HINDUS CLOSE DOWN FAR-WEST

EIGHT ORGANIZATIONS CLOSE DOWN FAR-WEST

Kathmandu, 25 May: Eight organizations, including World Hindu Federation, forcibly closed down terai and hill districts in the far-West Wednesday demanding a Hindu state.
They demanded a referendum on a Hindu state ,end to conversion while pushing other issues as well.
The strike will continue Thursday
Nepal was a Hindu state until an undeclared and self-appointed parliament declared the country secular after a movement against King Gyanendra four years ago.
More than three dozen vehicles were smashed during a nation-wide violent strike called by CPN (Maoist) a breakaway faction of UCPN (Maoist) Tuesday
A motorcyclist was torched and iujured in Butwal.
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CABINET TO REVIEW SITUTION AFTER 28 MAY

Kathmandu, 25 May: A cabinet meeting late Wednesday will review the situation after 28 May,
Uncertainty prevails amid certainty a deadline to promulgate a constitution won’t be met by Saturday.
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FORMER LAWMAKERS LAUNCH CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT

Kathmandu, Former lawmakers launched a civil disobedience movement protesting Wednesday in front of the International Convention Center where meetings of the constituent assembly and parliament are held.
They were arrested Tuesday and released for defying prohibitory orders around the complex.
The former lawmakers are demanding promulgation of a constitution by Saturday.
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ANTI-LAUNDERING ACT AMENDMENT BILL APPROVED BY PARLIAMENT

Kathmandu, 25 May: Anti-money laundering act (first amendment) was approved by parliament Tuesday.
Nepal was under heavy pressure to amend the act to enforce anti-laundering measures.
The bill was approved hastily amid threats Nepal would be blacklisted
Parliament statute committee approved the bill Friday.
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DELAYED CURFEW TRIGGERED WORST COMMUNAL CLASH
Kathmandu, 25 May: A report on Kapilvastu communal violence in August 2007 said delay in imposing curfew after Abdul Mohid Khan was killed had resulted in huge loss, The Himalayan Times reports.

Kapilvastu District Administration Office had imposed curfew five hours after Khan’s killing on August 16. This had spurred violence that took a toll on 13 lives and properties worth Rs 225 million, according to the Home Ministry report.

Dal Bahadur Pun, Hemaraj Basnet, Dil Bahadur Sunar, Jhabindra Khanal, Shova Ram Sunar, Dhan Bahadur Thapa, Hasan Bahadur Puri, Hiramani Kharel, Chandra Bahadur Gharti, Arjun Thater, Rameswor Prasad Chaudhary, Naruddin Musalman and Dudha Nath Teli (Gupta) were killed in different incidents then.

There were 1,054 cases of arson. In Kapilvastu alone, properties worth about Rs 100 million were destroyed. Likewise, property worth Rs 94 million was damaged when vehicles were smashed.

“The violence spread to neighbouring districts — Rupandehi and Dang — causing huge loss and rendering dozens homeless,” read the report. The report said timely declaration of curfew could have averted major loss.

The report recommends reprimand for erstwhile CDO Narendra Dahal. It also says then SP Shashi Hajur Silwal and SP Bikash Shrestha of Armed Police Force failed to maintain law and order following the incident. Departmental action has been recommended against them. It also recommends reprimand against Lamahi Police Office Inspector Kaji Kumar Acharya and Tulsipur Police Office Inspector Kishan Singh Thapa for failing to maintain law and order.

The report — Kapilvastu Incidents’ Investigation Commission Report — was submitted to the government in 2008.
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WHAT IF CA TERM NOT EXTENDED ?





