US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU1169

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001169 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC, PGOV, PREL, KMDR, NP 
SUBJECT: WEEKLY NEPAL MEDIA REPORT: JUNE 17 - 23, 2003 
 
-  STATE FOR NP, AC, PM 
-  STATE FOR IN/R/MR 
-  STATE FOR SA/INS, PM/CBM, PM/PRO 
-  STATE FOR SA/PPD 
 
 1.  POLITICAL AFFAIRS 
 
 -- Five parties, Maoists hold massive rallies: The five 
 agitating political parties and the Maoists took 
 separate rallies on Friday in the capital against the 
 "regression". (Media reports, 6/21) 
 
 -- Nepal warns king: UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar 
 Nepal has warned the king to quit the throne and 
 compete as a political leader if he really wants to be 
 active in politics. (independent "Nepal Samacharpatra," 
 V/D, 6/17) 
MAOISTS AND OTHERS ACCUSE U.S. OF INTERFERENCE 
 
-- Maoists ask help from India and China for talks: The 
Maoists have said that India and China should help to 
make the government-Maoist talks successful.  The 
Maoist party has claimed that India and China will be 
the greatest sufferers if the U.S. plans of thwarting 
the peace talks succeed.  "The U.S. is now blatantly 
involved in a conspiracy to jeopardize the peace talks. 
The five year antiterrorism agreement with the Royal 
Nepal Army and the inclusion of the Maoists in the 
terrorist list are some reflections of the conspiracy," 
said senior Maoist leader Ram Bahadur Thapa "Badal" to 
"Rajdhani".  The U.S. wants to capture the two huge 
markets in the south and north by making Nepal a 
strategic and political base, he said.  The U.S. has 
come to Nepal to stop China and India from becoming its 
future rivals, he said.  Badal accused the U.S. of 
mobilizing the Nepal army with weapons, training and 
other support in order to jeopardize the talks. 
(centrist "Rajdhani," V/D, 6/22) 
 
-- RNA disrupting peace talks, says Maoist 
spokesperson: The "old regime" and the Nepalese Army 
are trying to disrupt the peace talks, charged Maoist 
spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara.  Mahara also 
claimed that a big conspiracy was being hatched with 
the United States playing its card from behind the 
scenes. (Pro-India "Himalayan Times," E/D, 6/21) 
 
-- Dr. Bhattarai charges British and Americans: Maoist 
leader Dr. Baburam Bhattarai said: "The British and 
Americans have penetrated the Royal Palace and 
completely taken control of the governance.  This has 
compelled the Maoists to fight for our nationality. 
The king has put forward Surya Bahadur Thapa as prime 
minister to hold elections.  But the elections will not 
be held for the Nepalese people, it will be in the 
interests of the Palace and foreigners."  ("Nepal 
Samacharpatra," 6/17) 
 
-- Human Rights Service Center criticizes U.S.: U.S. 
Ambassador Michael Malinowski's remark that "the U.S. 
doesn't like the Maoists' activities in Nepali 
politics" has interfered in the right of the Nepali 
people to elect their own government.  Although America 
has welcomed the talks, it is only external.  It is 
actually trying to jeopardize the talks by directly 
interfering in our national freedom and political and 
civil rights.  We appeal to the U.S. President to annul 
the recent secret antiterrorism agreement between Nepal 
and the U.S. and take back his troops from here. 
(letter by the Human Rights Service Center to the 
editor, "Drishti" weekly, 6/17, UML-mouthpiece) 
 
-- Maoist spokesperson charges America: Maoist 
spokesperson and talks team member Krishna Bahadur 
Mahara said: "Foreigners are running this government 
now.  This means the major keys of the country are with 
foreigners, especially in the hands of imperialists. 
The army is in the hand of America, it is not even 
under the king." (Mahara's interview in "Drishti," 
6/17) 
 
AR 
MY-MAOIST EXCHANGE FIRE 
 
-- 7 Maoists, 1 local killed in clashes with army: At 
least seven armed Maoist rebels and a commoner were 
killed in exchange of fire between the Royal Nepal Army 
(RNA) personnel and the rebels in Jajarkot district. 
The army men first opened fire after the rebels blocked 
them from conducting a health camp. ("Rajdhani" and the 
centrist "Kathmandu Post," E/D, 6/19-22) 
2.  STUDENT UNREST 
 
