to Minister for
Peace and Reconstruction Janardan Sharma who heads the talks committee.
Minister Sharma said the government emissaries were trying to
establish contacts with all armed groups in the Terai and also
holding indirect talks with some of the armed groups.
President Dr Ram Baran Yadav said
that the violence in the country has not stopped because of politics
backed by arms and urged all to come to the fore to condemn the
politics based on violence.
Minister for Finance and senior
Maoist leader Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai said that unlike the communist
parties of other countries, the Maoists in Nepal have no intention
of establishing single-party model.
Nepali Congress Acting President
Sushil Koirala warned that his party will take to the streets
if the Maoist combatants are integrated into the national army.
Koirala also said that a new conflict may arise if the Maoists
try to change the country into the people’s republic.
The JTMM-Rajan killed a cadre
of the ruling CPN-UML identified as Uttim Lal Mahato in Siraha
district accusing him of spying on the party. Paras Mukti,
central member of the JTMM-Rajan and Siraha district in-charge,
has taken the responsibility of the killing.
|
October 14
|
A woman and two minors died on
the spot and four others were injured when a bomb went off at
Chandranigahapur Chowk in Rautahat district. Another two persons
got injured when the police opened fire to take situation under
control after the market became tense following the fatal explosion.
An armed outfit identified as Terai Tigers has claimed the responsibility
for the blast. Two Terai armed outfits, the Terai Army and the
Terai Sena, have claimed responsibility for the incident.
Three cadres of the JTMM-J, who
were arrested a week ago, released on ordinary bail by the Area
Police Office in Garuda of Rautahat district coming under pressure
from the local representatives of ruling political parties
|
October 15
|
Two cadres of the TMDP were killed
in the Titirkhi VDC of Kapilvastu district by an unidentified
group. Nobody claimed responsibility for the killing.
The government sent an official
letter to one more armed outfit in the Terai inviting it to come
for a dialogue. Local Development Minister Ram Chandra Jha said
the letter was sent to Terai Cobra, headed by Nagraj. Minister
Jha further said that Liberation of Terai Elam (LTE), led by Prithvi
Raj Singh, would get government invitation for talks soon. He
also said that government sources were also in touch with Pawan
Giri led Samyukta Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha and Terai Army.
Minister for Commerce and Supplies
Rajendra Mahato urged all armed outfits of the Terai region to
come to the negotiation table and help make a new Nepal. Addressing
the cadres of Nepal Sadbhawana Party-Mahato at Jaleshwor in Mahottari
district, Minister Mahato said that the government is serious
and flexible about holding talks in any subject matter. "However,
it is against the disintegration of the country," he added.
Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav
said that Prime Minister Prachanda himself was not in favour of
taking up the Maoist combatants into the national army.
President Dr. Baburam Bhattarai
said that the Maoists were discussing within the party about changing
the name of the party since past one year and the general convention
would make a decision on that.
|
October 16
|
Minister for Peace and Reconstruction
Janardan Sharma said that five of the seven armed outfits agitating
in the Terai region had responded to the Government's invitation
for talks.
Jwala Singh, chairman of the JTMM-J,
welcomed the Government's call for dialogue adding that four "simple
conditions" must be met before the armed outfit comes into negotiation
table. The conditions included releasing the arrested JTTM cadres
and scrapping the false charges filed against the JTMM-J, announcement
of cease fire, proper security arrangements for its talks team
and deputing the security personnel stationed at rural VDC the
district headquarters.
Prime Minister Prachanda said
that he was not thinking about integrating all the PLA combatants
into the national army. "I have not talked about merger. But I
have also not said that there will not be any army integration,"
he said dismissing a statement made by Foreign Minister Upendra
Yadav that he did not want army integration at all.
The Chief of the UNMIN Ian Martin
asked the Government to form a special committee to rehabilitate
Maoist combatants soon.
|
October 17
|
Minister for Local Development
Ram Chandra Jha assured that the three member talks team formed
recently by the government would ensure the safety of the representatives
of the Terai based armed outfits, which are expected to take part
in negotiation with the government soon. The participants' safety
was one of the pre-conditions by many of the outfits for the negotiation.
The Kirant Workers Party, which has been waging secessionist activities
in the eastern hill districts, has also been invited for talks.
Deputy Prime Minister and Home
Minister Bamdev Gautam said that Prime Minister and Maoist chairman
Prachanda had asked him to uphold rule of law and to take action
against erring YCL cadres.
Prachanda said that the CPN-M
and the CPN-Unity Centre Masal would be unified after three weeks.
|
October 18
|
CPN-UML, said it is also in the
process of changing its name. "We are thinking of retaining
our original name," said CPN-UML general secretary Jhalanath
Khanal. "We could just be called the Communist Party of Nepal,"
he said
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a man at Dhakdehi in the Rupandehi district.
|
October 19
|
A YCL cadre died in a clash with
supporters of the CPN-UML affiliated Youth Force at Belkhu in
the Pida VDC ward-1 of Dhading district.
