12TH ROUND VOTING FOR PM SUNDAY

Kathmandu, 10 Oct. Twelfth round of voting in parliament for more than three months will again be inconclusive Sunday.
NC Vice-chairman Ram Chandra Paiudel, the only candidate in the race after Maoist Chairman Prachanda withdrew, said he won’t back out until there’s a package deal with the main opposition to conclude peace and draft a new constitution.
The vote will again be inconclusive with Maoists, the largest party, and the UML opting to remain neutral in voting.
A meeting of Maoists, NC and UML held at Maoist initia8ve before the vote was inconclusive Sunday morning.
Eleventh round voting was held even without the presence of the required 150 lawmakers.
A candidate has to garner310 votes to emerge victorious.
UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal Saturday said Paudel has ‘no insight on how to delver peace and the constitution’.
Party General Secretary Ishwor Pokhrel echoed Maoist charge the election was staggered because of foreign intervention unidentified quarters.
Many lawmakers have gone to constituencies with the entire country in a festive mood with the onset of dasain.
Parties haven’t even issued whips to lawmakers to be present during voting.
nnnn

MAN KILLS ENTIRE FAMILY

Kathmandu, 10 Oct. A tea garden worker in Jhapa Saturday, in a drunken stupor, axed his wife, son and daughter to death before attempting to kill himself.
Ranju Karuwa, 28, who was also drugged, hacked his wife, Sita son Ranjit and daughter Sonia before attempting to kill himself.
The man from Jyamirgadi-9 is undergoing treatment at a hospital for serious neck and leg injuries.
Nnnn

HOME MINISTRY’S GRIEF

Kathmandu, 10 Oct, Home Ministry, in a statement, expressed grief at the stoning of Indian Ambassador Rakesh Sood’s vehicle in Solukhumbu by Maoists last week.
Shoes were also hurled at him as he was greeted with black flags.
Sood escaped unhurt.
The ministry said protests are normal in a democratic but decried indescent behaviour.
Maoists charged the Indian envoy for coming to the district at the foot of Mount Everest to conduct anti-China activities.
Nnnn

ANOTHER AIR CRASH; CREW SAFE

Kathmandu, 10 Oct.: All crew members of a single engine cargo plane of Makalu Air survived when the aircraft hit a bar while landing at Simikot in Humla on a flight from Surkhet Sunday morning.
The craft’s brake failed.
The aircraft was damaged.
nnnn

FORMER KING OFFERS PUJA, WORSHIP

Kathmandu, 10 Oct.: Former King Gyanendra offered puja and worship at Bagalamukhi temple in Lalitpur Saturday.
He walked 15 minutes from Kobahal in Lalitpur municipality to the temple where he spent 45 minutes.
The former king was greeted by hundreds of people at Kobahal where pro-king slogans were shouted.
Nnnn

WOMAN SCHOOL TEACHER MURDERED IN LALITPUR

Kathmandu. 10 Oct.: Ishwari Rai Thapa, 26, was found dead in her rented room at Mangal Bazzar in Lalitpur Saturday.
She was a teacher at Paragon School in Gaushala.
Her head was bruised, wrists were cut and there was a noose around her neck.
Her husband, Kishore Rai, has been arrested.
nnnn

JAPANESE DEAD IN POKHARA

Kathmandu, 10 Oct.: Japanese national Osawa Kiyoshi, 68, of Osaka was found dead in Pokhara Saturday, RSS reports from the resort town.
The cause of his wasn’t known.
nnnn

TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY

SURESH KUMAR KARNA RE-ELECTED CAN PRESIDENT

Ksthmandu, 10 Oct.: Suresh Kumar Karna was Saturday re-elected president of the Computer Association of Nepal (CAN).
Kishore Pant, Binod Dhakal and Sunil Kumar Shrestha were elected first ,second and third vice-presidents respectively.
Narayan Neupane, Hamenta Chaurasia and Amrit Kumar Pant were elected general secretary, treasurer and secretary respectively.
nnnn


CHINA TO LINK JOMSOM WIH TIBET

Kathmandu, 10 Oct.: China will help construct a road linking Mustang district headquarter Jomsom with the a pass on the Nepal-Tibet border, Nagarik reports from Mustang.
Chinese Ambassador Qiu Guohong, who is visiting Mustang, expressed readiness to construct a road linking Jomsom with the Tibet border.
He expressed agreement to construct a road up to Korala pass next to border pillar No. 24 at the request of local political party leaders and district administration officials.
Mustang CDO Umesh Dhakal said the ambassador expressed commitment to help construct the Jomsom- Korala road which will be constructed after an agreement between the two governments.
Jomsom is linked with Tange in the district by a 23 km gravel road constructed tb the district development committee; Korala is 42 km from Tange.
nnnn

DENGUE ASSUMES EPIDEMIC PROPORTION

Kathmandu, 10 Oct.: Dengue epidemic has broken out in the country, with at least 30 districts affected, Nagarik reports.
The epidemic has claimed 19 lives and more than 10,000 people have fallen sick this year.
The disease surfaced in Chitwam for the first time in 2004 and nine died in 2006.
The disease hasn’t been traced in Kathmandu but 14 patients from districts are undergoing treatment in the capital.
nnnn.

