TWO SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR MURDER OF WOMAN JOURNALIST FFL

TWO SENTENCED FOR WOMAN JOURNALIST MURDER

Kathmandu, 13 June: Lalita Singh and Nemlal Paswan were sentenced to life imprisonment Sunday by Dhanusha district court for the murder of woman journalist Uma Singh in January 2009.
Umesh Yadav suspected for involvement in the murder is missing.]
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AISC DISCUSS INTEGRATION MODE OF COMBATANTS





Kathmandu, 13 June: A meeting of the Army Integration Special Committee (AISC) Sunday continued discussions on modality, standard norms, number and ranks pertaining to integration of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into state security forces, The Rising Nepal reports.
"Today’s meeting discussed over integration modality, standard, number and ranking, and rehabilitation package. The discussions are held to conclude over these issues by June 19," Madhav Prasad Ghimire, chief secretary who is also spokesperson for AISC, informed the reporters after the meeting.
Earlier, the AISC had on June 6 decided to finalise these issues within the aforementioned date and to hold meetings on a daily basis.
However, Sunday’s meeting decided to hold the meeting every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.
AISC member and Maoist leader Barsha Man Pun informed that there had been confidential discussions among the parties regarding the army integration issues. "Such meetings will help to build up confidence among the parties," Pun remarked.
"The Maoist party has not backtracked from previous agreements and decisions," the Maoist leader said when asked if his party had stepped back from implementing agreements among the political parties.
The AISC members also agreed that only the spokesperson would make public the decisions of the AISC meetings.

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DPM SEEKS PM's SUPPORT TO ARREST BASNET

Kathmandu, 13 June: Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara on Sunday sought support from Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal to take action against Parshuram Basnet, who masterminded the attack on Biratnagar-based Republica correspondent Khilanath Dhakal, Republica reports.

"The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) and news reports have been saying that you UML leaders have been protecting the accused. As the issue has been given a political color, the task of arresting the accused has been further complicated," sources at the home ministry quoted Mahara as saying. "I needed support from you as the chairman of the CPN-UML."
Mahara visited the prime minister´s official residence at Baluwatar seeking support from Khanal Sunday morning while the home minister is facing widespread criticism for failing to arrest the accused.

Responding to Mahara, Prime Minister Khanal said would leave no stone unturned with regard to punishing any UML cadre if found guilty.

"I´ll help you arrest the guilty if any UML cadre has committed crime. You go ahead, I will back you from my side," the source quoted Khanal as saying.

However, the prime minister´s press advisor Surya Thapa refuted it and said the meeting was a regular one. "There is no reason for the home minister to seek support from the prime minister, who has already instructed the minister to spare no one with regard to taking action against the assailants," Thapa told Republica.
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