UNMIN mandate will be extended: PM Nepal

Kathmandu, 5 May: The mandate of UNMIN which ends 15 May will be extended, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal personally said Wednesday.
His aide announced this earlier
But he told reporters Wednesday after collectively meeting representatives of Kathmandu-based embassies the other foreign organizations the duration of the extended mandate hasn’t been decided.
Government is being pressurized by mainly western donors funding UNMIN activities to extend the mandate even amid threats from a senior UN official to withdrawal from Nepal.
The cabinet had recently empowered the premier to decide whether or not to extend the mandate again.
The government has succumbed to foreign pressure after ministries proclaimed the mandate wouldn’t be extended.
Defence Minister Bidya Bhandari has called UNMIN a ‘tail’ of Maoists.
All ruling parties are dissatisfied with the work of the UNMIN except the Maoists who want the UN to continue in Nepal.
Maoists have taken the position even as they are against foreign interference in Nepal.
UN was invited in Nepal by parties and the government is finding it difficult to send it back with immense western pressure.
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