PRIME MINISTER GIRIJA PRASAD KOIRALA inaugurated the country’s first neurological specialty hospital in Bansbari, Kathmandu on Wednesday (April 25). The National Institute of Neurological and Allied Sciences had been in operation since past one year at the private investment. Dr. Upendra Devkota is the chief of the hospital. Opening the hospital, PM Koirala said that people will no longer have to go abroad for treatment of neurological ailments. He advised the operators to add facilities to produce more neurologists and run rehab centers. At the program, Dr. Devkota said that the hospital will provide world class service at minimum cost. He said the hospital will treat all kinds of brain and spinal disorders. The hospital has 80-beds, three fully equipped operation theatres and 12 ICUs.
MAOIST MP JANARDAN SHARMA ‘Prabhakar’ has demanded prime minister Koirala’s clarification on what the army did on Tuesday (April 24) when King Gyanendra visited Dakshinkali temple. “It is obvious that it was well planned and the security provided to the King was excessive,” he said. The army had played the scrapped national anthem and gave King a 21-gun salute, even though the King is no more the head of state or supreme commander of the army. He said PM, in his capacity as Defense Minister, must clarify. Likewise, civil society leaders Kanak Mani Dixit and Sushil Pyakurel, too, issued a statement asking the Defense Ministry to explain the incident.
US PRESIDENT GEORGE W. Bush intends to nominate Nancy J. Powell, of Iowa, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Nepal. Powell, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, currently serves as the National Intelligence Officer for South Asia at the National Intelligence Council. Prior to this, she served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs at the Department of State. Earlier in her career, she served as the Ambassador to the countries of Pakistan, Ghana and Uganda. Powell received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa. She will succeed James Moriarty whose tenure will complete by the end of June this year.
UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL Ban Ki Moon has said Nepal's peace process has made great achievements in the last one year’s time. He also stated that questions still remained about the registration and verification of the Maoist arms and armies. "The peace process in Nepal has made remarkable progress since the start of last year, but complex questions remain about how to monitor the management of arms and armed personnel," Moon stated in his Nepal report presented to the Security Council. The SG stressed the need to hold the constituent assembly elections in a manner that reflects the genuine will of the Nepalis, including the marginalized communities. “Few could have imagined at the beginning of 2006 that an end to the armed conflict would have been declared, the UN would have started implementing an agreement on managing arms and armed personnel, and that the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) would have entered an interim legislature with the Government," the report said. “These are historic achievements,” he noted. The Secretary General also lauded the willingness shown by the political parties to seek consensus on many contentious issues though some of the underlying causes of the conflict were yet to be addressed. He also expressed concern over the living conditions of the Maoist armies and poor infrastructure in the cantonments.
GREEN NEPAL PARTY has applied for its registration at the Election Commission (EC) for the purpose of Constituent Assembly elections. It has produced 57,221 voters’ signatures. The party has also omitted the reference to constitutional monarchy from its statute. “To be in line with the spirit of the interim constitution 2063, the party has amended the party constitution 2054. In the amendment the party has removed the provision of constitutional monarchy,” states a press release issued by Pusp Prasad Luitel, president of GNP. “The party will go to the people in accordance with the mandate derived from Jana Andolan II with the issues like multiparty democracy, proportional inclusive representation and decentralized and federally structured states. “The party will give special attention to clean politics, clean environment and poverty alleviation,” it states.
NEPALI ARMY HAS ISSUED a statement refuting reports of meeting between the King and the Chief of Army Staff (CoAS). In its statement, the NA has said that it has embraced the norms of rule of law as per the democratic governance. Referring to news published in a newspaper on Sunday reporting about the meeting, the NA has said, “There is no process whereby the Chief of Army Staff can meet with anyone – whenever approval is necessary - without government approval.” The statement dismisses the news report as ‘untrue, fabricated and malicious.’ The NA has said that the report smacked of conspiracies to create rift between the army and the people and the democratic forces and the army. The report of the meeting between the King and army chief was also taken up at the cabinet meeting on Sunday where the government had decided to investigate it.