Prime Minister and Chairman of
the CPN-M Prachanda admitted that the leaders of the party are
divided over twin issues, change in the party’s name and People’s
Republic. However, he claimed that such debates can only strengthen
the party.
|
October 20
|
Local Development minister and
a member of the Government's talks team, Ram Chandra Jha, said
the Government was not ready to meet the conditions put forward
by some Terai outfits, which include declaration of cease-fire
and removal of security posts from the villages. "These conditions
cannot be met beforehand. All the issues will be discussed at
the table," he added.
|
October 21
|
The YCL cadres vandalised the
district office of the CPN-UML in Dhading protesting against the
alleged murder of their fellow cadre Krishna Bahadur Bhandari
on October 19.
The Maoists and the CPN-UML, the
major parties in the ruling alliance, reached an agreement to
form a high-level political committee by October 22 to start the
process of integration of PLA men into the Nepal Army (NA). Minister
for Peace and Reconstruction Janardan Sharma informed that the
Prime Minister would form the committee after discussing with
all other political parties. He added that the committee would
include the leaders of the opposition party, security forces,
and representatives from different political parties.
Minister for Home Affairs and
Deputy Prime Minister Bam Dev Gautam warned the armed groups in
the Terai saying the government would use force if they ignore
the Government's call for dialogue.
Prime Minister Prachanda’s advisor
for Foreign Affairs, Hira Bahadur Thapa said that the United States
had stepped up the process to remove the CPN-M from its terrorist
watch list.
12 persons were injured in a clash
between the CPN-M cadres and CPN-UML activists in Siraha. The
skirmish occurred following a dispute over forming a committee
for development works, utilising the fund allocated from the district
development committee. One of the injured CPN-M cadre succumbed
to his injuries on October 22.
|
October 22
|
In a separate incident, at least
11 people were injured when a powerful cylinder bomb went off
at the Land Revenue Office in the Janakpur area of Dhanusha district.
JTMM-Rajan, an outfit launching armed movement in the southern
plains, has claimed the responsibility for the explosion.
The scheduled cabinet meeting
was put off after two major partners of the ruling alliance—CPN-M
and CPN-UML—failed to reach an agreement over the selection of
coordinator for a special committee to be set up for the integration
of Maoist combatants into the national army. The CPN-UML stuck
to its demand that the committee should be headed by a leader
from a party other than the CPN-Maoist.
Minister for Peace and Reconstruction
Janardan Sharma informed that disqualified Maoist combatants,
who have been residing in the Maoist cantonments across the country,
will be evicted from there at the earliest.
A top US official said that the
US has started the process to remove the CPN-M from its terror
watch list. The US has already reversed its previous policy of
not dealing with the CPN-Maoist.
After meeting Prime Minister Prachanda,
a delegation of the Bhutanese refugees is hoping for some relief
in the form of repatriation soon. Prachanda expressed his commitment
to resolve the refugee crisis at the earliest emphasising the
involvement of the Indian government.
|
October 23
|
A school teacher, identified
as Sunil Raya Yadav, was shot dead by an unidentified group in
Prempur Village Development Committee of Rautahat district. He
was an active cadre of the MJF. Nobody has claimed responsibility
for the murder.
Minister for Education and a member
of the talks team Renu Yadav said the government would start the
dialogue process with the armed groups operating in Terai immediately
after the Tihar festival. The Minister further informed that the
government has already established contact with half a dozen armed
groups in Terai and is holding "informal talks".
|
October 24
|
A powerful bomb exploded at the
office of Construction Entrepreneurs Association in Rajbiraj of
Saptari district. While no human casualty was reported, four rooms
of the two-storey building were damaged in the explosion. Meanwhile,
Saptari district coordinator of the JTMM-Ranbir, Kishan, claimed
the responsibility for the explosion. Kishan said that the action
was taken symbolically after announcement of an alliance of seven
Terai outfits waging armed movement in the southern plains of
Terai. The alliance has been named as Madhesh Rastra Janatantrik
Krantikari Morcha.
Local businessmen in the Bhojpur
district headquarters received threatening letters issued by the
Kirat Janabadi Workers Party (KJWP) demanding NR 500,000 from
each of them within seven days. The letters signed by KJWP Khotang
district in charge Kainla Khambu mentioned that the donation has
been asked for the establishment of free Khambuwan and Limbuwan
states.
The cabinet meeting held at the
Prime Minister's Office in Singha Durbar after being postponed
twice earlier, ended without making any decision on formation
of the much-hyped special committee to look after the army integration.