Kathmandu, May 24 - What will happen in case the tenure of the Constituent Assembly is not extended? Law experts have differing views on this question of public curiosity, The Rising Nepal reports.
Interacting with journalists at a face to face held by Reporters Club, they hinted at different possibilities including the presidential rule, continuing of the present government and unaffected validity of the Constituent Assembly.
Minister of Law Prabhu Sah ruled out the possibility of CA being dissolved and said that extension of the assembly tenure is only the political and legal alternative left to us.
End of Constitution Assembly means restoration of dictatorship. So, there is no point to talk about such an option, Sah said.
"Even if the tenure of CA is not extended, sky is not going to fall," the law minister said.
Nepal Bar Association President Prem Bahadur Khadka said that there is no possibility of presidential rule even if CA term is not extended.
Presidential rule is a dictatorial option and will face opposition, Khadka said.
Ex-president of the Bar Sher Bahadur KC said that all the powers will shift to the president if CA term is not extended. When CA is dissolved, the president will take over as the protector of the constitution, he said.
Lawyer Tikaram Bhattarai was confident that the term of the CA will be extended because no political party had ever thought about this possibility.
They have set conditions for term extension but nobody has advocated in favour of CA dissolution, Bhattarai said.
Another former Bar chief Biswakanta Mainali said that extending the term of the CA was the best option available and added that the interim constitution had not even thought about another constituent assembly elections and presidential rule.
Mainali said that CA will remain intact even if tenure of CA members expired.
Former general secretary of the Bar Raman Kumar Shrestha said that even the existence of the president will end if CA term is not extended. He, however, said that the term of this government will not come to an end in such a case.
Meanwhile, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Tuesday decided that the term of the Constituent Assembly should be extended only after forging a political consensus.
Party chairman Pashpati Shumser Rana, while making public the decision of the party’s meeting, said that national consensus was a must to draft the constitution following the national and international democratic practices.
He also pointed out the need of a calendar to draft the constitution.
Rana said the weapons of Maoist combatants must be handed over to the government and the combatants be brought under the Special Committee.
He stressed a calendar of operation for vacating the cantonments.
Similarly, the meeting demanded return of the seized property and dismantling of the Young Communist League.
"A maximum of 4500 combatants can be integrated by maintaining standard criteria," he said.

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BAIDYA’S SIGNATURE DRIVE AGAINST DAHAL
Kathmandu, 25 Amid intense negotiations between Nepali Congress and the Maoists, the internal party manoeuvrings of the Maoist hardliners is likely to affect their party’s position at the negotiating table. The UCPN (Maoist) faction led by Vice Chairman Mohan Baidya has begun a signature drive to put pressure on Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to stop him from conceding further ground to other parties on integration and other contentious issues in the new constitution, Kamal Deb Bhattarai writes in The .
Kathmandu Post.
Leaders close to Baidya say that they are prepared to cross the floor if the CA extension comes at ‘too high a cost’. “If Dahal offers to agree to NC’s conditions on integration to extend the CA, we will cross the floor and ultimately quit the party,” threatened a leader close to Baidya. Even leaders close to Dahal and Vice Chairman Baburam Bhattarai camps admit that Baidya has the support of over 85 lawmakers and a strong position within the PLA. The hardliners accuse Dahal of “selling out” and have objected to the approach on peace and constitution taken by Dahal. While Bhattarai and Dahal are busy negotiating with other parties, the hardliners are holding meetings of their cadres and rallying them against Dahal’s position. “For now, the signature campaign is aimed at demonstrating our strength in the CA and PLA, but if he continuously ignores our concerns we will be compelled to take extreme steps, including leaving the party,” said a leader in the Baidya camp.

The hardline faction also wants see the continuity of the Khanal government, while Dahal has said he is open to an alternative if there is a broad agreement on power-sharing and other issues. The hardliners’ grouse against the party establishment is not new. During the party plenum last November, Baidya had threatened to quit the party if Dahal failed to mend his working style. The Baidya faction had registered a note of dissent when the party’s Central Committee passed the line of peace and constitution and when the Standing Committee agreed on the NA proposal on integration.
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NID CARDS IN TWO.YEARS

Kathmandu, 25 May: You will be tagged with a unique number with which to deal with the state for any purpose during your life-time as a citizen. The number will enable you to get a poly-carbonate National Identity (NID) card containing all significant information pertaining to yourself, Sundar Khanal reports in Republica..

Such cards will be of use for the state in building a central data system.

Given a favorable situation, it will take at least two years for this scheme to materialize, paving the way for phasing out existing citizenship cards.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoFA), with technical assistance from the Asia Development Bank (ADB), is making preparations for introducing NID cards in the country while the Law Ministry has already started drafting a separate act to that end.

“We have developed a significant level of clarity about how to launch NID cards at the soonest,” said a high-ranking official at MoFA. “Given necessary laws and technical infrastructure, the project will be accomplished in two years.”

The government had introduced the concept of NID cards in fiscal year 2066/2067 and sanctioned an agreement in principle last February to start work on it.

The government has employed internationally known consultant AS Kohli for the project documentation which is supposed to clear the path for Nepal´s NID cards.

A separate National Identity Card Management Centre has already been established to take charge of ground-work for the project.

MoFA deliberations also include how to secure the central data collected through NID cards, ways of numbering the cards, and security features among other things.

Meanwhile, the government´s erstwhile deliberations to use details collected during the new voter registration could not be applied as experts fear the voter registration might not have been conducted in standard format.
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