Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Human Rights Committee of the dissolved House of Representatives, Hiranya Lal Shrestha, Friday claimed that Nepal has become a hub for international arms dealers, especially with the Maoists having strengthened cooperation with other insurgents operating in South Asia. "Although the origin and destination of these weapons is not Nepal, international terrorists are using Nepal as a transit point for smuggling arms and drug," said Shrestha. "Proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) has increased in Nepal." Presenting a paper at a workshop on "Conflict Transformation in Nepal: National Issues and International Experiences" organized by Friends for Peace (FFP), Shrestha said that increased cooperation among the insurgents in the region is posing as a grave threat to the governments' bid to crush them. "Since Nepal has porous borders on the east, west and south, as well as in the north despite it being regulated, weapons are being smuggled into Nepal from all sides… The insurgents in the region have better networking and cooperation to outbid the efforts of the governments." Shrestha said that it's a fact that "illegal weapons are being transferred from one conflict zone to another" in the region. He also chastised the government for indulging itself in weapons diplomacy. "The lack of control of arms trade is further fuelling the conflict, poverty and human rights abuses."

Referring to the military assistance to Nepal from donors to crush the Maoist insurgency, he asked the donors to pay attention to the human rights record while providing additional weapons to Nepal. Till date, Nepal has acquired weapons as assistance from India, the USA, UK, Belgium, Germany, South Korea and Israel. Shrestha asked the South Asian governments to form a national commission and entrust it with the responsibility to stop SALW. Presenting another paper "Security Sector Reform in Nepal: A Prognostic View", Prof Dhruba Kumar of the Center for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS), said that the security sector reform (SSR) is a donor-driven concept. "The constitutional provisions have become a misnomer in practice when the army allegedly defied the executive order of the prime minister to get mobilized [in 2001]." In his opening remarks at the workshop, former justice of the Supreme Court, Laxman Prasad Aryal, said, "Since the country is reeling under unrest, every evil has had an opportunity to grow stronger." Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Nayan Bahadur Khatri, said that unless the insensible conflict is brought to a stop, the human rights situation will only worsen in the days to come.

OTHER NEWS

• ESA honors Everest summiteers: Everest Summiteers' Association (ESA) recently presented Nabang Sherpa with the Everest Award 2004 in recognition of his achievement as the only handicapped person to have ascended Mount Everest at a function organized here today. Minister of Culture, Civil Aviation and Tourism (MoCCAT) Dip Kumar Upadhaya handed Sherpa a letter of appreciation and Lob Kumar Devkota, Secretary of the MoCCAT, gave a gold chain on behalf of the ESA. Sherpa was also awarded Rs 10,000.
  
  
• Demolition orders on part of Dwarika's hotel: One of Asia's top luxury hotels, Hotel Dwarika's of Kathmandu, is facing Kathmandu District Court's order to demolish parts of the hotel on grounds that portions of the building is "constructed on unauthorized land." A single bench of Kathmandu District Court, Judge Mohan Raman Bhattarai issued the order stating that the western portion of the hotel (facing Battisputali-Gaushala road) is built on the land of Krishna Murari Dhakal, a resident of Mulpani.
  
  
• Diarrhea claims 39 more in 5 districts: The continuing outbreaks of diarrhea triggered by widespread contamination of drinking water has claimed the lives of 39 people in the past few days mainly in the western hill districts, reports reaching here said. The affected districts are Surkhet, Pyuthan, Bajura, Palpa and Mahottari. In the mid-western hill district of Surkhet, the outbreak claimed 20 lives. The affected come from Hariharpur, Taranga, Tatapani, Sahare and Main Tada VDCs, where healthcare facilities are scarce and paramedics hardly venture out to care for the poor, locals said.
  
  
• CE secures petroleum exploration rights: Cairn Energy (CE) PLC, a multi-billion dollar petroleum company based in London, has received the permission to explore petroleum in the Terai belt. As the sole bidder in the government's global tender call of 26 May 2003, the cabinet meeting on Monday decided to grant the license to the company. The cabinet cleared Cairn Energy's application to explore five blocks out of ten identified for petroleum exploration in the Terai belt. According to a source at the Department of Mines and Geology, the company will be allowed to carry out its exploration in Dhangadhi, Karnali, Lumbini, Birgunj and Malangawa regions. The government took the decision after extensive study of the international credibility of the company, said the source.
  
  

By Hari Shrestha, Resident Representative in Kathmandu