Earlier in the day, the parties arrived at a consensus over the
formation of the committee after the CPN-M agreed to the proposal
that the special committee should be headed by a leader from a
party other than the CPN-M.
|
October 26
|
Around 12 cadres of the CPN-UML
affiliated Youth Force (YF) were injured in a clash with YCL in
the Gorkha district. The local UML leadership said that following
the clash that occurred in Arutar of Aruchanaute VDC, the whereabouts
of five of their cadres were still unknown. The YCL leadership
said that the clash occurred after YF cadres made accusations
against their party.
Minister for Peace and Reconstruction
Janardan Sharma said that the talks team had established contact
with at least nine armed groups agitating in Terai. "Despite
preconditions set forth by the armed groups such as withdrawal
of the cases filed against their cadres, we have found that the
attempts to hold dialogue are moving in positive direction,"
said Sharma.
Prime Minister Prachanda said
that the integration of Maoist combatants with the Nepal Army
would be carried out as per the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
(CPA).
|
October 27
|
The Maoist-led government withdrew
349 politically related court cases, a majority of which were
filed against leading Maoist figures. The government also decided
to cases filed against around 300 persons during Madhesh movement
last year.
The cadres of MJF captured land
belonging to 14 people of Nasahi Village Development Committee-2
in Nawalparasi district. According to the locals, the MJF cadres
captured the land, claiming that it was public property where
a school would be built. One Gauri Shankar Koiri led the MJF cadres.
|
October 28
|
The government formed a five-member
special committee to look after the army integration under the
leadership of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs
Bamdev Gautam. The other members are Defense Minister Ram Bahadur
Thapa, MJF leader Mohammad Habibullah, and Minister for Peace
Janardan Sharma. However, NC is yet to nominate its representative
though a seat is reserved for it. The peace minister has been
inducted into the committee as an ex-officio member.
Nagendra Paswan alias Jwala Singh,
chief of Jwala Singh faction of Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha
(JTMM-J), has ruled out dialogue with the Maoist-led government
unless their four demands are met. In an exclusive interview to
The Himalayan Times at an undisclosed location, Singh questioned
the government’s motive behind the call for talks without any
pre-condition. "The government does not seem to be serious about
the dialogue. We have put four conditions, which have to be met
within 24 hours. We are demanding the following: Repeal the false
charges against our cadres, ensure security for our negotiators,
declare ceasefire and withdraw security forces from across the
villages to district headquarters in the Terai," he said.
|
October 29
|
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister
for Home Affairs, Bam Dev Gautam said that the talk process with
the Terai outfits had not progressed as the groups were still
continuing their criminal activities despite the formation of
the talks team by the government.
Bam Dev Gautam said that homework
for integration of the Maoist combatants had already begun. He
also said the special committee would complete the army integration
process "right on time". The Deputy Prime Minister expressed confidence
that the Nepali Congress, which had refused to join the special
committee, would rethink its decision.
A senior Maoist leader Dina Nath
Sharma said that the army integration would be accomplished through
referendum even if the main opposition party Nepali Congress stayed
away from the Army Integration Special Committee.
|
November 2
|
Nepali Congress and CPN-UML made
an accusation that the government's 20-point Terms of Reference
for the Army Integration Special Committee contradicts some points
of the past pacts and understandings reached among the then Seven-Party
Alliance.
A Madhesi leader close to both
JTMM-G and JTMM-J claimed that these two groups have not yet been
contacted by the talks team, nor have formal letters been sent
inviting them for dialogue. None of the members of the talk teams
was available for comment.
|
November 3
|
MJF staged demonstrations at Biratnagar
in Morang district in protest against killing of its cadre Karan
Yadav during a fight that erupted over tender opened by Morang
District Development Committee.
The two major parties in the ruling
alliance, CPN-M and CPN-UML, agreed to amend the Terms of Reference
for the special committee formed for the integration of the Maoist
combatants. However, there are reports suggesting a divide in
the PLA on whether to abide by the agreement reached among the
parties on the merger of Maoist combatants in the national army.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Upendra
Yadav said that his party- MJF can never agree on integrating
the Maoist combatants into the Nepal Army.
Activists of the CPN-M-affiliated
All Nepal Landless People's Association seized three bigha
and four kattha (approximately 8331.84 square meter) of
land belonging to a commoner in Itahari of Sunsari district.