JAPAN SUSPENDS AID TO SAARC

Kathmandu, 10 Oct.: Japan, which has been assisting SAARC for 17 years has suspended assistance to the regional organization, NAnda Kishore Adhikari reports in Annapurna Post.
A formal notification was sent to the SAARC headquarters last month.
All member countries have been notified by the SAARC sewcretariate, according to a source.
SAARC Secretary General Dr, Silkant Sharma visited Japan after receiving the letter but was told assistance will be discontinued.
SAARC has eight members: Nepal, Bhutan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Maldives and Afghanistan.
Japan is SAARC’s oldest observer.
The reason for the suspension of assistance hasn’t been mentioned.
nnnn.

NO INTEGRATION WITHOUT PEOPLE’S CONSTITUTION

Kathmandu, 10 Oct.: Maoist Standing Committee member Barshaman Putun said on Saturday that his party is against integration and rehabilitation of its combatants unless there is a guarantee of the promulgation of a ‘people’s constitution’, Republica reports.
“It is only ridiculous that other political parties are asking us to become a civilian party by completing the integration process,” said Pun while addressing a picnic at Bhaktapur by the party’s Young Communist League (YCL). He said the promulgation of a ‘people’s constitution should be ensured if the combatants are to be integrated and rehabilitated.
Pun is the in-charge of the Maoist party’s Integration Bureau and also a member of the Special Committee formed to supervise, integrate and rehabilitate the Maoist combatants. His views have come at a time when the Special Committee is making final preparations to start the process of integration and rehabilitation and finish it by 14 January 2011.
He Maoist leader argued that is would be against his party’s policy to complete the integration process without fulfilling the aspirations of the people and ‘those martyred and disappeared’ during the insurgency.
He accused the other parties of hatching a conspiracy to finish off the Maoist party by dissolving the Maoist army.
Put is also member of the three-member sub-committee under the special committee formed to chalk out the plan of action, modality on integration and rehabilitation package.
Nnnn


INDIA REFUSES TO HANDOVER SUSPECTS

Kathmandu, 10 Oct. Most wanted Nijamudin Nepali,who killed two local students recently, and Bhagat Singh are in Indian custody, The Kathmandu Post reports from Nepalgunj.
Banke SP Mahesh Bikram Shah and Indian said India police denied their request to hand the two over.
nnnn

Voter list row near solution; Madhes parties mellow

Kathmandu, 10 Oct.: The digital voter ID dispute between the Election Commission (EC) and Madhes-based parties is heading towards resolution, Ishwar Rauniyar reports in The Kathmandu Post..

In Saturday’s meeting, EC secretariat officials and four Madhesi parties’ leaders reached a written deal on alternatives to citizenship as identification. The EC drive for a new voter-list with fingerprints and photo was obstructed by Madhesi parties in Tarai districts after it started on Sept. 15.

“There is some progress in settling the dispute,” said Acting Chief Commissioner Nilkantha Upreti.

“If there is no citizenship paper, we will seek documents with clear reference to three generations of the family tree with photos,” said Upreti.

According to the agreement, the EC will ask for land certificate, driving license or any documents that can prove that the person is a Nepali citizen, or a certification from their VDC or the municipality, if they fail to produce a citizenship certificate.

“We will not obstruct if today’s agreement will be implemented in earnest,” said Brikhes Chandra Lal, vice-chairman of the Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party (TMLP).

The first phase of EC’s project was to end by Oct. 8. In view of Dashain, it has been extended to Oct. 13.
Nnnn

Mistrust worsening deadlock: Nembang

Kathmandu, 10 Oct:: Constituent Assembly (CA) Chairman Subas Chandra Nembang attributed the failure to form a government to deepening mistrust among major parties, lack of substantive dialogue to sort out differing stands, linking government formation with issues of the peace and constitution-drafting processes and other constitutional weaknesses.

In an interview with The Himalayan Times a day after the 11th round of prime ministerial elections failed, the CA chairman urged parties to find a way out of the political deadlock at the earliest to take the country out of the state of indecision.

“Consensus among parties is the only panacea,” said Nembang, who has been receiving flak from civil society and intelligentsia for not playing a proactive role to end the political deadlock.

“A section of society have suggested that I exercise residual or discretionary powers to end the crisis, but even for this, the parties have to reach consensus.”

The CA Chair lamented that the parties had not done what they were supposed to do, but turned to him to end the deadlock “in line with their political stand”. “They want me to use residual or discretionary power to suit their political agenda, this I cannot do,” Nembang said.

Asked about an amicable way out of the present stalemate, Nembang gave two options.

First, he said, parties staying neutral should revoke their stance and take part in the prime ministerial election. Second, the ongoing election process should end, but this will be possible only after Nepali Congress pulls out of the race.

Once the election process is cancelled, the parties can decide either to amend parliamentary regulations leaving no room for parties to stay neutral in the PM’s election. They can also amend the Interim Constitution, giving constitutional power to the president to appoint a leader as PM, subject to the appointee winning the confidence of parliament within 30 days from the date of appointment.

But, even for amendment, there must be consensus, he said, adding that such amendments were not possible while the election process was on.

He blamed the parties for never holding serious dialogue to end the political deadlock over issues related to the peace process and constitution drafting.

“It’s high time the parties displayed seriousness about consensus and started compromising on disputed issues,” he said adding that mutual mistrust among parties posed the biggest hurdle.

“Every time the parties reach agreement — the latest one being the May 28 three-point deal extending the CA term — they are least bothered about implementation,” he said.
nnnn