HIMALAYAN GUARDIAN     Wednesday March 13-19, 2013  

Nepal's Supreme Court defers Chief Justice's case to March 14

Rigme

Kathmandu, March 12: Nepal's Supreme Court on Thursday deferred the case of the chief justice, who was proposed by the political parties to be the interim prime minister of Nepal, by one week to March 14.

The case was supposed to deliver the final verdict pertaining to a constitutional question on whether the chief justice can lead an interim election government or not.

"The case was deferred, as there is one more writ petition filed at the apex court. Hearing for both the petitions will be held together," Bharat Jangam, the first writ petitioner told Xinhua.

Jangam defended his petition at a special bench of Justices Kalyan Shrestha, Girish Chandra Lal Das and Sushila Karki amid a huge crowd gathered inside the court on Thursday.

He told the court that it is entirely unconstitutional to appoint the chief justice as the executive head of the country.

"The government cites Article 106 of the Constitution as the basis for the appointment. But, that particular article has no mention about appointing the chief justice as the executive head," Jangam said.

Talking to Xinhua, the second petitioner, Om Prakash Aryal, who will present his logics to the court next week, said, his arguments will be based chiefly on the principle of separation of power between judiciary and the executive.

"On constitutional basis, chief justice does not qualify for the post of prime minister. Political parties are attempting to misinterpret Article 106 of the Constitution," Aryal said.

"Article 106 (1) prevents a sitting chief justice to hold the position of executive head, while Article 106 (2) bars even a former chief justice to hold the position of prime minister," he said.

More than two dozens of lawyers are arguing for and against the case, which has drawn attention of the whole country and will also decide the future course of Nepali politics.

Having failed to form a unity government, Nepal's political parties last month agreed for an interim government to be led by the sitting Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi.

The interim body will have the mandate of holding the second Constituent Assembly elections in June this year, according to the parties' proposal.

Regmi was initially hesitant, but later conditionally accepted the offer saying that he would have no problem once the supreme court tests or interprets the constitutionality of the proposal.

JKLF Chairman placed under house arrest

Malik

Srinagar, March 12: Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik was placed under house arrested soon after he arrived here from New Delhi on Sunday after spending one and half month in Pakistan.

Malik, who had created a stir in India after 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind and Lashkar-e-Tioba founder Hafiz Mohammad Sayeed shared stage with him in Pakistan during his hunger strike, was detained by police at Srinagar airport and taken to his residence at Maisuma where he was placed under house arrest, DNA reported.

Police sources said he was placed under house arrest to prevent him from leading the ongoing agitation in Kashmir.

Malik, who arrived in Delhi on Saturday evening from Pakistan, was heckled by protestors at the airport. Contrary to the reports, he was not questioned by any security agencies neither in Delhi nor in Srinagar.

Scores of Malik’s supporters were waiting to receive him at the gate of Srinagar airport. However they created a scene by raising anti-government slogans after learning that police has picked up Malik though it later proved that he was only escorted to his residence to be placed under house arrest.

Malik is the third top separatist leader after Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani and moderate Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq who have been placed under house arrest soon after arriving from Delhi following the execution of Afzal Guru on February 9.

JKLF chairman also asked the people to follow the programme of Majlis Mashwarat (advisory council) spearheading the agitation for the return of remains of Afzal Guru and JKLF leader Mohammad Maqbool Bhat who was hanged and buried in Tihar jail in 1984.

J&K High Court gets its first judge from Ladakh

Srinagar, March 12: Tashi Rabstan on Friday became the first Buddhist and the first person from Ladakh to become a judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. He has been an advocate at the Jammu wing of the Court for the last 20 years.

Chief Justice M.M. Kumar administered the pledge to senior advocates Ali Mohammad Magray and Dheeraj Singh Thakur, and two incumbents from the state’s Higher Judicial Service, Bansi Lal Bhat and Janak Raj Kotwal, besides Rabstan.

The High Court has a sanctioned strength of 14 judges — 9 permanent and 5 additional — but currently has only seven judges, including Justice Kumar. After Friday it will have 12 judges for the first time in about a decade.

Though Rabstan broke the barrier for Buddhists and Ladakhis, no Jammu Muslim or woman has broken the barrier.

Justice Rabstan may soon be elevated as Permanent Judge as one post from the lawyers’ quota is falling vacant this year due to the superannuation of Justice JP Singh.