CPN-Maoist cadres grabbed 14
bighas of land (aprox. 36451.8 m2) belonging
to Sher Bahadur Hamal at Kailali’s Khailad Village Development
Committee and distributed it among the landless people, ignoring
the Maoist top leaders’ call to return the seized land.
|
November 4
|
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister
for Home Affairs Bamdev Gautam said that the YCL and the CPN-UML
affiliated Youth Force must be dissolved immediately.
|
November 5
|
The Autonomous Tharuhat National
Council formed Tharuhat Liberation Army in Kailali district in
the far-western region in order "to make the revolt of the indigenous
people successful". The Council was founded by Laxman Tharu alias
Roshan after he defected from the CPN-Maoist following differences
with the party's top leadership some time back. Tharu is currently
the chairman of the council. Tharuhat Liberation Army has vowed
to fight for "liberation of Tharu people" and establishment of
Tharuhat province in federal Nepal and in the long run to make
"the revolt of the united Indigenous people successful".
|
November 6
|
The Kirat Janabadi Workers Party
(KJWP), an ethnic armed group, forwarded a six-point precondition
seeking the Government’s commitment to fulfil it before coming
to the negotiation table. In a press statement issued by the party’s
army Supreme Commander Bidroha Bibash Binesh, the KJWP demanded
that the Government should create conducive environment for talks
and take the entire responsibility of their security. The armed
group has forwarded conditions such as making attempts to reach
an agreement through discussion, releasing its cadres under custody
and withdrawal of all action proceed against them, invitation
to come to talks table by cancelling all the protest programmes
and fixing date, time and venue for talks after the mutual agreement.
|
November 7
|
The Minister for Peace and Reconstruction,
Janardan Sharma, said the process of army integration would proceed
as per the desire of the Maoist combatants. "Integration
will be as per their desire. The method will be fixed by the special
committee," he said in Nepalgunj.
TMLP chairman Mahantha Thakur
met Prime Minister Prachanda and asked him to include his party
in the army integration committee.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Upendra Yadav, said the MJF would stay away from the Government
if agreements made in the past with the Madhesh-based parties
were not implemented at the earliest.
|
November 8
|
YCL cadres stormed into an area
police post at Jirikhimti in the Tehrathum district and injured
two policemen.
The Minister for Local Development,
Ram Chandra Jha, a member of the Government talks’ team, said
the Government would not wait for armed groups fighting in the
Terai and eastern districts if they do not come for the talks
within mid December.
|
November 11
|
Prime Minister Prachanda reiterated
his commitment to implement the past agreements the CPN-Maoist
had agreed to.
The two main ruling partners,
CPN-Maoist and CPN-UML, reached an understanding to reconstitute
the special committee for army integration and try to convince
the Nepali Congress to join it.
|
November 12
|
Minister for Local Development
Ram Chandra Jha revealed that he had held an "informal dialogue"
with some of the agitating Terai based armed outfits.
|
November 13
|
Seven persons were injured when
cadres of YCL and YF clashed at Joshpur in Banke district following
a dispute over the return of seized property.
Cadres of CPN-Maoist seized paddy
in 40 bighas of land (26.8 hectare aprox.) belonging to
four persons in Bardiya district's Rajapur Manau.
|
November 14
|
SJTMM formed a three-member talks’
team with spokesperson Kautilya Sharma as coordinator and Sagar
and Rajguru as members in response to the Government’s invitation
for a dialogue.
Prime Minister Prachanda has requested
his Indian counterpart Dr. Manmohan Singh to release Maoist cadres,
who are languishing in prisons in India. About 20 Maoists are
reportedly serving prison terms in a jail in Patna, capital of
Bihar.
|
November 15
|
Former general secretary of the
CPN-UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal, said that if the CPN-Maoist dissolves
the YCL, Nepali Congress and CPN-UML would follow suit.
The pro-monarchy Rastriya Prajatantra
Party (RPP-Nepal) has decided to float its youth wing by the name
of Rastrabadi Yuba Morcha (Nationalist Youth Front)
|
November 16
|
Four persons, including a police
officer, were injured in a clash between the Madheshi Commando,
youth wing of the Sadbhawana Party (Anandidevi faction), and local
youths in Bhairahawa
Minister for Local Development,
Ram Chandra Jha, said preparations are underway to hold a dialogue
with the insurgent groups operating in Terai within a fortnight.
He added that the initial round of dialogue is likely to take
place in Janakpur. Jha also made it clear that the Government
team would not be reconstituted, as demanded by some Terai groups,
but the team will discuss with the Prime Minister if any changes
are to be made in the team. He opined that it would be futile
to hold a dialogue with the JTMM-G as the group stood for the
country's disintegration.
The passage of the detailed schedule
of drafting procedures by a Constituent Assembly meeting marked
the formal beginning of the constitution-making process. As per
the schedule, the new constitution would be ready by May 2010.
|
November 17
|
The co-ordinator of the Government
talks’ team and Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, Janardhan
Sharma, held separate talks with several armed outfits at different
locations in the Terai.
|
November 18
|
Two youths from Kathmandu, Nirmal
Panta and Pushkar Dangol who were abducted by the YCL cadres a
month ago on October 20, were found killed. The relatives, rights
activists and police found their dead bodies in Bhorlephant Bagar
of Dhading district.
