CABINET APPOINTMENTS Kathmandu, 30 Nov.: Rajendra Khatri and Puskar Chapagain jave been promoted in the National Investigation Department to DIGs by the cabinet Thusday. Narcotic Drug Control and Law Enforcement Unit has been renamed the Narcotic Drug Control Bureau. Anil Kumar Jha was appointed General Manager of Janak Educational Materials Centre (JEMC).and Manoj Kandel Managing Director of the Central Child Welfare Committee. nnnn DISQUALIFIED FORMER MAOIST FIGHTERS SEIZE UCPN PARTY HEADQUARTERS Kathmandu, 30 Nov.: : Hundreds of ‘disqualified’ PLA fighters have been laying siege to Unified CPN-Maoist headquarters in Paris Danda, Koteshwor, since yesterday, demanding that the party address their concerns at the earliest. Security personnel in huge numbers have been deployed to avert any confrontation and damage to the party office, The Himalayan Times reports.. The ‘disqualified’ fighters, who prefer to call themselves ‘unverified’, today claimed that they have taken the party headquarters under their control. Lenin Bista, who is leading the ‘disqualified’ fighters, said the combatants were ‘not verified in a proper way’ and that they were forced to leave cantonments with only bus fares in their pockets. The move is the latest one in their series of protests the disqualified fighters have organised in the past. They said the party turned a blind eye to their plight and concerns despite their pressure campaigns several times. UCPN-M Vice-chairman Baburam Bhattarai-led government, after several rounds of talks with them, had decided to allocate Rs 600 million in order to give Rs 2 lakh to each of the disqualified fighters. The move was challenged in the Supreme Court and the court in the first week of November issued a stay order, forcing the government to hold back. Bista claimed that as many as 200 former combatants have been staying put outside the party headquarters while some 150 are on the office premises (inside the gate). The fighters had yesterday padlocked the party office but unlocked it at 3:00pm today following a mutual understanding with party leadership. “We have pitched tents outside the headquarters and surviving on beaten rice and dalmoth (a ready made snack made of golden gram or red lentils). This is the survival technique the party taught us during the time of war,” said Bista. UCPN-M Spokesperson Agni Sapkota said the party has taken the disqualified fighters’ concerns seriously and that the leadership has told them to maintain calm. But the fighters said they didn’t believe their leaders’ words anymore. “We want their words to be translated into action. We will not leave the party headquarters until the leadership expresses its commitment in writing,” said Bista and added that they would launch stern protests in the Valley and throughout the country if the government kept on dilly-dallying. He warned that former fighters will otherwise make the leaders and ministers’ life difficult and that they would not mind vandalising government vehicles. According to party sources, party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Prime Minister Bhattarai will hold a meeting with disqualified fighters tomorrow in a bid to get their concerns addressed. Who are ‘unverified’ combatants Following a peace deal in 2006, the then CPN-M came overground and as per the agreement, its PLA fighters, then said to be around 30,000 plus, were settled in cantonments across the country. A UN mission then conducted a verification in 2007 during which around 4,008 fighters were considered ‘ineligible’ on several grounds (some were found to be minors), and they were discharged from cantonments as ‘disqualified’. These disqualified fighters then left for home but later came up with several demands, including scrapping of the ‘disqualified’ tag put on their heads. In addition, they are demanding that either they be settled in government services or be given lump sum amount equal to what the fighters opting for voluntary retirement received, which amounts to around half a million rupees. Nnnn NRB TO LOOK FOR ALTERNATVES TO BONDS KATHMANDU: The washed out performance of government debt instruments among the general public, despite attractive yields and low risk, has compelled the central bank to look for alternatives. In the last four fiscal years, only about one-tenth of the total issue of public oriented bonds were subscribed. From fiscal year 2008-09 till 2011-12, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has issued Citizens Saving Bonds and Foreign Employment Bonds worth Rs 19.6 billion, of which bonds worth only Rs 2.75 million were subscribed. “Since most people are unaware about the benefits of buying bonds, they are not inclined towards purchasing government securities as a form of investment, that is why the bond market in Nepal is almost non-existent,” said director of Public Debt Management Department of Nepal Rastra Bank Dr Gopal Bhatta. “Only a small group of investors buy these bonds. Those that have realised the value of bonds are repeat purchasers and hold on to it,” Bhatta added. Bonds are fixed income securities that are considered relatively risk free as people are lending to the government that rarely goes bankrupt. When banks have reduced the deposit interest rate to six per cent, bonds are still being offered at higher than nine per cent coupon rate for a tenure of four years or more. Bonds worth only Rs 126.6 million were subscribed of the latest batch of Citizens Savings Bond worth Rs 1.41 billion issued this May. Likewise, another bond meant solely for the public — Foreign Employment Bond — also got scantily subscribed in the last three years. This year too, of the issues worth Rs one billion, only Rs 8.6 million worth of bonds were subscribed. Nepal Rastra Bank had even allowed Non Resident Nepalis to purchase the bonds with the hope of expanding participation which was in vain. Such a pathetic subscription rate has made Nepal Rastra Bank consider about introducing a Primary Dealership System for the bonds that it issues. In primary dealership, government securities are directly sold to entities known as primary dealers that buy bonds directly from the central bank to resell them, thus acting as a market maker of government securities. These primary dealers bid for government bonds competitively and then redistribute them to their clients, creating the initial market in the process. Nepal Rastra Bank is conducting a study regarding eligible institutions, their roles and responsibilities and privileges they will get. “The primary dealership system is supposed to stimulate the bonds market and entry of more players in dealing with bonds will increase the participation of general investors in government securities,” pointed out Dr Bhatta. “Bond yield calculation is slightly more complex than that of equities, hence bonds seem to be complicated for investors, but brokers can come to the aid of the investors on the