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Nepali politicians 'tortured'

     New Delhi: Nepali political leaders who managed to escape to New Delhi fearing hostile action by King Gyanendra's administration, have alleged that Nepali military was illegally detaining and torturing leaders back home. The allegation from the leaders-on-exile assumes significance as it came hours before new Nepali Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey arrives in New Delhi. Pandely's visit would be the first high-level visit since King Gyanendra seized power and suspended civil rights last month. The international community, including India, is mounting pressure on King Gyanendra to restore democracy in the Himalayan kingdom. But, Nepal has so far avoided such pressure tactics. Rambaran Yadav, senior leader in Koirala's Nepali Congress and a former health minister, said the military was on rampage and many of their leaders were being picked up and beaten mercilessly. Yadav said three prominent pro-democracy activists in Jhapa in the country's eastern belt, Sudhir Shiva Koti and Udhav Thapa, both of the Nepali Congress, and a regional trade union leader Deepak Taman were tortured nearly to death by armymen. "All of the three leaders were taken into a military camp, laid down on a trench and beaten badly by the armymen with ice cold water being poured over them all through. After three days when the CDO (Chief District Officer) intervened, they were released. The men were beaten nearly to death. The military is torturing people and we have no control over anything. Even five to 10 people gathering at a place are arrested and tortured," Yadav said in an interview in New Delhi.

     Mahant Thakur, Nepal's former information minister, who also fled to India last week, added that it was not just the politicians but common people as well who are bearing the brunt of army atrocities. The soldiers, he said, often barge into homes and misbehave with women and urged the Indian government, which has suspended all military aid to Nepal since the royal coup, should convey a strong message to the visiting foreign minister. Thakur added: "The people over there are in great difficulty. They are cut off from the world, they have no communication even with their own relations, cannot move out of their own homes. The security men barge into people's home without permission and misbehave and beat them up. And as for the political leaders, the establishment simply cannot stand them. Every kind of liberty is restricted and as our leader Girija Prasad Koirala has said entire Nepal is captive. The way the foreign minister of such a country should be treated, I urge the government of India to treat the visiting foreign minister in the same vein."

     Dozens of Nepali political activists, including heads of various mainstream political parties, have been in detention or under house arrest since Gyanendra's Feb. 1 power grab. Many others have fled to safer pastures in India. Senior officials said the term of house arrest for six opposition leaders - including former prime ministers Sher Bahadur Deuba and Girija Prasad Koirala - had been extended, in a move analysts say, might have been aimed at muting dissent and foiling possible popular protests against the king. King Gyanendra, meanwhile, says that his decision to seize power was aimed at crushing an increasingly bloody anti-monarchy Maoist revolt in which more than 11,000 people have been killed in nine years.

25 killed in Iraq (Go To Top)

     Baghdad: Insurgents have killed at least 25 Iraqis in attacks in towns north of Baghdad, police said. A suicide car bomber blew himself up in Balad, killing at least 15 people and wounding many others, the BBC quoted police as saying In Baquba, five soldiers were killed in an attack on an army checkpoint, and five other people died in a series of other bomb attacks in the town. Meanwhile attempts are continuing to form Iraq's first democratic government before parliament opens next week.

Reliance Infocomm pays Rs 1.5 billion penalty (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: Reliance Infocomm today paid Rs 1.5 billion in accordance with the TDSAT directive for "illegal" rerouting of international calls as local ones. "The payment has been made so that the issues in dispute can be viewed dispassionately... We have full faith in the judicial process and are confident of vindicating our stand," said a statement of Reliance Infocomm. The company resolved to fight till the end to prove that it was right. "The payment has been made without accepting the findings of TDSAT. We will explore all avenues to establish that the service provided has been in accordance with the licence conditions. There has been no impropriety on our part," the company said Earlier, the company counsel had said that they would approach the Supreme Court on Monday to challenge the TDSAT verdict.

     The Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) had dismissed Reliance Infocomm's petition seeking relief from a penalty of Rs 150 Crore slapped on it by the Department of Telecom (DoT) for illegal routing of international calls as local ones. The three members TDSAT Bench headed by Chairman Justice D P Wadhwa had observed that the breach had put the "security of the nation in jeopardy". Reliance in its plea had argued that it did not violate any licensing norms and rerouting of calls was well within its purview. "There is no justification in DoT's decision to impose penalty. The DoT appears to have taken the decision to impose penalty on us with a pre-determined mind without taking into consideration the provisions of the license," the company had said in its argument. The bench, however, felt that Reliance was on the wrong foot. "Having regard to all the circumstances, including the subject matter of license, the performance of the license provisions which have been breached, the circumstances in which breach was committed and the consequences of the breach, putting the security of the nation in jeopardy, we do not find it a fit case to be interfered with" and "Petition is dismissed with cost", observed the Bench. Reliance had filed the plea before TDSAT on January 19 against DoT's January 17 order of imposing penalty.

     The company has so far paid Rs 294 Crore to the two public sector telecom companies, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL). The two companies had demanded Rs 504 Crore from Reliance alleging it for violating the Interconnect Usage Charge Agreement. On the direction of the Delhi High Court, Reliance paid Rs 180 Core to the BSNL and the case was still pending. Reliance had also argued that change in Caller Line Identification (CLI) was a normal feature of operator-assisted services. Countering the government argument that the Home Country Direct Service was part of the International Long Distance Licence, Reliance has been arguing that HCDS was part of the Unified Access Service license and that is why they had not breached the provisions of the license.

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