A day after holding informal talks
with leaders of underground armed groups in the Terai, Janardan
Sharma, the Minister for Peace and Reconstruction as well as the
coordinator of the talks’ team, said that the Government would
start formal talks with armed outfits "very soon". 15 armed groups
are ready to hold a dialogue with the Government. However, the
Local Development Minister Ram Chandra Jha, a member of the Government
team, declined to reveal the names of the armed groups willing
to sit for talks. "Publicising their names could mar the atmosphere
of the dialogue," Jha said.
|
November19
|
Students and relatives of Nirmal
Pant and Pushkar Dangol, whose dead bodies were recovered on November
18 after a month of their abduction by the cadres of the YCL,
protested in Kathmandu alleging that the duo were killed by the
YCL. The agitators reportedly vandalised the YCL office at Kalanki
in the morning and burnt materials inside the office.
|
November 20
|
About six cadres of the YF, youth
wing of CPN-UML, were injured in a clash with cadres of the YCL
at Amrit Science College in Kathmandu.
|
November 21
|
A nine-year-old boy, Dhawal Rai
Yadav, resident of Gaur-2, was killed and four others were injured
when a bomb exploded at the site of Madhyamanchal Festival at
Gaur in the Rautahat district. There was also a stampede at the
ground after the explosion. Terai Cobra claimed responsibility
for the blast.
|
November 22
|
Three employees of Himalmedia
who have been getting death threats by phone since November
20 have been moved to a "safe houses", the management of the publishing
house said in a statement.
|
November 23
|
The Terai Sanyukta Janakranti
Party (TSJP), an armed group operating in the Terai plains, formed
a three-member talks’ team on under the leadership of party spokesperson
Anurag to hold a formal dialogue with the Government.
President of the Nepali Congress
and former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said that the
CPN-Maoist cadres would not be integrated in Nepal Army in accordance
with past agreements as the Maoists had violated the "main agreement".
"Maoists have breached agreement on political consensus, collaboration
and unity among political parties," Koirala said while speaking
at a press meet organised by local chapter of Press Union in Nepalgunj.
|
November 24
|
Vice President of Nepali Congress,
Ram Chandra Poudel said that unless the CPN-Maoist controls the
unruly activities of its youth wing, YCL, and returns properties
seized during the insurgency, co-operation with them would be
impossible.
Users of Kanchan Community Forest
at Saljhandi have accused Maoist combatants, who have been living
in UN-monitored Sainamaina satellite camp in Rupandehi district,
of smuggling timber.
|
November 25
|
10 persons were injured when cadres
of the CPN-Maoist affiliated All Nepal National Independent Students'
Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) and CPN-UML affiliated ANNFSU clashed
at Birendra Multiple Campus in the Chitwan district. Seven students
of ANNISU-R and three of ANNFSU were wounded in the clash.
Some armed persons abducted Raj
Lal Kamati of Laxmipur in Siraha district. The armed group who
kidnapped Kamati claimed that they are cadres of the Madheshi
Mukti Tigers.
|
November 30
|
An unidentified gang detonated
a bomb in Rautahat district police office, injuring a police
constable.
Jwala Singh, chairman of the JTMM-J,
said his outfit would not join talks with the Government unless
the conditions put forward by it are met.
The Nepali Congress President
Girija Prasad Koirala said that his the party will not let the
integration of CPN-Maoist combatants into the Nepal Army take
place until the Maoists dissolve their youth wing, the YCL.
Chairman of the National Human
Rights Commission, Kedar Nath Upadhyaya, said the political parties
are giving protection to criminals linked with their youth wings
and that the activities of these youth groups are greatly responsible
for Nepal’s poor human rights record.
|
December 1
|
The SJTMM announced a cease-fire
on putting on hold all its "struggle programmes". The group announced
the truce in a letter forwarded to the Government talks’ team.
The Morcha has proposed that the Government set the date for formal
talks with them through mutual understating. The letter also seeks
the release of all Morcha cadres who were arrested at different
times from different places by the police. They have also demanded
full security of their cadres and talks’ team during the time
of truce.
Normal life and transport in nine
districts of eastern Nepal have been badly affected for the second-day
due to the shutdown strike called by the Federal Limbuwan State
Council. The outfit which is pushing for ethnic autonomy in the
district had announced a two-day strike in the eastern region
demanding that the Government implement the five point agreement
reached with it in March this year. It has also demanded immediate
formation of the State Restructuring Commission.
|
December 2
|
One person was burnt alive when
a group of 10 to 12 armed cadres of the Madhesh Rastriya Janatantrik
Party (MRJP) set ablaze a passenger bus at Birendra Bazaar in
Saptari District for defying the strike their party had called.
The bus driver informed that the cadres robbed 40 passengers of
NR 300,000. The MRJP had called a two-day general strike in Saptari
and Siraha Districts from December 2, protesting the death of
one of its cadres during police action 10 days ago.