-- Striking student unions to intensify protests: The 
seven agitating student unions, demanding free 
education till the secondary level, said that they 
would continue with their protests including locking 
the educational institutions. (Media reports, 6/23) 
 
-- School students forced to join agitation: School 
teachers and parents accused the Maoists of forcing 
thousands of students in uniform to take part in their 
political rally on Friday.  The participants in the 
rally were mostly school students, neatly dressed in 
their school uniforms.  They were "forced" to march in 
the streets with placards and banners belonging to the 
Maoists. (centrist "Kantipur," V,D, and the Kathmandu 
Post, 6/21) 
 
-- Students tell parents not to pay school fees: The 
seven-student organization announced (6/17) a series of 
protest programs, including a plea to parents and 
students of both private and public schools not to pay 
school fees till the students' demands were met.  The 
third round of government-student talks ended without 
conclusion after the student leaders walked out of the 
talks on June 16 when the government expressed 
inability to fulfil their demand of providing free 
education up to secondary level in public schools. 
("The Himalayan Times," 6/18) 
 
-- Government cannot make secondary education free, 
says Minister: Education at the secondary-level cannot 
be free owing to financial hardships facing the 
country, the Minister for Education said. ("The 
Kathmandu Post," 6/19) 
 
-- Maoists forcing students to join ranks: The Maoist- 
aligned student wing, All Nepal National Independent 
Students' Union- Revolutionary (ANNISU-R), is forcing 
school students of the Kathmandu Valley to take its 
membership. ("Kantipur," 6/20) 
 
3.  NEPAL-U.S. 
 
-- Preferential bill out of U.S. Senate: Senator Dianne 
Feinstein has withdrawn a preferential legislation from 
the U.S. Senate that sought to allow duty-and quota- 
free market access to Nepali garments in the U.S.  The 
latest statement from the Senator's office ends 
"whatever" optimism Nepali garment entrepreneurs 
harbored.  Garment entrepreneurs said that the 
government must immediately initiate steps to persuade 
and convince the U.S. Senator on the socio-economic 
impact of the bill's revocation on Nepal.  Nepal's 
garment industry employs over 100,000 workers -- half 
of them women -- and sustains the livelihood of over 
350,000 people.  Feinstein's decision to retract her 
support for the bill had come in the wake of Nepal's 
"poor" handling of the extradition of eighteen Tibetans 
recently.  However, the Nepali government had deported 
the Tibetans stating that they had illegally crossed 
over to Nepal. (Compiled from "The Kathmandu Post" and 
others, 6/18) 
 
-- Government requests Senator not to withdraw bill: 
Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa said the government 
had written a letter requesting Senator Dianne 
Feinstein not to withdraw the bill for facilitating 
entrance of Nepalese ready-made garments to America, in 
the Senate. (Kantipuronline.com, 6/17) 
 
4.  BHUTANESE REFUGEES 
 
-- Refugee verification report: The long-awaited 
verification report of the Bhutanese refugees living in 
Khudunabari camp was made public in Jhapa on June 18 
inside the camp amidst tight security.  The 
verification report has recognized only 2.4 per cent 
refugees as genuine Bhutanese. (Media reports, 6/19) 
 
-- Verification report receives widespread resentment: 
Five leading international humanitarian and human 
rights organizations -- Amnesty International, Human 
 
Rights Watch, Lutheran World Federation, Refugee 
International, the U.S. Committee for Refugees -- and 
the Bhutanese Refugee Support Group in a joint 
statement (6/19) criticized the screening process 
saying that the Bhutanese refugee situation has become 
one of the most protracted and neglected refugee crises 
in the world. (Compiled from "The Kathmandu Post" and 
others, 6/20) 
 
-- Refugees burn copies of verification report: 
Bhutanese refugee students Sunday burned copies of 
refugee verification report in front of the office of 
the Nepal-Bhutan Joint Verification Team (JVT) in 
Jhapa, terming it a document full of flaws. (Reports, 
6/23) 
5.  OTHERS 
 
-- Monsoon begins: The monsoon broke over east and 
central Nepal Monday (6/16), five days behind the 
normal date, the Department of Hydrology and 
Meteorology said. (Nepalnews.com, 6/17) 
 
MALINOWSKI