Editorial

KHADAS FOR XI JINPING

Give Him Some Time

As the new Chinese leader Xi Jinping takes over the reins of power in China 108 high ranking Tibetan monks offered khadas to wish him good luck. This is a good gesture and Tibetans and those who support their cause for a just and free Tibet must give enough time to the new leader to set things right in Tibet. To a delegation of Tibetans who met him Xi responded positively: "Please convey my best wishes to all. Tashi delek.” Xi’s election as China’s new boss coincides with the 54^th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan Uprising. It is worth noting what Taiwan’s Tibetan Youth Congress chairman Tenzing Chompel said this week on March 10: “We will not believe the lies of the Chinese again — from the 17-point peace agreement to the Sino-Tibetan talks, China has never kept its word… We will never give up pursuing independence for Tibet, because we can only be truly free once Tibet is independent.”

However, Taiwan Tibetan Welfare Association adviser Tashi Tsering said Tibetans do not hate Chinese. “Tibetans and Chinese are all humans. As long as Chinese respect Tibetans’ rights to our own culture, religion, language and self-determination, we will respect the Chinese as brothers and good neighbors,” he said. To arrive at a lasting and enduring solution for Tibet there has to be a fine balance between the hardline stand adopted by Tibetan youths and the exiled government which wants to pursue its ‘middle path’ policy on Tibet. Xi surely will be more sympathetic towards Tibet and Tibetans given the fact that his father had some connection with the Dalai Lama. He must, therefore, be given enough time to work out an amicable solution for Tibet.

After Prez meet GJM calls off agitation in hills

Shinde, Gurung and Giri in New Delhi on Tuesday (pix: The Telegraph)

Darjeeling, March 12: The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, spearheading the agitation for a separate Gorkhaland on Friday decided to call off the protest scheduled to begin last Saturday in the Darjeeling hills.

It was decided at the GJM's central committee meeting at Kurseong during the day to call off the the agitation from March 9 till April 9announced earlier, GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri said, PTI reported.

The agitation was to demand creation of Gorkhaland and protest alleged interference by the West Bengal government in the functioning of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

Giri said that GJM called off the agitation accepting appeals made by the President, Union Home and Finance Minister to concentrate on development work for the people of the hills.

The GJM delegation that met the President in Delhi on Wednesday said it would take a final decision only after returning to Darjeeling. "The President asked us to call off our strike and other agitations that we announced earlier for creation of a separate Gorkhaland state. We will, however, decide only after a central committee meeting of our party back in Darjeeling," Roshan Giri said.

 The delegation comprising GJM president Bimal Gurung, general secretary Roshan Giri, Darjeeling MLA Trilok Dewan and Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri complained to the President against the West Bengal government for its interference in the running of the GTA.

"The state government is unnecessarily interfering in our jurisdictions. We cannot run the GTA properly if the state government continues to interfere," said Giri.

With the Union government giving positive vibes regarding formation of a Telengana state of late, the GJM leadership has gone all out in pursuing the Gorkhaland demand with UPA leaders in Delhi. It has also been staging a dharna at Jantar Mantar since January this year. In addition, the GJM chief has announced a series of agitations which includes bandhs on March 14, 15, 21, 22 and closure of all government offices from March 9-27.

A day before their meeting with the President Pranab Mukherjee, the delegation also called on

Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to put across the Gorkhaland demand.

 In the meeting, the GJM President raised the issue of granting tribal status to the entire Gorkha community of the Hills, barring schedule castes.

Aaadhar card not citizenship certificate, will not replace Sikkim Subject Certificate: Secy

Namchi, March 12: Department of Economics, Statistics, Monitoring and Evaluation (DESME), Director General-cum-Secretary S.D Tshering said Aadhaar card is not a citizenship certificate but only an identification certificate. It will also not replace certificate of identification of the Sikkimese people.

Speaking at a seminar on Unique Identification Programme & Aadhaar Enabled Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme held here yesterday, Tshering said “Aadhhar card is not citizenship certificate, but only an identification certificate which can be easily verified and therefore Certification of Identification or COI of the Sikkimese people is not in danger due to this card,” a PIB release said.

Talking about the importance of the Aadhaar card the Secretary informed that all the cash benefits, from maternity cash benefits to old age pension and the payments of MGNAREGA to scholarships of the students and the 34 schemes of Government of India will be now directly deposited in the bank account of the concerned person, which gets the middle men out of the way, he informed.

The main aim and objective of issuing Aadhaar cards is to see that that money or the cash benefits and the subsidies for the poor reaches the right person, the Secretary said.

 He urged people not to pay heed to those who allege that Adhaar cards are aimed at replacing Sikkim Subject Certificates, a valid identification of bonafide Sikkimese.