Local consumers caught an Indrapur-based
CPN-Maoist leader Prem Bahadur Rai while he was illegally ferrying
logs from the local Janajagaran Community Forest. He was later
detained at the District forest office.
|
December 3
|
Cadres of the JTMM-Rajan shot
at and critically injured Local Development Officer Krishna Kumar
Mishra, at his residence in Janakpur-4. Bishwas Mukti, who identified
himself as Jaleshwor Municipal in-charge of the outfit, claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Seven Pathari Business Association's
members, including two identified as Deepak Basnet and Gobardhan
Magar, were abducted by cadres of the YCL.
|
December 5
|
Normal life in Morang District
was affected following the strike called by the YCL charging the
CPN-UML-affiliated YF for attacking them on December 3. Condemning
the attack, cadres of the CPN-Maoist burnt down a VDC office of
the CPN-UML.
An unidentified armed group has
reportedly emerged in Rolpa District. The group, which is reportedly
roaming in the area with sophisticated weapons, has been enticing
locals into starting "yet another armed struggle" saying that
CPN-Maoist has failed to address the plight of Dalits, Janjatis
(tribals) and other poverty-stricken people, locals said.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special
Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed
Conflict, announced at a press conference organised in Kathmandu
that the CPN-Maoist led Government has expressed commitment to
discharge around 3000 minor combatants currently living in the
PLA cantonments across the country.
|
December 6
|
Senior Maoist leader and Minister
for Tourism and Civil Aviation, Hisila Yami, said that the YCL
and the CPN-UML-affiliated YF should be dissolved immediately.
She opined that turmoil has increased in the country because of
the activities of the YCL and the YF.
|
December 10
|
Five cadres of the Madheshi Mukti
Tigers (MMT), a Terai-based armed outfit, were arrested in the
capital city Kathmandu on charges of illegal arms possession.
The arrestees, residents of Rupandehi, were carrying a revolver,
fours rounds of ammunition, an empty magazine of pistol and explosives
for making bombs. Police also seized pamphlets of MMT, seeking
donation and two press releases, from the accused.
|
December 11
|
At least three persons were injured
in a bomb blast at a warehouse at Barathawa in Sarlahi District.
Terai Army's leader Surya telephonically claimed to the media
the blast was carried out at the shop on charges of spying against
them.
The Government held formal talks
with the Madheshi Virus Killers (MVK), the first of the over a
dozen Terai armed groups responding to the call for negotiations.
Peace and Reconstruction Minister Janardan Sharma led the Government
talks’ team while MVK chief Jay Prakash Yadav ‘Diwan’ headed his
side. Both parties agreed on four crucial points. The Government
will categorise 11 demands of the MVK and address these accordingly.
MVK demands, requiring the approval of the CA, would be left to
the apex body to settle, said Ram Chandra Jha, Local Development
Minister, also a member of the Government’s talks’ team. MVK will
provide a list of the people arrested during the Madhesh movement
and the Government will conduct a probe before setting them free.
The outfit will postpone violent activities during the dialogue
period and the Government, in turn, will treat its cadres as political
activists. The Government will provide security to MVK negotiators.
MVK chief Yadav said the talks were encouraging. He added the
CA would safeguard the rights of citizens. He appreciated the
Government’s efforts to hold talks with the Terai armed groups.
|
December 12
|
11 persons were injured when locals
and CPN-Maoist-affiliated land grabbers clashed at Simra in Bara
District. Trouble broke out when the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal
Landless Struggle Committee and All Nepal Public Land Consumers’
Committee seized 32 bighas (approximately 21.44 hectares) of land
by hoisting party flags.
Prime Minister Prachanda said
that there is need to educate people about the positive aspects
of violence in order to ensure that the recent political achievements
are not endangered. He added that whatever political changes that
have emerged in Nepal so far have taken place on the basis of
violence, including the declaration of a federal democratic republic.
|
December 15
|
Cadres of the CPN-Maoist assaulted
two persons of Chainpur VDC in the Sankhuwasabha District. Lakhman
Tamang, along with other Maoists, assaulted Chainpur locals, Khadga
Bahadur Basnet and Dhruba Kumar Basnet, while the two were working
in a field.
An unidentified gunman shot at
and injured, Bishwanath Bhagat, Chairman of the Retailers' Association
of Birgunj, at his pharmacy at Maisthan in Birgunj-2. Madheshi
Mukti Tigers, an underground outfit, claimed responsibility for
the incident.
Kumar Niraula, a Nayab Subba
(senior assistant), working at the Inland Revenue Office in
Janakpur, was shot dead by cadres of the JTMM-Rajan. A leader
of the JTMM-Rajan who identified himself as Abhinash telephoned
local journalists and claimed responsibility for the attack, insisting
that Nirauala’s activities challenged the policies of the group.
