Govt Writes Letter To Ex-King To Vacate Palace
The government, on May 30, sent a letter to ex King Gyanendra to vacate the Narayanhiti palace within the 15-day deadline given by the Constituent Assembly (CA), which declared the country a federal democratic republic on Wednesday. Home Minister Krishna Prasad Situala told reporters that the letter has already reached to the former King. A cabinet meeting yesterday had decided to write a letter to the ex-king, notifying him about the declaration of republic as well as the order of the Assembly to vacate the palace. The government plans to turn the sprawling palace into a national museum. Compiled from reports
YCL To Stop Quasi-Policing Activities
President of the Maoist-aligned Young Communist League (YCL), Ganeshman Pun, has said his organization will stop some of its controversial activities like taking action against individuals based on complaints registered with it. Talking to reporters during a tea reception organized by YCL in the capital Saturday (May 31), Pun said the YCL would stop taking complaints from individuals on criminal and other cases. He also pledged to end the camp settlement of YCL cadres. He further said the YCL would cooperate with the police in "improving law enforcement" and mobilize cadres in development works. Senior Maoist leader Ram Bahadur Thapa 'Badal', and Maoist ministers Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Hisila Yami were also present at the reception organized to celebrate the declaration of republic by the Constituent Assembly. Compiled from reports
Dhangadi Newspapers Halt Publication
Citing poor security situation, eight dailies, a biweekly and two weekly newspapers here have shut operation for an indefinite period. A meeting of the editors and publishers of the newspapers, Saturday (May 31), decided to halt the publication citing security threats to their offices and journalists. In a statement, they said the publication houses were facing threats of arson and vandalism while journalists working for them were getting death threats. They added the situation in Dhangadhi was too volatile to continue publication, specially after the imposition of curfew three days ago. The curfew was imposed after three persons were killed when police opened fire on a mob trying to attack the district administration office. The statement is signed by editors and publishers of eight dailies — Sudoor Sandesh, Dhangadhi Post, Seti Samachar, Samachar Saaransh, Shree Nepal Times, Rastriya Sandarbha, Morning Bell and Tharu-language Hamar Pahura, biweekly Hotline and two weeklies — Rastriya Kiran and Paschim Express. The statement adds that journalist Lucky Chaudhary, who was attacked by Maoists on the DAO premises on the day the firing took place, had been displaced from Dhangadhi due to threats to his life. It states that Maoists even stage-managed a public rally against the media and that the media had lost faith in the administration and police. It said the complaint lodged at the DAO seeking action against Chaudhary's attackers remained unheard. It adds that things have reached such a pass that most of the journalists were unable to move around freely while several others had gone underground. Media houses have been forced to hide their display boards while staffers have been terrorized. Meanwhile, relatives of the three persons killed in police firing on Wednesday have still not claimed the bodies lying in Seti Zonal Hospital. Hospital staffers said the bodies had begun decomposing. Rights activist Ramesh Basnet said the deceased's kin were assured by the Home Ministry in an unsigned letter that they would be given compensation, while those injured in the police action would be treated at government expense. Departmental enquiry into the incident was also promised. Dhangadhi office of OHCHR has begun investigation into the incident. It also issued a release expressing concern about attacks on journalists exposing Maoist misdeeds or criticizing them. It said the police used unnecessary and excessive force on Wednesday. The Himalayan Times daily reports
Blasts Outside CA Meeting Venue
Unidentified persons detonated two bombs outside the Birendra International Convention Centre in Baneshwor, the venue of the Constituent Assembly (CA) meeting, Wednesday (May 28) evening. The first blast occurred near the western gate of the BICC at around 8:00 pm while another bomb went off ten minutes later. At least four people including a senior police official were injured in the incident. Thousands of people had gathered outside the BICC to cheer the announcement of republic by the first CA meeting. The bombs occurred just before the Assembly was about to get underway. Similarly, one person was injured in a blast at Khula Manch, central Kathmandu, Wednesday evening. It is not known who carried out the blast, but police officials said the Hindu fundamentalist outfit called Ranabir Sena that had taken responsibility for the blasts on Monday and Tuesday could be behind this. The injured person has been taken to the nearly Bir Hospital for treatment. Compiled from reports
RPP-Nepal Becomes The Only Party Against Republic; Lawyers Question Procedures Adopted By CA
