THE MEETING OF THE POWERFUL Constitutional Council held on Thursday (August 30) morning has recommended Kedar Prasad Giri as the next Chief Justice (CJ). As per the Article 103 of the Interim Constitution, Prime Minister appoints the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council. The current CJ Dilip Kumar Poudel will retire on September 7. Giri is the senior most judge at the Supreme Court. Likewise, the CC meeting has also recommended appointing former CJ Kedar Nath Upadhyaya as the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The CC has also picked nominees for the members of the NHRC. They include Ram Nagina Singh, Gauri Pradhan, Lila Pathak and Dr. KB Rokaya.
THE CABINET MEETING, on Thursday (August 30) morning, has approved the nominations of additional seven ambassadors. The seven nominees will be sent to the Parliamentary Special Hearing Committee for final approval. The meeting finalized the seven names including four forwarded by the Maoists - Pampha Bhusal ( France), Bijaya Kanta Lal Karna (Denmark), Yogendra Dhakal (Australia), and Dr. Rishi Adhikary (Malaysia). Other three names approved by the cabinet include Arjun Thapa (United Arab Emirates), Baija Nath Thapaliya (Israel ) and Kamal Koirala (South Korea). The cabinet will approve the names after the parliamentary committee completes the hearing as per the provision of the interim constitution. The appointment of the envoys had been delayed after the Maoists failed to provide names on their part. These apart, other one dozen nominees will also have to go through the parliamentary hearing. Their hearing could not take place earlier due to Maoist objection. Those whose names have been agreed earlier include Shailaja Acharya ( India), Dr Suresh Chalise (United States), Surya Nath Mishra (Qatar), Surya Kiran Gurung (Russia), Navin Prakash Jung Shah (Thailand) and Murari Raj Sharma (United Kingdom). Likewise, other nominees are Ganesh Yonjan (Japan ), Pramesh Hamal (Belgium), Tanka Karki (China), Hamid Ansari (Saudi Arabia), Guna Laxmi Sharma BK (Myanmar), Bal Bahadur Kunwar (Pakistan), Dinesh Bhattarai (Geneva), and Pradeep Khatiwada (Bangladesh). However, the cabinet on Thursday failed to finalize the names of the government secretaries after some ministers objected to some nominations saying they need more discussion. After the cabinet's administration committee failed to reach a consensus on appointment of secretaries, prime minister was entrusted to pick the secretaries.
THE SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UN Secretary General Ian Martin has said that there still is a lack of climate conducive for election in some Terai districts. "It is very clear that in some districts at the moment the security climate is not conducive for a Constituent Assembly election unless action is taken soon. One of those difficult districts of course is Sunsari which I visited, and beyond that Siraha and Saptari in particular," said the UNMIN chief at a press meet in Biratnagar on August 30. He made these remarks after his visit to the eastern region. He called for dialogue between government and Madhesi groups not only at the central level but at the local level among civil society and political parties "to create public security for the election and particularly to avoid communal tensions and communal violence." Stressing that CA election in a good climate is imperative to address the marginalisation of Madhesis, or women, or Janajatis, Tharus, Dalits, Limbu, Martin appealed to all for an end to violence and to threats of communal violence. Meanwhile, replying to a query, Martin said that the UN can involve in the dialogue process between the government and Goit faction – which has publicly called for UN mediation - only if there is a request from both sides. "The United Nations can only be involved in a dialogue process if that is the wish and request of both sides to a dialogue. And the Government side has made clear publicly that it does not see a need for United Nations involvement," he said.
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF RED CROSS (ICRC) has said that the number of disappeared person stands at 1042. Addressing a press meet, on Wednesday (August 29), on the eve of International Day of Disappeared, Mary Werntz, head of ICRC delegation to Nepal, said, "The ICRC list of missing persons published in February had 812 names. With more families reporting cases of disappearances, the ICRC has revised the figure to 1042." She said, "The government of Nepal has not yet fulfilled its obligations under the international humanitarian law to the thousands of families of missing persons, who still do not know whether their relatives were dead or alive." Jean-Paul Carboz, ICRC protection officer, said the government should form a separate Commission on Missing Persons as per the peace accord. Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission has said that as per its records, 925 persons are still missing – out of which 645 were disappeared by the state while 260 were disappeared by the Maoists.