Chamling to demand ‘peace bonus’ for Sikkim

Gangtok, March 12: Sikkim is once again preparing to reiterate its demand of 'Peace Bonus' for remaining 'free from insurgency or political disturbances. However, the Chief Minister Pawan Chamling himself agrees, getting this approved by the Centre is not going to be an easy task.

"We are making this rightful claim as reward for our exemplary efforts to maintain peace and tranquility at a time when other states, especially those in North east region, are faced with insurgency and terrorism related problems. We are going to make this issue a priority," Chamling told the Economic Times.

The root cause for this demand lies in the monetary incentive given as 'peace bonus' to other North eastern state Mizoram, for over a decade now, for being a peaceful state. In addition to the direct monitory favour, Mizoram was also given a Thermal Power Project (23 MW) at Bairabi as a peace reward.

"If Mizoram gets it, why not Sikkim? We should get double than what Mizoram has received so far," said Chamling.

Sikkim first made the demand for Rs 1000 crore Peace bonus in 2001. But the then Home Minster L K Advani turned it down saying, "The case of Sikkim is not comparable with that of Mizoram. Peace bonus was given to Mizoram after taking into account the fact that the state had faced over two decades of militancy and very little development had taken place in the state during the period." That poured water on Sikkim's demand, ET reported.

However, West Bengal's Darjeeling hills, adjoining to Sikkim has gone under wildfire of political chaos on the demand of separate statehood under a strong ethnic sentiment since 2007. Neither the erstwhile Left Front government nor present TMC ruled Government could cool it down. But "Sikkim, despite being socially or geographically attached to Darjeeling hills, remained free from this kind of chaos. That might have encouraged it to demand for peace bonus afresh," said political experts.

However, it is becoming evident that new political or ethnic conflicts are brewing up even in Sikkim and it won't take long before becoming clearly visible. Naturally, "This is the high time for Chamling to place his demand. Otherwise it may become a never ever game," they said.

Implement Assam Accord, update NRC: ASSU

“Unless the Assam Accord is implemented, the future of indigenous people is bleak”

The signing of Assam Accord in 1985

Guwahati, March 12: Accusing the State Government of totally failing in updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has demanded that both the State Government and the Centre take urgent initiative to implement the Assam Accord in its letter and spirit.

The AASU will resort to a Statewide 30-hour fast from 6 am on March 19 at every district headquarters where a 30-member body of the AASU would take part, Assam Tribune reported.

The AASU said that the Government had been sitting over the all-important issue of Assam Accord implementation with many crucial clauses such as NRC update, sealing of the porous Indo-Bangladesh border, safeguarding the rights – including the right of land and political rights – of the indigenous people.

“Unless the Assam Accord is implemented in its entirety, the future of the indigenous people is bleak in the face of large-scale cross-border infiltration from Bangladesh. Both Delhi and Dispur have so far displayed a cavalier attitude over a matter of utmost significance for Assam and its people. The Congress Government in the State, in particular, has been exposing its love for the Bangladeshi infiltrators all these years,” AASU president Sankar Prasad Ray, general secretary Tapan Gogoi and adviser Dr Samujjal Bhattacharya said in a statement.

The AASU leaders said that the tripartite talk chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in May 5, 2005 had resolved to have the NRC updated within two years but almost eight years passed since without any concrete measures on the ground. “Even the promise made by the Group of Ministers (GoM) of the Assam Government about starting the process of NRC update from July 2012 has not materialized,” they added.

Centre approves Border Haat in Arunachal Pradesh

Itanagar, March 12: The Centre has approved opening up of a Border Haat at Pangsau Pass along the Indo-Myanmar border in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh to boost border trade with South East Asia in tune to its Look East Policy.

Chief Minister Nabam Tuki had last year written a letter to the Prime Minister requesting for opening up border trade on few specific points along the International border that Arunachal Pradesh shares with neighbouring countries, PTI reported.

The Union External Affairs ministry has now informed Tuki that under the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on establishment of Border Haats along the Indo-Myanmar border, which was signed during the visit of Prime Minister to Myanmar in May last year, the Centre has approved opening of a Border Haat at Pangsau Pass, official sources said.

The modalities for operationalisation of the Border Haat have been finalized at technical level discussions that were held in October last year in Myanmar, informed Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai.

Once established the Border Haat would be the first of its kind along the border with Myanmar and its operationalisation is expected to provide impetus to development activities for the people living close to the border areas.