Exhibition opened
All party consensus must to defeat terrorism: PM

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Butwal, Dec. 21: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that neither he nor anyone else has the authority to endorse the Maoists' demand of a constituent assembly.

"That Maoists ran away from the negotiating table and started a new spate of violence by killing innocent citizens proves that they are terrorists," said the Prime Minister, who was addressing the inauguration ceremony of the 7th National Industrial Exhibition - 2058 here today.

He said the people have fully supported mobilization of the Royal Nepalese Army and added that the government is aware and committed to holding discussion and consultations with all the political parties for the all-round development of the country.

Prime Minister Deuba pointed out the need of an all-party consensus to overcome terrorism, provide a sense of peace and security to the people, alleviate poverty, remove corruption and backwardness and control corruption in the country.

The biggest challenge facing the country today is to restore peace and security by defeating the terrorists, Deuba said and added that consensus among all political parties is of paramount importance to run social and economic programmes to abolish poverty, unemployment and caste discrimination.

The exhibition also aims to look for markets for industries, encourage indigenous products and raise public awareness for using them, inform consumers about the quality of indigenuos products, look for new technologies and attract women to industries. items produced by 172 industries, big and small, are on display in the exhibition.

The chamber had organised such an exhibition in 2045 BS for the first time, and it has been doing so annually since 2053 BS.

According to statistics, 40,000 visitors had visited the first national exhibition, while 775,000 visitors have visited the exhibitions between 2053 and 2057 making financial transactions of Rs 280 million.

The past exhibitions have enhanced the sale of turbines produced by Thapa Engineering, Organic Coffee in Palpa and Gulmi, Furniture of Butwal Steel Furniture, pashmina shawls of Kathmandu, unique bamboo products, aluminum window frames, Dhaka produced by cottage industries and artistic bamboo items of traditional handicrafts in Pokhara.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Deuba inaugurated the 28th Convention of Nepal Jaycees in Butwal this afternoon and said the announcement of a state of emergency was against terrorists and, hence, no one should support and cooperate with them.

The Prime Minister said the state of emergency has been declared in keeping with the constitutional authority.

"This is nothing but a measure taken by the government under compulsion to tackle terrorist activities like attacks on army barracks, raids on district administration offices and killing of innocent civilians," the Prime Minister said.

Deuba said the state of emergency has also been supported by friendly countries like India, China, America, Japan and others and said they have shown their willingness to help the government fight terrorism.

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