Prez Yadav crossing limit: MJF-N Chair

KATHMANDU- Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Nepal (MJF-N) Chairman Upendra Yadav Thursday accused President Dr Ram Baran Yadav of crossing the limit with his remarks.

MJF-N Chairman Yadav who arrived in Rajbiraj to resolve the issue surfaced within the party in Saptari Chapter said President Yadav seems more like the well-wisher of the Nepali Congress.

President Yadav had urged the UCPN (Maoist) and the CPN-UML few days back to form the government not only with two-third majority but also including the NC.

Yadav said," President Yadav's such remark encourages those who have been hatching conspiracies to hinder statute drafting."

Hinting towards India, Yadav said, "Leftist polarisation has been active in an attempt to hinder statute drafting in the nation."

He added President Yadav's remark has encouraged such powers.

Sai Baba's health improving, say doctors

HYDERABAD, PUTTAPARTHI -  

There is a marked improvement in the condition of Sathya Sai Baba and he is responding to medication, doctors treating the spiritual guru said on Wednesday.

“His condition shows improvement and he is in a stable state of health. There are signs of improvement in the functioning of his kidneys although he is still on dialysis,’’ a statement from Dr A N Safaya, director of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences (SSSIHMS), said.

“He continues to be on the ventilator for assisting his respiration. The blood pressure and all other parameters are satisfactory,” Safaya said.

Doctors said that there were signs that treatment with artificial support was working as the functioning of the heart was stabilising and blood pressure was normalising.

“We have to say he is stable but critical because there is a combination of problems. There is multi-organ disfunction and he is also very weak now. What we are saying is that there is no deterioration. He is on life-support but there are signs of his body responding on its own to the treatment and that is why we anticipate recovery over a few days,’’ Director of Medical Education in Andhra Pradesh Dr Raviraj said.

Sathya Sai Baba was admitted to the institute on March 28 with severe chest and lung infection.

The number of devotees who have reached Prashanti Nilayam, Puttaparthi, the headquarters of Sathya Sai Baba swelled to nearly one lakh people on Tuesday.

A large contingent of police personnel were posted at the ashram as agitated devotees, concerned about the health of Sai Baba, demanded that the hospital authorities release a video showing him.

Industries Minister J Geeta Reddy, who returned from Puttaparthi after camping for three days, said doctors were confident that Sathya Sai Baba would make a full recovery soon.

'Idol' finalists branch out with rock tunes

"American Idol" finalist Pia Toscano is on a high.

After weeks of expectedly performing ballads, the soaring 22-year-old songstress from Howard Beach, N.Y., earned praise from the Fox talent competition's judges for strutting around the stage while powering through Tina Turner's up-tempo tune "River Deep — Mountain High" on Wednesday's rock `n' roll edition. Toscano previously promised to sing that tune.

"Murderer! Murderer!" screamed "Idol" judge Steven Tyler. "Pia, you killed it."

Other singers who switched it up included 17-year-old high school student Scotty McCreery of Garner, N.C., and 22-year-old rocker James Durbin of Santa Cruz, Calif. Randy Jackson said he'd seen "a new Scotty" after McCreery jazzed up Elvis Presley's "That's All Right," while an emotional Durbin slowed down on George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

"It's good to see that not only did your guitar gently weep, but so did you," said Tyler.

Jacob Lusk, the 23-year-old spa concierge of Compton, Calif., stayed true to his gospel roots, replacing his planned performance of Marvin Gaye's sexually charged "Let's Get It On" to Michael Jackson's inspirational "Man in the Mirror." The judges commended his decision to stay true to his moral conviction. Jennifer Lopez called Lusk's performance "perfect."

Lauren Alaina seemed to impress with Aretha Franklin's "Natural Woman," but Jackson noted that the 16-year-old high school student of Rossville, Ga., "only took a very difficult song and did a good job." He also proclaimed that 21-year-old singer Stefano Langone of Kent, Wash., got off to "a jerky start" with Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman."

"I liked it, but I wasn't jumping up and down," said Jackson, who was shushed by Lopez.

The biggest comeback of the night was reserved for perennial low vote-getter Haley Reinhart, the growling 20-year-old college student of Wheeling, Ill., who found herself back in the judges' good graces with a spirited rendition of Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart." Other singers who previously appeared as low vote-getters also escaped harsh criticism.

Jackson told 26-year-old singer Paul McDonald of Nashville, Tenn., that he "loved" his crazy version of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues," and he celebrated 20-year-old film camp counselor Casey Abrams of Idyllwild, Calif., for "making the upright bass cool" after he accompanied himself on Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?"

"I feel like I have to give 150 percent every single time," testified Abrams, who was saved by the judges.

Will it be enough to rescue Abrams again? One of the top nine finalists will be eliminated Thursday.

‘Would-be bombers’ held

KATHMANDU- Police arrested five senior members of an underground armed group—the Communist Party of Nepal (Rebel) Maoist—from Baluwatar in the Capital and Jagati in Bhaktapur on Wednesday.

Police said the men were holding a meeting and making plans to bomb several places in the Kathmandu Valley when they raided the hideouts and arrested them. Acting on a tip-off, a special squad from the Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) raided the hideouts from where they also seized three pistols, some explosives and paraphernalia containing plans to carry out the bombings.

The arrestees have been identified as Chairman of the outfit Lalit Limbu (Girwan), Vice Chairman Bhim Ojha (Mukti), Treasurer Barun Shrestha (Omkar), Secretary Netra Prasad Dahal (Rijwan) and Military Commander Ajay Thapa Magar (Akhanda).

