W O R L D

Pashupatinath Temple under siege again
Maoists oppose govt decision to appoint Indian priests
Protesting against the government’s decision to appoint Indian nationals as new priests of Pashupatinath Temple, Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M) affiliated youth organisations, including party leaders and cadres, on Thursday demonstrated near the Pashupatinath Temple area.

Additional agreement on Gorshkov refit by mid-October
Moscow, September 3
Russia and India will sign an additional agreement in October over the much-delayed upgradation and delivery of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, a senior Russian official said today.

President Pratibha Patil with her Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev during a meeting at Kremlin Palace in Moscow on Thursday. — PTI

Indonesian quake toll rises to 44 Cikangkareng (Indonesia), September 3 At least 44 persons were killed and dozens were missing after a strong earthquake rocked southern Indonesia, unleashing mudslides that buried villagers in their homes, disaster management officials said today. A mosque damaged by a powerful earthquake at Cisaat village, West Java, on Wednesday. — Reuters

Currency Racket
Paras denies links with Dawood
Kathmandu, September 3
Nepal's former crown prince Paras Shah has denied media reports linking him with a fake Indian currency racket operated by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, terming it as "false and malicious".

Pashupatinath Temple under siege again
Maoists oppose govt decision to appoint Indian priests
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu

Protesting against the government’s decision to appoint Indian nationals as new priests of Pashupatinath Temple, Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M) affiliated youth organisations, including party leaders and cadres, on Thursday demonstrated near the Pashupatinath Temple area.

In the name of the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) struggle committee Maoists parliamentarians, cadres and supporters disrupted traffic movement by burning tyres chanting slogans along the CPN-UML-led coalition government.

They have also demanded the government to end the centuries-old tradition of appointing main priests from South India and start the new practice of appointing Nepali priests.

Meanwhile, the police deployed in large numbers arrested more than 20 protesters from the Pashupati area on charge of disrupting law and order situation in the area.

At the cabinet meeting held on Wednesday, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, in the capacity of the patron of the PADT, had appointed two Indian nationals from Karnataka state as new priests at the revered Hindu temple.

In accordance with the existing ritual practice, the newly appointed priests have gone into isolation for three days before starting their jobs from Saturday after taking oath from the main priest.

Two of the five positions of priests in Pashupatinath had remained vacant for a long time after the erstwhile priests Ram Chandra Bhatta and Krishna Yog Bhatta resigned citing health reasons a few months ago.

In early January this year, the then Maoist-led government had made a controversial decision of appointing Nepali priests loyal to the Maoists by sacking three South Indian priests by ending a nearly 300-year-old tradition.

Later, the then Prime Minister and Maoists Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, had nullified the decision after receiving tremendous pressure from the different groups and the Hindi community in and outside the country, including the directive issued by the Supreme Court in this regard.

Additional agreement on Gorshkov refit by mid-October

Moscow, September 3
Russia and India will sign an additional agreement in October over the much-delayed upgradation and delivery of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, a senior Russian official said today.

“The negotiations are still on and we hope to ink the additional agreement by mid-October,” chief of the Russian Technologies Corporation Sergei Chemezev told reporters in the Kremlin as President Pratibha Patil began her high-level talks with the Russian leadership.

Defence cooperation was one of the key issues of Patil’s parleys with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today.

In addition to the original $616 million cost of upgradation, the Severodvinsk-based Sevmash shipyard is demanding additionally up to USD 2 billion for the refit of the 45000 tonner Kiev class aircraft carrier to be inducted as INS Vikramaditya. Originally, Russian shipyard was to deliver it in August 2008, however, due to extra work and dispute over the refit cost its delivery has been deferred till 2012.

In July visiting the Sevmash shipyard Medvedev had described the Gorshkov issues as the ‘sole irritant’ in bilateral relations with India and ordered to complete negotiations and deliver the ship within the agreed deadline. — PTI

Suu Kyi appeals against house detention

Yangon, September 3
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi Thursday submitted an appeal against last month's court decision that put her under house detention for the next 18 months, her attorneys said.

"We have registered the file, but it is up to the divisional court to decide whether to accept it or not," lawyer Nyan Win said.

The attorneys submitted the appeal to the Yangon Divisional Court on behalf of their client, who has spent 14 of the past 20 years under detention and is now being detained at her Yangon family compound.

On August 11, a special court set up in Yangon's Insein Prison found Suu Kyi, 64, guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest and sentenced her to three years in prison with hard labour. The sentence was quickly commuted to 18 months under house detention by Myanmar's military supremo, Senior General Than Shwe.

Suu Kyi was found guilty of allowing US national John William Yettaw to swim to her lakeside home-cum-prison May 3, where he stayed uninvited until May 5, to warn her of an assassination attempt he said he had envisioned.

Suu Kyi's two household aides, Khin Khin Win and Win Ma Ma, were also found guilty of abetting Yettaw's visit and were sentenced to three years in jail, which was also commuted to 18 months under house arrest. Their cases have also been appealed by Suu Kyi's legal team.

Yettaw's swimming escapade provided a pretext for Myanmar's military regime to accuse Suu Kyi of violating the terms of her detention and to keep her out of the political picture for the next 18 months while it prepares for a general election next year, which promises to be neither free nor fair.

Yettaw, 54, was sentenced to seven years in prison but was freed August 16 at the request of visiting US Senator Jim Webb, chairman of the US Senate's East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee. — DPA

Indonesian quake toll rises to 44

Cikangkareng (Indonesia), September 3
At least 44 persons were killed and dozens were missing after a strong earthquake rocked southern Indonesia, unleashing mudslides that buried villagers in their homes, disaster management officials said today.

At least 110 people were hospitalised after the 7.0 magnitude quake just off the coast of the densely populated Java island, Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono said, adding that 10 of them were in a critical condition.

The yesterday temblor caused heavy damage across West Java province, where 700 buildings were severely damaged or toppled. — AP

Currency Racket
Paras denies links with Dawood

Kathmandu, September 3
Nepal's former crown prince Paras Shah has denied media reports linking him with a fake Indian currency racket operated by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, terming it as "false and malicious".

In a statement, the flamboyant ex-prince yesterday denied the media reports about his involvement in the fake Indian currency racket, saying the allegations were "deceptive and ill-intended." On Monday, media reports quoted two Nepalese citizens arrested with fake notes in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, as claiming that the former prince was also involved in the fake currency racket run by Dawood Ibrahim from Pakistan.

In the statement, Shah said the Indian media had "once again" targeted him with "malicious" intentions and the news against him was directed to spread "illusion in the minds of the Nepalese people." Shah said he was concerned about the news, which was "fictitious." It is just an instance of "well-orchestrated and condemnable propaganda directed against the sovereign people of Nepal from a foreign land”, he said. — PTI