PM won’t resign until agreement on national consensus: PM aide

Kathmandu, 11 May; Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal won’ t resign until there’s an agreement on a package on national a consensus, Raghuji Pant, Chief Political Advisor of the premier said Tuesday.
“There should first bean agreement of national consensus. Anybody can be prime minister after that,” he said.
Maoist standing committee Monday took a flexible approach and suggested it could propose an alternative candidate to Chairman Prachanda as prime minister.
The party first nominated Prachanda as its prime ministerial candidate opposed first by Premier Nepal who earlier said he would step down if Maoists presented an alternative to the Maoist strongman.
Vice-Chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai could be the alternative candidate.
Ten of 25 political parties in parliament, including Maoists, Monday asked Nepal to step down as western diplomats pushed for government flexibility after the withdrawal of an indefinite strike in six days.
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OHCHR seeks mandate extension by two years

Kathmandu, 11 May: Geneva-based OHCHR has sought a two year extension of its mandate after it expires 9 June, its Nepal representative Richard Bennet told Kantipur TV Monday.
He revealed this as Nepali Congress asked the government to close down the field offices in the high commission with a reduced mandate only to assist the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
The OHCHR came to Nepal five years during royal rule under western pressure and defaming national institutions.
The western governments are again pressing government to extend the mandate
Once in, the government is finding it difficult to send back the UN from Nepal.
Government is now considering a six-month extension with a limited mandate.
The rights situation hasn’t improved with the OHCHR presence.
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“The parties are struggling for power. They neither want peace nor do they wish to draft a statute.”

(Rebel Maoist leader Marika Prasad Yadav, The Kathmandu Post, 11 May)