“Preliminary investigation has revealed that Magar was a former Kathmandu District Committee member of the UCPN (Maoist), while Ojha was a former cadre of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party,” Chief of the MPCD Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Hemanta Malla said.

However, police sources said the underground organisation is not a splinter group of the UCPN (Maoist) as the name suggests. The outfit was formed in mid-May 2010, police said.

Police said the men were preparing to collect around 50 weapons, enroll around 1,000 cadres in the outfit (giving priority to the Madhesi community) and plant bombs in 15 different places of the Valley by the end of April.

Police also said the men were planning to import two AK-47 rifles within two months. “They were planning to cause destruction and spread terror by bombing various places in the Valley to prove their existence, so that it would be easier for them to collect funds,” SSP Madhav Nepal at the Metropolitan Police Range said.

Dahal to stay as oarsman of statute drafting panel

• Statute Writing

KATHMANDU- Despite opposition from the hardline faction of party Vice Chairman Mohan Baidya, the UCPN (Maoist) has decided to let Party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal stay on as coordinator of the sub-committee under the Constitutional Committee (CC) of Constituent Assembly.

Earlier on Tuesday, Chairman Dahal had proposed Vice Chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha as the new head of the sub-committee citing his tight schedule.

According to a Maoist leader, the party decided to send Dahal to the committee following requests from top leaders of other parties, including former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.  A meeting of Maoist office bearers held at the party headquarters in Parisdanda decided to give continuance to Dahal’s leadership of the subcommittee, after leaders of other political parties protested the decision to change the coordinator saying

that contentious issues cannot be settled without the top leader’s participation in the sub-committee.

Mainly Nepali Congress and CPN-UML were insisting on Dahal’s continuation in the committee. They also rejected Shrestha’s leadership of the committee.  The CC formed the sub-committee on Feb 28 to to resolve the contentious issues of the new constitution under Dahal’s leadership with members including Ram Chandra Poudel, Madhav Kumar Nepal from CPN-UML and Laxman Lal Karna from Madhes-based parties.

 Earlier, the Baidya faction as well as the Baburam Bhattarai faction had slammed Dahal for assuming the same post without any official decision. NC and UML leaders are reiterating that the structure of the CC sub-committee should not be changed as it will be tough to settle contentious issues of constitution writing sans top leaders’ participation.

During the meeting of top leaders held on Wednesday morning, Dahal reasoned that it would be difficult to allocate time for the regular meeting of sub-committee as he had to engage in the peace process and government formation. 

The subcommittee formed to narrow the contentious issues that have surfaced in the constitution writing process has made significant progress, bringing the number of debated issues to 30 from 80.  Under Dahal’s leadership, the constitution writing process was building momentum over the past few months. However, the hardline faction of the Maoists is not happy with the progress, claiming that Dahal is getting more flexible in the constitution writing process.

Meanwhile, a meeting of top leaders of major political parties held on Wednesday agreed to incorporate the issues of Dalit and Muslim communities in the new constitution and forge consensus on contentious issues. Lawmaker Biswendra Paswan, who hurled his chair out of the meeting hall of the CC a few days back, said they have asked the top leader to assure that issues of Dalits and Muslims will be guaranteed in the new constitution.

 

‘US will assist peace process’

KATHMANDU- The US Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake said on Wednesday that the US is ready to assist Nepal for the timely accomplishment of the processes of peace and statute drafting.

Addressing the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Sub-committee on the Middle East and South Asia, he said that despite numerous challenges, Nepal is proceeding satisfactorily towards permanent peace and timely constitution.

Blake added he is convinced that Nepal will not plunge into violence and conflict again citing the endeavours of the political parties, including the UCPN (Maoist), to draft the new statute within May 28, and the successful transfer of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) combatants under the purview of the Special Committee (SC).

On the occasion, he underlined that the US will not cease to support Nepal in institutionalising democracy and attaining development.

Maoists ‘open’ to NA proposal

• PLA integration

The Maoist Standing Committee (SC) has taken positively the Nepal Army proposal to form a separate directorate comprising a proportional number of Maoist combatants and personnel from other security agencies for the integration of PLA combatants.

The party has decided to conduct a detailed study of the proposal once it gets a chance to have a look at the plan.

A two-day SC meeting that began on Saturday at Sukute resort in Sindhupalchowk district decided to invest time to study the proposal as a potential compromise formula to decide on the fate of the combatants.

Last month, the Army had briefed Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal on its proposal to form a separate entity within the Army comprising 50 percent former Maoist combatants and 50 percent personnel from the existing security forces.

The Army’s proposal comes at a time when a debate on the number of modalities has been raging—barely two months away from the date for the promulgation of a new constitution.

We have been encouraged by the contents of the proposal—judging by reports in the media, said Maoist Secretary Post Bahadur Bogati after the SC meet. 

He, however, cautioned that the official position will only be made public once the party completes a study of the proposal.

The party leadership’s comments on the proposal come soon after some PLA combatants cantoned in the seventh division camp in Kailali positively reacted to the plan, describing it as a “basis for further discussion” in the integration process. 

The Army proposes that the new directorate be named the ‘Office of the Director General of Security and National Development’ and that it be responsible for disaster relief operations, infrastructure development and road construction, industrial security and nature conservation.

The Army has also said that the directorate, with a strength of 10-12,000 personnel, could also be used for border security if the government so decides.