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Three children burnt alive

Kathmandu, 9 February: Three children from the same family were burnt alive in Nigali, a remote village in Kailali district on Wednesday. Police reports say there were no adults in the village at the time of the fire. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Bhattarai criticises "jumbo cabinet"

Kathmandu, 8 February:Former Prime Minister and senior leader of Nepali Congress Krishna Prasad Bhattarai described the present newly formed Council of Ministers as a "jumbo cabinet" and said that it would not be able to solve the problems faced by the country. In a statement issued today, Bhattarai said Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala reshuffled the cabinet without his consultation and that it was one-sided decision. Bhattarai was quoted as saying that he “had not recommended any names for the list” and that Koirala had failed to solve country's burning problems and control corruption. He also accused the premier of being involved in corruption, from which he said, “Koirala cannot escape.”

Bhattarai has shown his support for another central leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, who is leading the rival camp in the ruling party and is seeking to oust Koirala from the government. The Deuba faction expressed total dissatisfaction over the expansion of the cabinet by Koirala and have refused to be a part of the council. Nepalnews.com/yl/at

19th Session of Parliament begins

Kathmandu, 8 February: The 19th Session of the Parliament began today. Speaker of the Lower House Taranath Ranabhat and Chairman of National Assembly Mohammad Mohasin welcomed the Members of Parliament (MP) and called upon them to contribute positively to make the 19th session successful and meaningful. Taking part in the opening day in the House of Representatives, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said, “As the parliament is the sovereign forum to discuss and solve the country’s burning problems, all political parties need to work together for the cause of the nation and the people.” Koirala also said that the government was going to introduce several bills in order to control corruption and provide good governance.

Opposition parties have accused the government of completely failing to solve national problems
and have demanded the Prime Minister’s resignation. Madhav Kumar Nepal, main opposition leader and General Secretary of CPN-UML said that since the Prime Minister has not been able to solve problems like the Maoist insurgency, corruption, unemployment, inflation, and the entrance of politics into bureaucracy and even educational institutions, the premier needed to step down and allow others to take initiative to resolve these problems.

Similarly Chairman of Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Surya Bahadur Thapa and MPs from other parties also demanded Koirala’s resignation. However, Badri Prasad Mandal of Nepal Sadbhavana Party was softer towards the government and opposed the demand of other opposition parties of the premier’s resignation.Nepalnews.com/yl/at

Maoists attack student leader

Kathmandu, 8 February:Rajan Raj Pant, a leader of Nepal Students Union (NSU), student wing of the ruling Nepali Congress, was attacked and severely injured by a group of insurgents in Gorkha, Thursday. Insurgents of the underground Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) entered into the premises of Education Campus, just one km from the District Police Office in the headquarters of Gorkha district and attacked Pant with fatal weapons in broad daylight. Eyewitnesses say the rebels walked away freely before the police arrived. Pant, chairman and central member of the NSU Gorkha District Committee was flown to Kathmandu for treatment and is reported to be in a serious condition.

Nepal Students Union condemned the attack and demanded severe action against the attackers.
Gorkha is one of the 17 districts severely affected by Maoist insurgency.Nepalnews.com/yl/at

Government appoints judicial probe 

Kathmandu, 8 February: The Nepal Saadbhavana Party (NSP) Thursday withdrew its planned programme to surround the rostrum of Parliament Thursday after the government appointed a three member probe committee headed by a judge to investigate last December’s communal violence that killed seven and injured hundreds. The committee is headed by judge of Lalitpur Appellate Court Govinda Bahadur Shrestha and consists of a senior Home Ministry official and a lawyer and will submit its report in 45 days, an official announcement said. The demands of the NSP have however only been partially met as they were demanding a judicial probe headed by a Supreme Court judge. 

The party was not satisfied with the findings of another committee headed by former Home
Secretary Bhoj Raj Pokhrel, which has already submitted its findings to the government. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Nepal-Bangladesh trade fair from Saturday

Kathmandu, 8 February: A joint Nepal-Bangladesh trade fair will be held in the Bangladeshi town of Panchgadh from Saturday to promote bilateral trade, an announcement said. 

The Mechi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Panchgadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry are joint sponsors of the fair. A team from the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry has left for Bangladesh with exhibition goods to Panchgadh, approximately 100 km from Kaakarvitta, Jhapa, in east Nepal. Nepalnews.com/br/at

China to construct Rasuwa-Syaphrubesi road

Kathmandu, 8 February: China has agreed to expedite the process of building the Rasuwa-Syaphrubesi road on the Nepal-China border. The announcement came at the end of a two-day consultation meeting between Nepali and Chinese Foreign Ministry officials in Kathmandu that concluded Wednesday. Assistant Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi was in Kathmandu for the meeting also attended by Foreign Secretary Narayan Thapa. Several other projects and issues, including the forthcoming meeting of King Birendra to China, were also discussed, and both sides agreed to expand areas of cooperation. The King and Queen will be visiting China from 26 February at the invitation of the Chinese President.

China also agreed to extend the consular jurisdiction of the Royal Nepalese Consulate General in Hong Kong to Macao. Nepalnews.com/yl/br/at

Transport workers continue protests

Kathmandu, 7 February: As part of the transport workers protest to reverse a government decision to ban 20-year-old vehicles from the city from November, taxi drivers stayed off the streets until 9am Wednesday, causing inconvenience to commuters. The decision aimed at reducing air pollution in the capital plans to relocate nearly 11,000 vehicles out of Kathmandu to other parts of the country. Transport workers say this will leave several thousand people unemployed. There were some ugly scenes in Lalitpur when protesters tried to force minibuses to stop during the protest, eyewitnesses said.

Environmentalists have welcomed the government initiative, but vehicle owners argue that it is bad roads and adulterated fuel that cause pollution, and that the government’s move will not improve air quality. Private vehicles will not be affected by the ban. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Kathmandu, 7 February: Two of the 37 newly appointed members of the Council of Ministers did not take part in the swearing-in ceremony in the presence of the King this evening. Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat abstained from the oath taking ceremony citing "illness" as the cause, and Khum Bahadur Khadka, who was appointed Minister of Physical Planning and Works, stuck to his statement issued earlier in the day saying he would boycott the swearing-in ceremony at the Palace. Khadka, and new Labour Minister Palden Gurung, issued the press release criticising Prime Minister Koirala for a unilateral reshuffle without consulting senior leader Krishna Prasad Bhattarai. Gurung, unlike Khadka, took his oath of office "I have always fought for party unity. The move of the Prime Minister will not promote unity. But I expect the Nepali Congress government to complete its full term," read the release signed by Khadka and Gurung. The statement has been taken as in indication that internal differences will not split the party.

Koirala, who earlier controlled 11 ministries, now heads the ministries of Royal Palace Affairs and General Administration.

Major opposition parties are pressing for Koirala’s resignation, claming he has failed to maintain law and order and curb official corruption. Nepalnews.com/br/at

Two newly appointed ministers to abstain from oath taking

Kathmandu, 7 February: Two members of the newly appointed 37-member Council of Ministers have declined to take part in the swearing-in ceremony just hours after Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala announced the new list. In a press statement released Wednesday, Khum Bahadur Khadka, who was appointed Minister for Physical Planning and Works, and Palten Gurung, appointed Minister of Labour and Transport Management, declined to take part in the oath taking ceremony.

The two accused Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala of making a one sided decision without consulting other senior leaders like Krishna Prasad Bhattarai. "This was a one-sided decision and is against party unity and policy," they said in a press release. However, they hastened to add at the end of the release that, "the Nepali Congress party will remain in power for its full term".
Nepalnews.com/at