Nepal

Kathmandu, June 24

The Supreme Court refused to continue the stay order passed by it earlier in a writ petition filed by the Ajeya Raj Sumargi-owned Nepal Satellite Telecom.

His company had field a writ petition against revised amount of capital tax gains on the sale of its shares.

Todayorder was passed by a division bench of justices Sushmalata Mathema and Manoj Kumar Sharma.

This means that the government can now collect tax from Sumargicompany.

Satellite Telecom Pvt Ltd had filed a writ petition on April 24 seeking repeal of revised tax. Cyprus based Airbell Services Ltd had bought 75 per cent shares of the company for which the government sought Rs 4.31 revised tax from Nepal Satellite Telecom.

On May 16, a single bench of Justice Bam Kumar Shrestha had told the government to keep its decision to collect revised tax from Nepal Satellite Telecom on hold.

The division bench of the SC observed that since a notice of revised tax had already been issued on May 14 and since written replies had already been submitted by the case parties, there was no need to issue interim order as demanded by the petitioner.

The apex court also said that the issues raised by the petitioner would be settled in the final hearing.

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Kathmandu, June 24

Immigration authorities at the countrysole international airport have refused to let an American tourist enter Nepal on suspicion of being an agent of the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama, according to sources.

Penpa Tsering, 53, who arrived at Tribhuvan International Airport from New York city via New Delhi on Saturday, was denied entry into Nepal and was deported to the US after hours of questioning at the airport.

The tourist holding US passport was scorned and mistreated because of his Tibetan origin, eyewitnesses told THT. &Authorities decided to deport him after questioning harshly for hours.&

Penpa was sent back to the US after immigration officials found out that in their records a man by his name was the ‘most-wanted& person by China. &We acted at the request of the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu,& an official said. Penpa, however, requested immigration desk officers to let him visit Nepal as he wanted to reunite with his friends and relatives in Kathmandu.

According to the official, the Chinese Embassy had written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to restrict a person named ‘Penpa Tsering& from entering Nepal labelling him a campaigner of the free Tibet movement ,as well as a strong advocate of Tibetexiled spiritual leader. China also feared that a person with the name of ‘Penpa Tsering& could accelerate Tibetans& movement against China in Nepal, he added.

They sent him back to the US via Doha on Saturday evening.

The officials, who believed that their action aimed at honouring Nepalone-China policy, however, were not sure whether the same person was wanted by China. &After consulting higher authorities, including Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, we simply chose to be on the safe side by deporting him to the US,& another official said.

Penpa, who repeatedly denied his affiliation to the Dalai Lama during questioning, had already obtained a multiple-entry visa from India for 10 years, an officer who read PenpaUS passport data, said.

He claimed that Penpa had visited Kathmandu for three days in 2013 also.

Kumar Bahadur Khadka, chief immigration officer at TIA, confirmed Penpadeportation but refused to share more information about the incident. Immigration officials can take such action against anyone whose name is in the blacklist, Eshor Raj Poudel, director general at the Department of Immigration, said. &In Penpacase, I don&t have more details to share,& he added.

The 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released recently by the US Department of State mentioned that Nepal, which does not recognise Tibetans who arrived in the country after 1990 as refugees, continued its attempts to stop them from celebrating culturally important events, such as Tibetan New Year, World Peace Day and the Dalai Lamabirthday.

The government has not issued personal identification documents to Tibetan refugees in more than 20 years, leaving majority of this refugee population without recourse to present required documents at police checkpoints or during police stops, adds the report.

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Kathmandu, June 24

Locals of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur districts staged a demonstration today evening reminding the lawmakers to withdraw the Guthi Bill registered in the National Assembly.

The National Assembly meeting is scheduled to be held tomorrow.

The locals, especially people of Newar community, have been demanding that the bill should be scrapped. According to locals, the bill aims to change the operation modality and ownership structure of guthis, which, many say, will pave the way for the land mafia to make hay.

Following widespread protests and criticism against the bill, Minister of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Padma Kumari Aryal, at a press meet on June 18, had said that the ministry had decided to withdraw the bill. The controversial Guthi Bill was registered in the National Assembly on April 30.

The locals, however, have been casting doubts that the lawmakers might again move the bill ahead since it has not been formally withdrawn from the House.

Locals of Basantapur, Mangal Bazaar, Thimi, Saakhu, Balaju, Tokha and Bungmati, among other old Newari settlements, took to the streets today warning the government against any kind of cheating.

Ganapati Lal Shrestha, a conservation activist, said, &The government should not try to deceive people with fake promises. If the lawmakers fail to withdraw the Guthi Bill, they should be ready to face consequences.&

Locals have warned that if the government does not withdraw the bill, they will launch stringent protests in the coming days. Locals have also demanded that the new draft of the bill should be prepared since the current laws for regulating guthis are also not complete. &We demand that the government seek suggestions from stakeholders, guthiyars (trustees), and locals while drafting the new bill,& Shrestha said.

Thousands of people from the Newar community, despite the governmentwithdrawal of the controversial Guthi Bill on June 19, had gathered at Maitighar Mandala in a show of strength protest.

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Kathmandu, June 24

The parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee today directed the government to investigate the killing of Kumar Poudel, a senior member of a banned outfit, after lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties suspected Poudel could have become a victim of extra-judicial killing.

The parliamentary panel has given a seven-day deadline to the government to submit its report.

Poudel, who was Sarlahi district in-charge of the Communist Party of Nepal led by Netra Bikram Chand, was shot dead by police in Lalbandi Municipality on June 20.

Poudel was killed in crossfire between cadres of the Chand-led CPN and police, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa told the parliamentary committee. Four cadres of the CPN, riding two motorcycles, had fired at police, who were chasing them. In retaliation, CPN district in-charge Poudel was shot dead on the spot while three others fled the scene, said Minister Thapa, who was summoned by the committee today to explain Poudelkilling.

But lawmakers of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP), the main opposition Nepali Congress and Samajwadi Party-Nepal were not convinced by the ministerstatement. They said Poudel might have become a ‘victim of police encounter killing&.

&Poudel had injury marks on face and his hands and legs were broken. I was also told he was shot in the back, head and arm. How can this happen in a crossfire?& questioned Mina Pandey, a Nepali Congress lawmaker from Sarlahi. Other lawmakers also said Poudel might have been tortured before he was killed.

&This calls for a thorough investigation,& ruling NCP lawmaker and former home minister Janardan Sharma said, adding, &Incidents like these tarnish the governmentimage. The government must follow the constitution and laws.&

The government banned activities of the CPN in March after it planted a bomb in front of Ncell headquarters in Nakhu, killing one, and attacked base transceiver stations of the private telecom company at multiple places.

The violence propagated by the outfit does not provide leeway to the government to engage in extra-judicial killings, said NCP lawmaker Tirtha Gautam.

&The country does not need another insurgency,& said Gautam, whose husband was killed during the Maoist insurgency.

The only solution to this problem, according to Samajwadi Party-Nepal lawmaker Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav, is to create an environment to hold talks with the CPN. NCP MP Sharma also said the government should bring the outfit to the negotiating table.

&The government had reached out to the outfit to hold talks but they didn&t want to talk to us,& Home Minister Thapa said, adding, &We have again started reaching out to them.& He also said a thorough investigation would be conducted into Poudelkilling. IGP Sarbendra Khanal was also present in todayparliamentary committee meeting.

• Panel summons minister over encounter killing
• NHRC probing CPN leaderkilling in Sarlahi

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