Kathmandu, October 28, 2005

The second meeting or the Nepal-China Joint Inspection Committee kicked off here today. The meet will be instrumental in signing the rules and regulations governing the Committee and the Nepal-China Joint Inspection Teams. “Apart from signing the rules and regulations, the four-daylong meeting of the Committee of the third inspection of Nepal- China boundary will discuss the previously exchanged documents to facilitate field work of joint border inspection,” officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) told The Himalayan Times. The two countries had initialled the rules for the Joint Inspection Committee and detailed regulations for the Joint Inspection Teams in May 2005. As agreed upon during the first meeting of the Joint Inspection Committee in Beijing last May, Nepal and China have already exchanged documents related to detailed specifications for surveying and mapping, detailed regulations on facilitation of procedures for temporary border crossing and stay of personnel. Documents related to the transportation of tools, technical equipment and materials on the other side, detailed regulations for drafting description of boundary alignment and location of boundary marks, detailed regulations and compiling and publishing documents and technical specifications on developing the GIS of the Nepal-China Border, have also been exchanged. This meeting, according to officials, will discuss all issues in those documents.

Court extends Krishna KC’s detention

Kathmandu, October 28, 2005

The Patan Appellate Court today granted permission to the Kathmandu District Police Office (KDPO) to keep Krishna KC, the former vice chairman of the Maoist-affiliated student union, All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R), in detention for the next 12 days. A division bench of justices Krishna Prasad Shrestha and Hari Babu Bhattarai, granted the permission following a hearing today. The KDPO, producing him before the court today, had sought a detention of 25 days seeking more time to investigate charges against him. The police, however, did not specify any charge against him. Pleading on behalf of KC, senior advocate Bishwo Kanta Mainali raised objection against the government’s motive to detain him without any charge and the government’s action to defy the court’s orders. Mainali also demanded the court’s order to complete the investigation and prosecute him if there is any case against him or set him free as per the order of the Supreme Court. The government had, for the first time, arrested KC two years ago on the charge of involvement in terrorist and disruptive activities. The Supreme Court had later ordered the authorities to release him saying there was no ground to detain him.