Issuing a press statement, Jwala
Singh, chairman of the JTMM-J, gave the Government a 15-day ultimatum
to create a conducive environment for talks. "We will be compelled
to continue with the armed struggle if the Government fails to
create a conducive environment within 15 days and meet our four-point
charter of demands," he warned.
|
December 16
|
Cadres of the JTMM-J shot dead
a CPN-UML cadre, Rama Saha, in the Dhanusa District. Police informed
that JTMM-J cadres, Indra Goit and Devendra Goit, were arrested
in suspicion of their involvement in the murder.
The 14 committees of the Constituent
Assembly formally started the process to draft the new Constitution.
The committees, holding their first meetings in their respective
offices in Singha Durbar, set a 15-day programme according to
which, they will elect their chairpersons, identify working areas
and prepare work schedule and procedure regulations.
The central committee of the CPN-Maoist
took a decision to launch a people’s awareness campaign in all
75 Districts after a month.
|
December 17
|
Police arrested Vidyananda Jha,
father of Rajan Mukti, chief of the JTMM-Rajan. Rajan's brother
Manoj Jha and uncle Chandrakishor Jha were also arrested. Police
said the three have been arrested on charges of their involvement
in various murders in Dhanusha District.
Bahadur Rayamajhi, a secretariat
member of the CPN-Maoist and a Constituent Assembly member, said
that all land and property seized during the insurgency would
not be returned.
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December 18
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Cadres of the JTMM-Rajan shot
dead Mangal Harijan, a head constable of the Armed Police Force,
while he was on duty at Mahavir Chowk in Janakpur Municipality-4.
Abhinash Mukti, Dhanusha District in-charge of the JTMM-Rajan
group, claimed responsibility for the murder in a telephone call
to the local media. He also said talks with the Government have
become meaningless now as the latter has begun arresting relatives
of their leaders.
Tufan Singh and Rajan Bidrohi,
the Sunsari District in-charge and Commander of the Madhesh Mukti
Tigers (MMT) respectively, said in Itahari that the MMT is ready
to hold talks with the Government even if its chairman does not
agree on this.
The MJF chief and Foreign Minister,
Upendra Yadav, said that the slogan ''One Madhesh, One Pradesh''
remains the ideal of the party. Earlier, Bijaya Gachhadar, a minister
and senior MJF leader, had claimed that ''One Madhesh, One Pradesh''
has now become merely a political slogan for the MJF.
Victims of the decade long armed-conflict
staged demonstrations in capital Kathmandu demanding resettlement
and return of seized property. The victims took out a rally organised
by the National Struggle Committee of Victims of Maoist Atrocities
from Balaju to draw the Government's attention.
The Department of Industrial Management
issued a 35-day ultimatum to the YCL to remove its camps from
industrial areas.
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December 21
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Minister for Peace and Reconstruction
Janardan Sharma again invited all agitating armed groups of the
Terai to the negotiating table and also asked them to suspend
their protest programmes immediately.
Cadres of the ruling CPN-Maoist
attacked the office of Himalmedia Pvt. Ltd, which publishes the
weekly newsmagazine Nepali Times, fortnightly Himal
Khabarpatrika and monthly Himal Southasian, physically
assaulting a dozen employees, including editors and top management
officials. According to the Himalmedia, a group of about 50 persons
led by the Maoist affiliated All Nepal Hotel and Restaurant Workers''
Union Chairman, Ramesh Babu Pant, barged into the meeting hall
and attacked the media persons.
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December 22
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MMT cadres killed one person,
identified as Ramchandra Mandal, a resident of Bhagwatpur-1 at
Bhagwatpur Village Development Committee of Saptari District.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a Birgunj-based businessman, Rajesh Kyal, at Adarshanagar in the
Birgunj Municipility-13 of Birgunj in the Parsa District.
Police arrested MMT commander
and central committee member Rameshwor Mandal alias Toophan
Singh along with three home-made pistols, a bullet and NR 0.5
million from Itahari in Sunsari District. The Police also arrested
MMT cadre Dukhad Singh along with Toophan Singh.
Baldev, a Deputy Commander of
the PLA, said the PLA would soon launch a recruitment drive for
new Maoist soldiers. Baldev also conceded that all YCL leaders
were Maoist PLA men at some point of time in the past and that
they were released from the PLA in order to lead the youth while
forming the YCL.
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December 23
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The UNMIN told the Minister for
Defence, Ram Bahadur Thapa, that any new recruitment by the Nepal
Army and the PLA would be a breach of the past agreements.
The Parliamentary Party meeting
of the MJF directed its Constituent Assembly members to raise
its long-held demand for a 'one Madhesh, one autonomous province'
within the CA and its concerned committees.
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December 24
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Cadres of the CPN-Maoist affiliated
All Nepal National Independent Students Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R)
assaulted a student of the Baneshwor Campus working in a local
television station in capital Kathmandu. Armed ANNISU-R cadres
entered the campus and assaulted Suman Dhungana saying that he
"spoke against the Maoist excesses" in the morning.
