Hishila Yami heads casino panel

Kathmandu, 3 Nov: Government has formed nine-member committee headed by Tourism Minister Hishila Yami to identify problems in casino management and suggest recommendations for changes in rules and regulations.
Casino workers went on protests and Sunday called a violent Valley strike to protest what they call police excesses during an attempt raid on Casino Anna last month.
Administration accuses casinos for allowing Nepalis illegally into casinos to gamble.
Casino employees have called off their protests after the committee formation.
CPN-UML Home Minister Bamdeb Gautam has also forced the closure of restaurants and dance bars from 11 PM in the capital amid protests of management and workers.
Gautam has been charged for attempting to tackle lesser problems while ignoring more serious issues of law and order.
Hundreds of Maoists have infiltrated casinos even as they opposed gambling during the 11-year people’s war/
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Kathmandu metropolis has new mayor

Kathmandu, 3 Nov: For the first time, a new mayor took charge of Kathmandu city metropolis Sunday with the status of government secretary.
Without elected representatives, local bodies are run by government officials.
Narayan Gopal Malego will manage metropolis affairs.
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Girija Prasad Koirala’s warped logic

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 3 Nov: Main opposition leader and Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad issued weapons to Maoists verified by UNMIN and now seeks their return or seizure.
He even asked visiting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to seize the weapons which is the responsibility of the government and not UNMIN’s.
UNMIN isn’t responsible for overseeing and managing security at the CA where armed Maoist guards recently entered; Koirala should have known.
So why did he ask Ban to disarm Maoist guards carrying weapons verified by the UN which isn’t responsible for security as the assembly premises?
In fact, Koirala should have asked Maoists to return the weapons issued by his government and not the UNMIN; by his own admission, Koirala implicitly accepted his government authorized the weapons for the security of the former rebels after mainstreaming them.
UMNIN only verified the weapons authorized by the Koirala government.
Koirala government even certified vehicles smuggled by Maoists into the country from India to placate the former rebels.
The then government legalized an illegal operation.
The Congress chief has implicitly accepted his government issued the weapons to the Maoists because the home ministry under him and his henchman Krishna Prasad Shitaula were unable to provide the former rebels security even after mainstreaming them.
Providing security to citizens is the responsibility of a government; Koirala has admitted he couldn’t provide Maoists security by licensing their weapons even after inducting them in his government.
“Why the weapons and personal bodyguards for Maoists now that all security forces are under them?” Koirala unconvincingly asked in Lalitpur Monday.
Controversial Home Minister Shitaula has admitted he tolerated Maoist excesses in his tenure to stop the derailment of the peace process.
Administration and police under Shitaula watched helplessly as Maoists walked out of UNMIN-administered camps and on to the streets with weapons.
Shitaula and his men watched as the former rebels held political meetings guarded by armed Maoists.
To conduct the 10 April assembly elections, lost by the Congress to Maoists even when conditions didn’t exist for a vote, Koirala and his government abandoned pre-conditions like return of seized assets and the return of the displaced.
After abandoning the pre-conditions, Congress and Koirala are again demanding the return of seized assets following defeat in the polls.
Ailing Koirala, who had to move around with oxygen cylinders by his side, has suddenly become hyperactive and even aggressive.
He gave Ban a dressing down as if the UN chief was like Sher Bahadur Deuba who recently got a drubbing as his CPN-UML General Secretary Jhalanath Khanal and RPP-Nepal Chairman Kamal Thapa.
Deuba dared to question the wisdom of signing the peace peal with Maoists; Khanal and Thapa criticized Koirala’s jihad against Maoists and the wisdom of his political actions.
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