PRESIDENT, PRACHANDA DISCUSS FRIDAY BRAWL

Kathmandu, 20 Nov.: Maoist Chairman Prachanda Saturday discussed Friday night’s Maoist assault on Finance Minister Surendra Pandey and other ministers in parliament with President Dr Ram Baran Yadav Saturday.
The president sought details of the incident from the Maoist chief, Prachanda said after the meet.
The chief of the main opposition the Maoist attack on ministers as a ‘normal incident’.
Speaking about the incident for the first time, Prachanda said the government, against the spirit of an agreement, attempted to present a complete like in normal circumstances’.
He charged for government for attempting to ‘usurp the constitution.’
Prachanda leaves for Gorkha Saturday to attend the party’s 6th plenum beginning at Palungtar Sunday.
The president wished the plenum a success.
The party will discuss adoption of a strategy to handle the political situation amid continung impasse.
Friday’s incident in the legislature will escalate the crisis.
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ARREST WARRANTS AGAINST CASINO OPERATORS

Kathmandu, 20 Nov.: Department of Revenue Investigation issued arrest warrants Friday against Rakesh Wada, chief of Nepal Recreation Center (NRC) and general managers of four casinos for tax evasion.
Warrants were also issued for the arrest of Bharat Kumar Sakya, general manager of Casino Nepal, Ram Kumar Chakradhar, general manager of Anna Casino, Harka Bahadur Aer, general manager of Casino Shangri-la and Manoj Subedi, general manager of Casino Tara.
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HIMANI FACED OPPOSITION FROM POLITICAL PARTIES

Kathmandu, 20 Nov.: Former Crown Princess Himani cut short her Dolakha visit and returned home Saturday after protests from local Maoist, NA and UML leaders, a television broadcast said.
The local party leaders protested pro-monarchy slogans at a school function in Namdu in the district Friday, the report said.
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INDIAN LETTER CAN’T BE PUBLSHED; FOREIGN SECRETARY





Kathmandu, Nov. 20
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that the letter sent to the government by the Indian Embassy claiming that Nepali Maoists are training their Indian Maoists cannot be made public, RSS reports.
Secretary of Foreign Ministry Madan Kumar Bhattarai, in his written clarification to International Relations and Human Rights Committee of the Legislature-Parliament said that the Indian letter cannot be publicised in view of the relations between Nepal and India.
He said that investigation into the case is underway in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) after the Indian Embassy submitted its letter to MoHA. His response is a reply to direction of the parliamentary committee, asking the Foreign Minister to present in its meeting and furnish clarification.
Today’s [Friday’s] meeting of the committee flayed the Foreign Minister for failing to show up. Bhattarai in the letter has urged Constituent Assembly (CA) members to understand the reality as the concern body of the government has been investigating the matter.
In the meeting, UCPN (Maoist) Secretary and CA member CP Gajurel said that the training issue should be looked into seriously as it is being raised at a time when fingers are pointed at India for its role in Nepal’s prolonged political deadlock. All Nepalis should unite against any accusation against the country, he said.
Similarly, CA members Radha Gywali, Chandrika Yadav, Ramsahev Prasad Yadav, Lokendra Bahadur Chand, Santa Bahadur Nepali, Gauri Devi Mahato, Kamala Thapa, Lakki Chaudhary, Bharat Sah, Brinda Pandey and some others said the government should immediately probe the case that could disturb the relations between the countries and make its statement public.
They said that such an issue is not merely linked between two parties, but also between the relations of both the countries. The CA members said that the Indian Embassy, violating diplomatic norms, submitted the letter to MoHA instead of presenting it to the Foreign Ministry.
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