The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP-Nepal) has become the only party that voted against the proposal of implementing the declaration of republic. When the proposal was put forth for voting, of the 564 members of CA present at the meeting, 560 voted in its favor while four members of RPP-N voted against it. Although the chairman of the assembly Kul Bahadur Gurung did not allow the RPP-N members to make their case before the voting, its member Chandra Bahadur Gurung later submitted note of dissent expressing dissatisfaction over the republic declaration. "Though we are aware of the culture of functioning like a robot through remote-control, we have decided to register our note of dissent for the record for the posterity," said Gurung. Gurung could not complete the recital of his party's statement as the assembly chair barred him from speaking after the allotted two minutes. Speaking at the post-voting discussion, chief of Rastriya Jana Morcha, Chitra Bahadur KC, expressed dissatisfaction over the move to turn Nepal into federal state. Meanwhile, some lawyers have pointed at the flaws in the procedures adopted by the CA during its first meeting. According to a constitutional lawyer Bipin Adhikary, the procedures followed by the Constituent Assembly had three serious flaws. "First, the House started its proceedings without the 26 nominated members, who should have been present in the House to fulfil the membership requirement of the Assembly under Article 63(3) of the Constitution. The President of the House ignored this requirement, because the Prime Minister was not able to nominate them in consultation with the parties before the meeting kicked off," said Adhikari, who added that this flaw would make the proceedings of an incomplete House open to challenge. "Secondly, the motion to abolish monarchy and operationalize Article 159 was not subjected to discussion before the voting on it according to the recognized parliamentary practice. The chair ignored the repeated requests by the opposition group of the RPP-Nepal, the only monarchist voice in the entire Assembly, to allow discussion on the motion, so that they could register their opposition before the voting," he said, adding, "Thirdly, and lastly, the implementation of the 'republicanisation plan' was done without any statutory basis, and certainly without giving any opportunity to the King to explain his case before the sovereign House." Nepalnews.com reports
Maoist Leadership Signs 7-Point Agreement With Shrestha Family
Maoist chairman Prachanda and the family of slain businessman Ramhari Shrestha signed a seven-point agreement Tuesday (May 27) morning, which brought to an end the protest programs being carried out by Shrestha's family and kin for the last one week. As stated in the agreement jointly signed by Prachanda, Ramhari's wife Ramila and coordinator of Koteshwor Struggle Committee, Gyan Kumar Shrestha, the Maoists have owned up responsibility for the killing and have apologized for it. The Maoists have also agreed to cooperate with the government's probe commission, take action against the guilty and provide 'relief' to the victim's family. Shrestha was killed by Maoist army men in Chitwan after abducting him from his house in Koteshwor three weeks ago. His body was found in Trishuli River, Chitwan, on Sunday and was brought to Kathmandu yesterday. His last rites were performed at Pashupati Aryaghat on Tuesday. Compiled from reports
Govt Provides Rs 800 Million To NOC
The Finance Ministry, on Tuesday (May 27), made available Rs 800 million as loan to the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). The money was made available after Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala directed the ministry to provide money to the NOC, which had publicly stated that it can no longer ensure smooth fuel supply if it is not allowed to adjust market price with international price or if it is not provided with government subsidy. The government had similarly provided Rs 800 million to NOC two weeks ago. As such, the total liability of NOC towards the government has reached Rs 9 billion. The NOC is suffering from monthly loss of Rs 1.78 billion due to soaring price of fuel in international market. The government is cutting development expenditure to provide subsidy to NOC to purchase fuel products, which are primarily used by urban consumers. Kantipur daily reports
NEA Reduces Load Shedding Hours
The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has reduced the load-shedding hours to only nine hours a week effective from Tuesday (May 27). The NEA has cut down heavily the power-outage hours which stood at over 21 hours per week, the NEA said. According to the new load-shedding routine, the power will be out for only three days a week. From Tuesday, the power will be cut for two and a half hours two days a week (evening) and four hours one day of the week (daytime). The power cut in the morning hours has been completely slashed. The warm weather and the water level rising in the rivers have led to the reduction, NEA said. An official at the NEA informed that load shedding will be further reduced after the operation of the 60 Mega watt capacity Khimti power house. He added that the Khimti power house will come into operation within a week. Compiled from reports
