BAIL PLEA OF FRENCH SERIAL KILLER CHARLES SHOBRAJ REJECTED

COURT REJECTS BAIL PLEA OF CHARLES SHOBRAJ

Kathmandu, 2 June Bail plea of French serial killer Charles Shobraj, Jasjeet Singh and Amar Tandon was rejected Wednesday by a one-judge Kathmandu district court.
The trio have been charged for the failed murder attempt of Nepali media tycoon Yunus Ansari at the high security central jail in the capital in March.
The three were produced at the court to record their statements.
Proceedings will continue aganst them in detention.
Shobraj confessed to12 meetings with hired Indian killer Singh in jail where he’s serving a sentence for murdering an American and Canadian backpacker during the peak hippie movement in 1960/70.
Singh made an abortive bid to shoot dead Ansari serving jail sentence for drugs trafficking and dealing in fake Indian currency notes.
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NEW IGP FORMALLY TAKES CHARGE

Kathmandu, 2 June: Rabindra Pratap Shah was formally installed as Nepal Police IGP during a ceremony at the home ministry Thursday.
Shah succeeds Ramesh Chand Thakuri who was appointed security advisor of the prime minister by the cabinet Wednesday.
Shah’s tenure will last for15 months 11 days.
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MAOISTS TERMINATE DUAL SECURITY ARRANGEMENT





Kathmandu, June 1 - The meeting of UCPN-Maoist office-bearers Wednesday decided to terminate the dual security arrangement used by the Maoist leaders.
The meeting held at the party’s chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda’s residence in Naya Bazaar also decided to convert the temporary registration number plates of the vehicles used by the party leaders into red-coloured private registration plate and those used in the cantonments by the combatants into white-coloured government number plates.
Party vice-chairman Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai said that the meeting took the decision to end the double security enjoyed by the Maoist leader as a part of implementing the five-point deal signed on the eve of the extension of Constituent Assembly’s term on May 28.
Today’s decisions will be formally approved by the party’s Standing Committee meeting slated for Friday.
Dr. Bhattarai said that his party would honestly implement the deal in order to conclude the peace and statute writing processes within the next three months.
The five-point deal stresses, among others, on ending the double security provision of the Maoists, management of the arms and combatants, finding modality for the integration and rehabilitation of the combatants, and fixing the numbers of combatants to be integrated into the security agencies.
Meanwhile, Nepali Congress (NC) and UCPN-Maoist leaders Wednesday made their claim to forming national consensus government under the leadership of their respective parties.
NC leader Dr. Ram Saran Mahat said that the Maoists were ready to accept the leadership of his party in the new government formed on the basis of national consensus while the Maoist politburo member Devendra Poudel claimed that party’s vice-president Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai was almost confirmed as the new PM.
They made their claims at an interaction organised by Reporters Club Nepal in the capital.
"The party decided to form the government led by Dr. Bhattarai long time ago," Poudel said.
He said that PM Khanal should quit paving the way for the formation of national consensus government.
"PM Khanal is violating the five-point agreement by saying that he would resign only after the roadmap for the consensus is built," he blamed.
He argued that the management of arms and combatants should go side by side.
"It is not possible to submit arms to the state. This will be tantamount to admission of defeat, and against peace agreement," he maintained.
NC leader Dr. Mahat said that the CPN-UML completed its turn to lead the government while the Maoists cold not lead the government until they fulfilled certain conditions.
"Therefore, the chance of NC to lead the government is high.
He said that Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal should tender his resignation immediately to implement the five-point deal so that it would pave the way for the formation of national consensus government.
Dr. Mahat said that the parties needed to resort to quiet diplomacy to settle this row.
If they engage in quarrel over the implementation of the deal, it will hamper the whole political process, he added.
"The Maoists have big responsibility to implement the deal. It is the litmus test for them and they must rise above the prejudices and petty interests," he added.
As per the agreement, the Maoists should end double security arrangement and hand over their arms to the government within June 3 and the Army Integration Special Committee would take 28 cantonments in control by mobilising the additional manpower, he claimed.

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BIO OF IGP RABINDRA PRATAP SHAH
Kathmandu, 2 June: Newly appointed Inspector General of Nepal Police Rabindra Pratap Shah joined the police force on September 14, 1982 as an Inspector. He had been working in the capacity of AIG since October 15, 2008. Born in 1957 in Maidi VDC of Dhading, Shah is a graduate from Tribhuvan University. According to police officials, Shah was senior to his predecessor Ramesh Chand Thakuri but the latter was appointed IG on February 17, 2009. During his professional career spanning 29 years, he has participated in several national and international training courses and attended a number of workshops including Crime Investigation Training and Senior Police Officer’s Command Course. High ranking officials say Shah is best known for his expertise in crime investigation, maintaining law and order, according to The Himalayan Times.
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NC CWC UNHAPPY OVER FIVE-POINT AGREEMENT
Kathmandu, 2 June: An overwhelming majority of Nepali Congress (NC) Central Working Committee members have expressed dissatisfaction over the five-point deal reached among three major parties for extension of the Constituent Assembly (CA) term late Saturday night, Republica reports.
At the CWC meeting held at the party´s headquarters in Sanepa on Wednesday, CWC members said the agreement fails to specifically address the 10-point demand raised by the party. Most of them termed the agreement “vague”.
“Our central working committee meeting had decided to extend the CA term only if the Maoists met our 10-point demands. The five-point deal has failed to represent our party´s official decision.

He said a majority of CWC members taking part in the deliberation today have registered their dissatisfaction at the manner in which deal was reached,” said CWC member Arjun Narasingh KC.

CWC members, including Khum Bahadur Khadka, Man Bahadur Bishwakarma, Ram Kumar Chaudhary, Rajan Prasad Panta and Ram Chandra Tiwari, strongly criticized the deal alleging the party´s negotiators of breaching the institutional decision of the party for extension of the CA term. Likewise, CWC members Bimalendra Nidhi, Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, Dhan Raj Gurung and Arjun Joshi lauded the deal, saying that people-elected body had to be saved at any cost.

While registering their dissatisfaction at the specifics of the deal, other CWC members taking part in Wednesday´s deliberation had suggested to the party leadership to take a lead role in implementing the peace process and drafting the new constitution. “We reviewed the five-point deal at the meeting. Most of the CWC members have suggested that the party should take initiatives to conclude the peace process within the extended term of the CA,” said CWC member Pampha Bhusal.

According to the party´s chief secretary Basanta Kumar Gautam, altogether 21 CWC members took part in the deliberation on Wednesday. Most CWC members taking part in the meeting suggested to the party to develop a calendar of events and hold meetings with various parties for conclusion of peace process and constitution writing within the extended term of the CA.

At the outset of the meeting, party President Sushil Koirala had briefed CWC members on the five-point deal reached among three major parties. Koirala told the CWC members that they failed to make the Maoists to give in to NC´s demands as the NC leaders in the course of negotiations could not take a firm stand.

Likewise, Dr Mahat had apprised the CWC meeting as to what transpired in the course of negotiations and how they ended up inking the five-point deal. He said that they agreed to ink the deal after the Maoist leadership assured that they would complete the fundamental tasks related to peace process within three months.

He also said that they chose to support CA term extension as failure to do so would have earned NC the disrepute of dissolving the people-elected body.

The CWC meeting will continue on Thursday as more CWC members are yet to put forth their views on the five-point deal. The CWC meeting is set to chart out future course of the party in view of the changed political context.
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