matter,” said Dr Bhatta. According to the president of Stock Brokers Association of Nepal (SBAN) Anjan Raj Paudyal, there are no takers for bonds in the secondary market. There are 16 different development bonds worth Rs 22.4 billion listed at Nepal Stock Exchange which has never been traded. “Though government securities provide good returns on investment, the general public has not shown an interest in the bonds due to the lack of awareness regarding the issuance of bonds,” Paudyal said. Nnnn PALESTINE GETS IMPLICIT UN RECOGNITION Kathmandu, 30 Nov.::The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the world body to issue its long overdue "birth certificate.", Reuters reports from United Nations. The U.N. victory for the Palestinians was a diplomatic setback for the United States and Israel, which were joined by only a handful of countries in voting against the move to upgrade the Palestinian Authority's observer status at the United Nations to "non-member state" from "entity," like the Vatican. Britain called on the United States to use its influence to help break the long impasse in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Washington also called for a revival of direct negotiations. There were 138 votes in favor, nine against and 41 abstentions. Three countries did not take part in the vote, held on the 65th anniversary of the adoption of U.N. resolution 181 that partitioned Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. Thousands of flag-waving Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip set off fireworks and danced in the streets to celebrate the vote. The assembly approved the upgrade despite threats by the United States and Israel to punish the Palestinians by withholding funds for the West Bank government. U.N. envoys said Israel might not retaliate harshly against the Palestinians over the vote as long as they do not seek to join the International Criminal Court. If the Palestinians were to join the ICC, they could file complaints with the court accusing Israel of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious crimes. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the vote "unfortunate and counterproductive," while the Vatican praised the move and called for an internationally guaranteed special status for Jerusalem, something bound to irritate Israel. The much-anticipated vote came after Abbas denounced Israel for its "aggressive policies and the perpetration of war crimes" from the U.N. podium, remarks that elicited a furious response from the Jewish state. "Sixty-five years ago on this day, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 181, which partitioned the land of historic Palestine into two states and became the birth certificate for Israel," Abbas told the assembly after receiving a standing ovation. "The General Assembly is called upon today to issue a birth certificate of the reality of the State of Palestine," he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded quickly, condemning Abbas' critique of Israel as "hostile and poisonous," and full of "false propaganda. "These are not the words of a man who wants peace," Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office. He reiterated Israeli calls for direct talks with the Palestinians, dismissing Thursday's resolution as "meaningless." ICC THREAT Granting Palestinians the title of "non-member observer state" falls short of full U.N. membership - something the Palestinians failed to achieve last year. But it would allow them access to the ICC and other international bodies, should they choose to join them. Abbas did not mention the ICC in his speech. But Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told reporters after the vote that if Israel continued to build illegal settlements, the Palestinians might pursue the ICC route. "As long as the Israelis are not committing atrocities, are not building settlements, are not violating international law, then we don't see any reason to go anywhere," he said. "If the Israelis continue with such policy - aggression, settlements, assassinations, attacks, confiscations, building walls - violating international law, then we have no other remedy but really to knock those to other places," Maliki said. In Washington, a group of four Republican and Democratic senators announced legislation that would close the Palestinian office in Washington unless the Palestinians enter "meaningful negotiations" with Israel, and eliminate all U.S. assistance to the Palestinian Authority if it turns to the ICC. "I fear the Palestinian Authority will now be able to use the United Nations as a political club against Israel," said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the sponsors. Abbas led the campaign to win support for the resolution, which followed an eight-day conflict this month between Israel and Islamists in the Gaza Strip, who are pledged to Israel's destruction and oppose a negotiated peace. At least 17 European nations voted in favor of the Palestinian resolution, including Austria, France, Italy, Norway and Spain. Abbas had focused his lobbying efforts on Europe, which supplies much of the aid the Palestinian Authority relies on. Britain, Germany and others chose to abstain. The Czech Republic was unique in Europe, joining the United States, Israel, Canada, Panama and tiny Pacific Island states likes Nauru, Palau and Micronesia in voting against the move. PALESTINIANS RALLY Peace talks have been stalled for two years, mainly over Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which have expanded despite being deemed illegal by most of the world. There are 4.3 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. After the vote, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice called for the immediate resumption of peace talks. "The Palestinian people will wake up tomorrow and find that little about their lives has changed save that the prospects of a durable peace have only receded," she said. She added that both parties should "avoid any further provocative actions in the region, in New York or elsewhere." Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said he hoped all sides would use the vote to push for new breakthroughs in the peace process. "I hope there will be no punitive measures," Fayyad told Reuters in Washington, where he was attending a conference. "I hope that some reason will prevail and the opportunity will be taken to take advantage of what happened today in favor of getting a political process moving," he said. Britain's U.N. ambassador, Mark Lyall Grant, told reporters it was time for recently re-elected U.S. President Barack Obama to make a new push for peace. "We believe the window for the two-state solution is closing," he said. "That is why we are encouraging the United States and other key international actors to grasp this opportunity and use the next 12 months as a way to really break through this impasse." nnnn