MAOIST POLITBURO MEETS WEDNESDAY (DETAILS WITH CORRECTION)
Kathmandu, 17 April: Maoist politburo is meeting Wednesday/Thursday to send remaining members to government of Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal.
The decision was taken by a meeting of headquarters.
Lower party bodies couldn’t take a decision after several rounds of talks.
Chairman Prachanda and Vice-chairmen Mohan Baidya and Dr. Baburam Bhattarai were pushing candidacies of their loyalists.
The party still has to send seven ministers and 11 state ministers.
Deputy Prime Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara leads a four-member team.
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NC CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEETS 22 APRIL
Kathmandu, 17 April: NC President Sushil Koirala has convened a meeting of the central committee 22 April to formalize his appointments
of Ram Chandra Paudel and Krishna Prasad Shitaula as vice-president and general secretary.
The committee has to endorse the appointments as Koirala attempts to strengthen his hold on the body through them.
Loyalists of three time Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba oppose the appointments seeking nomination of one person from their group as vice-president to general secretary.
Supporters of Koirala and Deuba are almost equally represented in the committee by elected members.
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BHUTAN TAKES A TOUGHT STAND ON REFUGEES
Kathmandu, 17April: Bhutan Saturday took a tough stand on remaining 60,000 Bhutanese refugees of Nepali Hindu ethnicity living in east Nepal camps since 1990 and even suggested they were not refugees but ‘economic migrants’.
This was said by Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigme Y. Thinley who returned home Saturday after concluding a three-day visit.
“It is not certain whether they came to Nepal from Bhutan, The identities and background of the people are yet to be decided. It is in the process of investigation,” he said at a news conference even as the persons forcibly evicted from the neighbouring Buddhist state were sent out two decades ago.
‘I agree with you that people in the camps are economic, environmental refugees, refugees of political instability and the are refuges. They came here by circumstances. But I am telling you again that whether they came from Bhutan or not is themain subject of discussion,” the departing prime minister said.
Thinley said India ‘facilitated’ their travel from Bhutan to Nepal.
“Very often refugees move to another country as per their desire. Most of the refugees came from India. From there, they reached Nepal. India has given freedom of movement. Of course, India has no role and responsibility to find solutions.”
He thanked western countries, mainly USA, that have adopted 40,000 refugees as settlers from the camps.
“The royal government and people of Bhutan are deeply grateful to them for their intervention,” Thinley said on the role of the international community on third country resettlement.
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PAKISTAN MLITARY TEAM IN TOWN
Kathmandu, 17 April: A 21-member delegation of National Defence University, Pakistan, is in the country.
The team is led by Brig. Gen. Mahmood Sadiq arrived Monday and Friday called on Defence Minister Bishnu Paudel.
The team interacted at Nepal Army Headquarters and visit an army unit in Pokhara.
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RHINO COUNT BEGINS IN BARDIA
Kathmandu, 17April: A count of the one-horned rhino, on the endangered and protected list, started in Bardia National Park Saturday.
Thirty emulators and 15 elephants have been mobilized for the 15-day effort supported by WWF.
Twenty-two rhinos, threatened by poachers, were recorded in the last census in 2008.
A small herd of the endangered species was transferred to the park in the far-West from Chitwan National Park in a bid to save them in a possible outbreak of an epidemic.
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TRADE, COMMERCE, ECONOMY
DETAILS OF NEPAL, USA TRADE ACCORD
Kathmandu, 17 April: Nepal and USA signed a Trade, Investment and Framework Agreement (TIFA) in Washington Friday.
Deputy Prime Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari, who is also finance minister, and Trade Representative Ron Kirk signed it.
The agreement replaces an agreement sighed 65 years ago during the Rana regime.
The signing was delayed after repeated failure to elect a successor of Madhav Kumar Nepal who continued for seven months as caretaker in 2010 even after resigning.
Kirk said USA will try to ‘break down and all barriers’ that may prevent trade.
Under terms of the agreement, Nepal US Trade and Investment Council (NUSTIC) meets twice in a year alternatively in Nepal and USA to eliminate trade barriers; Nepal’s commerce secretary and a senior US trade representative will head the council.
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MEDIA GOOGLE
‘A situation may come when he [PM Khanal]again may have to be
sidelined [as premier and party chief]. There’s no point in retaining someone who doesn’t work.’
(Senior UML leader KP Sharma Oli, Nagarik, 17 April)
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INDIAN FOREIGN MINISTER COMING
Kathmandu, 17 April: The much-awaited visit of Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna to Kathmandu is slated for Wednesday, Anill Giri reports in The Kathmandu Post.
His three-day visit will see a couple of high-level political engagements here
which will give enough opportunity to both sides to understand respective points of view on recent political logjams and fresh Indian perspectives on Nepal’s political situation, said officials.
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