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December 25
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Two persons, identified as Mukhiya
Karna Bahadur Singh and Dipendra Singh, of Dainiya Village Development
Committee in the Morang District were injured after they were
assaulted by cadres of the CPN-Maoist.
Ramesh Babu Panta, one of the
persons reportedly involved in the violent attack on the Himalmedia
group, is reportedly hiding in an YCL camp at Kathmandu.
The CPN-Maoist and CPN-UML agreed
to enter into a new understanding with the Nepali Congress so
as to take the peace process to a logical conclusion and expedite
statute-drafting process.
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December 26
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The first round of talks between
the Government and Pawan faction of the Samyukta Janatantrik Terai
Mukti Morcha (SJTMM-P) held in Janakpur ended after the two sides
reached a five-point agreement. The Government’s team was led
by Peace Minister Janardhan Sharma while the SJTMM-P team was
headed by Kautilya Sharma. Addressing the media after the closed-door
meeting, the Minister informed that the Government will provide
security to the SJTMM-P talks’ team during the entire duration
of the dialogue, treat SJTMM-P cadres as political activists and
gradually release those arrested during security operations, and
suspension of armed and provocative activities by both sides.
Similarly, the SJTMM-P has agreed to sit for the next round of
talks with the Government in Kathmandu after mutually agreeing
on a date. The two sides also agreed that a mediator could be
appointed for the talks if necessary.
The two main accused in the December
23 attack on the Himalmedia group, Maoist union leaders Ramesh
Babu Pant and Ramesh K C, surrendered to the Lalitpur Chief District
Officer.
Four major parties, the CPN-Maoist,
CPN-UML, Nepali Congress and MJF reached an understanding to have
two members each in the Army Integration Special Committee.
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December 28
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A low-intensity bomb exploded
outside the Durbar High School at Jamal in the capital Kathmandu.
However, no casualty was reported. Ranabir Sena, a little-known
outfit active in the Terai, claimed responsibility for the blast.
A day before, another bomb was detonated near the main entrance
of the Tribhuvan International Airport.
The cabinet meeting approved the
nine-point agreement reached between Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal
Dahal and the Nepali Congress on November 11 and instructed the
concerned ministries to implement them. "The cabinet discussed
how to implement PM’s commitments on the NC demands made before
the parliament. They will be implemented one by one from tomorrow,"
said Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam. He informed that the nine-point
demand was endorsed for the first time.
The YCL sought a one-and-a-half-month
period to vacate the Balaju Industrial Estate, while the Industrial
Districts Management Ltd. (IDML), which looks after industrial
districts across the country wants it to move out by January 8,
2009. The YCL has occupied six buildings in 5.33 ropanis
(0.27 hectares) of land in the industrial area and has been running
the central office of Newa Rajya Samitee of the YCL since two
years. Officials said YCL used to run the occupied buildings to
torture people. YCL has also been occupying the premises of Patan
and Dharan industrial estate, the Trolley Bus Office building
in New Baneshwor and a building belonging to a bank in Butwal.
An unidentified group of armed
men abducted Shivaji Chaudhary, 35, of Khopi-4 in the Mahottari
District, from a neighbouring village of Parsa District. The Terai
Communist League (TCL), a little known group, made telephone calls
to FM stations and claimed responsibility for the abduction.
The JTMM-Rajan expressed willingness
to sit for talks with the Government. Earlier, the group had turned
down the talks offer saying the Government was not willing to
hold a "meaningful dialogue" and had also demanded that the Government
talks’ team be reconstituted.
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December 29
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The All Nepal Communication and
Printing Publication Workers Union and the CPN-Maoist affiliated
workers ended a sit-in outside Kantipur's regional office in Biratnagar.
Senior CPN-Maoist leader Matrika
Yadav said "The lands of the feudal lords won't be returned whether
the Prime Minister or Girija Prasad says."
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December 31
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192 cadres of the CPN-Maoist joined
the CPN-UML amidst a function at CPN-UML party office in Balkhu
expressing dissatisfaction over CPN-Maoist’s commitment to their
wellbeing. 17 District committee members, 35 area committee members
and other party members joined the UML en masse. The cadres
were reportedly staying in various YCL camps in the valley.
The first round of talks between
the Government and Terai Samyukta Janakranti Party Nepal (TSJPN),
an armed outfit operating in the Terai, ended in a 5-point understanding.
Peace and Reconstruction Minister Janardan Sharma, who heads the
Government team, and Anurag, head of the TSJPN's three-member
team, signed the deal at the end of the talks held in Singha Durbar.
As per the agreement, the Government will ensure security to TSJPN
negotiators throughout the dialogue process and will treat the
armed group as a political organisation while TSJPN has agreed
to halt its armed activities. Likewise, the Government has also
promised to release detained TSJPN cadres once the latter provides
the name list.
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