KATHMANDU, JAN 20 - Ministry of Home today issued a stern warning to demonstrators to refrain from raising unsavoury slogans against King Gyanendra, dropping enough hint that anyone caught doing so would be dealt with in suitable ways.
"This is the notice issued by the ministry today in the light of repeated instances of demonstrators raising slogans against the king," said Ministry of Home Spokesman Gopendra Bahadur Pandey on the first day of the daily press briefing session.
Pandey neither elaborated on the legal regime which outlaws sloganeering nor did he spell out which laws would go into effect when it comes to book defaulters for raising unsavoury slogans against the king.
In yet another announcement, Pandey said that a meeting of the Nepal-India joint task force on border related issues was in the offing in a fortnight in Kathmandu which will be followed by a meeting between Nepalese and Indian home secretaries.
The agenda of the meeting could include cross-border terrorism and cracking down
on crime in the border towns
in co-operation with each other’s security agencies. The meeting is the second one after 2002.
"The issue of extraditing criminals in each other’s countries could figure in the meeting but whether there would be any final decision on the issue cannot be said now," Pandey said, adding that the issue of Maoist rebels crossing on both sides could also figure.
Meanwhile, police authorities said the death toll on rebel side since the beginning of the insurgency to date is 5000, while the same among the police and the armed police have been put at 1107 and 174 respectively.
However, the number of dead since August last year now stands at 225 civilians, 125 police personnel and 55 armed policemen. Similarly the number of rebels dead during the same period has been put at 900. The number of army personnel dead to date has been put at 370, with 127 since August last year.
Similarly, the number of vehicles destroyed by demonstrators in the last five weeks has been put at 45, with 22 belonging to government, 21 to the corporations and two belonging to private individuals. Seventeen of the total vehicles are motorcycles.Posted on: 2004-01-21 03:25

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