PARAS SHAH CHARGED UNDER DRACONIAN PUBLIC OFFNCE ACT; OTHER DETAILS

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 15 Dec.: Former Crown Prince Paras Shah has been charged under the draconian public offence act opposed by the present ruling parties when whey were in the opposition the panchayat era.
A person can be detained for six months under the act without assigning any reason.
Interrogation of Paras has been completed in Bharatpur in the presence of four government lawyers.
The government obviously has adopted an easy but questionable procedure to book Shah who it wants to charge with attempted murder.
He has to be presented at the CDO office in Chitwan Wednesday 24 hours after being handed an arrest warrant.
RPP-Nepal called a Chitwan strike Wednesday to protest the arrest which has assumed a political tinge.
The strike has affected Birgunj as well.
RPP-Nepal said without Paras was arrested without investigation
and action has been initiated only against one of two persons involved in a Chitwan altercation under political pressure and vendetta making a mocjery of the rule of law.
Police handed the arrest warrant to Shah in Pokhara Tuesday and was then flown to helicopter to Bharapur where he was detained and interrogated until the evening.
Paras was arrested only Tuesday or three days after an altercation with Bangladeshi national Rubel Chaudhary, who is son-in-law of Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala.
Rubel himself has admitted Paras fired only one round in the air with a pistol.
The Bangladeshi national, his family members in Nepall and the party of his mother-in-law acted only 72 hours after the Tiger Tops incident indicating a deep conspiracy to drag Paras into a controversy and politics at a time when the only son of then King Gyanendra has returned from Singapore to help restore toppled monarchy..
Shah accused Chaudhary for insulting him, his family and the nation during an altercation Saturday night at Tiger Tops and admitted firing in
the air in a fit of rage.
The firing occurred in the presence of security personnel.
Nepal Army has formed a court of inquiry and recalled a security unit attached with Shah.
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal pushed the inquiry only Tuesday after pressure from NC.
The time is opportune for parties that toppled monarchy toll unite and begin a witch-hunt of Paras at a time when difficulties are being encountered at the public level to institutionalize a declared republic.
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PARTIES POLITICIZING TIGER TOPS INCIDENT

Kathmandu, 15 Dec.: UCPN (Maoist) leaders on Tuesday claimed that ruling political parties have been politicizing the Paras-Rubel row in a bid to “influence” the investigation process under pressure from India, Republica reports.

They said Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala and Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal are hell-bent on “influencing” the investigation into the incident by giving it a political color.
Koirala and NC leader Ram Chandra Paudel have issued a statement demanding that action be taken against Paras Shah. Earlier, the prime minister had also informed the media that he had issued directives to the Ministry of Home Affairs to take necessary action against Shah.

“We should also look into other aspects of the incident before arriving at any conclusion,” Maoist politburo member, Kul Prasad KC, said.

Claiming that India had engineered the Tiger Top Resort incident, KC added that an investigation should be launched against Rubel Chaudhary.

“The incident had occurred on Saturday but NC leaders raised the issue at Mandikhatar and gave it a political color. What is the mystery behind this?” KC questioned, adding that as the center of the dispute was the issue of nationality, it could be taken as India´s grand design.

If Paras´ statement is to be believed, it is extremely inappropriate for a foreign national to speak against the country´s internal affairs and hurt national sentiments, KC said.

Maoist Chitwan district in-charge Anil Sharma said though all Nepalis were aware of Paras´ past conducts, allegations labeled against him are objectionable as it involves the issue of nationality.

“If Paras resorted to such extremes under provocation, Rubel should also come under the purview of investigation,” he said. “If Paras had opened fire on such grounds, his act is absolutely justifiable.”

Meanwhile, Party Spokesperson Dinanath Sharma took strong exception to “politicization” of the incident leaving other urgent issues unattended.
“It is inappropriate that attempts are being made to politicize the incident instead of launching an independent probe,” he added.

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FROMER KING SADDENED

Kathmandu, 15 Dec.: Former King Gyanendra is very saddened with the incident in Chitwan and its aftereffects, Ghatana ra Vichar reports.
Sources to the palace said the former king is concerned with the activities of his son but is equally concerned with the ‘politicization’ of the incident by the government.

After an inquiry team had already been formed, the former king expected follow-up action after submission of a report.
But of the special directive of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Tuesday, the former king is shocked with the arrest of the former crown prince.
The former king has concluded there’s very little he can do for Paras, but is equally sure government action is pre-planned and revengeful.
The former king believes the government shouldn’t have acted in such a manner in an altercation with two persons at a hotel.
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JHALANATH KHANAL OPOSES MAJORITY GOVT.





Kathmandu, Dec. 15.: CPN-UML chairman Jhalanath Khanal Tuesday said that his party would not support the formation of majority government of any sort, The Rising Nepal reports.
"We will not extend support to any move aimed at forming the majority government. We are still for consensus government," Khanal told a team of journalists from Reporters’ Club at his residence at Dallu.
Khanal’s statement came amidst the media reports that the UML was mulling to change its stance as the parties failed to forge consensus.
The club handed over a memorandum to Khanal, urging him for decisive dialogue among the parties to resolve the deadlock.
The UML chair said that the majority government could not solve the problem.
"The majority government led by UML resigned because it failed to conclude the peace and statute writing processes," he added.
He said that no matter who become the new prime minister, peace and statute writing processes could not be completed in time until the political parties struck a consensus.
Khanal said that the party’s central committee meeting would reiterate the stance on the consensus government.
"There is no one to support the majority government. The subsequent political developments have justified the relevance of consensus government," he claimed.
Asked about the candidacy of Ram Chandra Poudel for the post of prime minister, he rather diverted the question to the journalists, "What would you say?"
To yet another query, he said that the statute would be written in time although the parties were split on several issues.
Commenting on the firing of former prince Paras Shah on DPM Sujata Koirala’s daughter and son-in-law, Khanal demanded that government bring Shah to book immediately.

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