ALERT IN NEPAL AFTER MUMBAI BLASTS

ALERT IN NEPAL AFTER MUMBAI BLASTS

Kathmandu, 14 July: An alert has been issued by the home ministry after Wednesday’s deadly Mumbai serial bomb blasts, spokesman Sudhir Kumar Shah said.
Checking at entry points along the open 1,700 km open border has been tightened
Security at Tribhuvan International Airport, Nepal’s only international airport, has also upgraded.
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FORMER AMBASSADOR YUBARAJ SINGH PRADHAN DEAD

Kathmandu, 14 July: Former Ambassador to China and educationist Yubaraj Singh Pradhan died Tuesday, an announcement said.
He was 80.
He was Chairman of Crimson International College Pvt.Ltd.
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LIGHTNING KILLS ONE, INJURES FIVE IN BARDIYA

Kathmandu, 14 July: A lightning killed woman and injured three others at Rajapurin Bardiya overnight.
They were returning home after transplanting paddy.
Two others were injured in Gulariya.
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CABINET OKAYS RESTRICTIONS ON CONTACTS WITH FOREIGNERS
Kathmandu, 14 July: Top officials, including the prime minister, speaker, Supeme Court justices, senior bureaucrats and also diplomats serving abroad must abide by a strict diplomatic code of conduct in meetings, correspondence, foreign junkets and other dealings. Anil Giri writes in The Kathmandu Post.
A Cabinet meeting on Wednesday endorsed the 12-page Diplomatic Code of Conduct 2011 proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and which comes into effect immediately. "We hope it will change our approach to dealing with foreigners,” Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav said.
The code of conduct bars Nepali officials from meeting or corresponding with individuals and organisations not recognised by the government. The move is meant to bring Nepali practice in line with international protocol and protect national interests. Such a code will make ties between Nepali officials and representatives of foreign governments and international organisations honourable and organized.
The PM, ministers, Supreme Court justices, chairman and vice-chairman of CA, members of constitutional bodies and government secretaries can accept invitations extended only by chiefs of foreign missions. Other officials can take part in lunch, dinner or other occasions only when invited by their foreign counterparts. “If officials hold talks on such occasions, they must inform their seniors,” reads the code. While attending such programmes, public or private, they must maintain dignity and grace becoming of their official status while talking and eating. In all cases, officials are required to inform their seniors about their proposed meetings with foreigners.
In case, a Foreign Ministry official is unable to attend such a meeting other officials attending the meeting will furnish the executive summary of their talks to the ministry. Kathmandu based foreign ambassadors and officials need to request the foreign ministry's permission before arranging meetings with high-level government officials, including the head of the government.
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SUSHIL KOIRALA SUPPORTS PAUDEL AGAINST DEUBA
Kathmandu, 14 July: Nepali Congress (NC) President Sushil Koirala remarked on Wednesday that reshuffling of his party’s parliamentary leader is unnecessary, Mahesh Acharya writes in The Kathmandu Post from New Delhi.
Talking to eKantipur correspondent, Koirala, who is in India, after completing his visit to the US, Germany and UK, urged not to pick up ‘useless wrangles’.
At a time, when senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba has been laying claim to the party’s parliamentary leadership Party President Koirala said that it is not necessary to shuffle the posts.
“Why should we change parliamentary leaders? I would talk to the cadres after I return. It is not necessary at the moment, and it can create unwanted wrangles within the party,” Koirala said.
He also rubbished the rumored six-point pact made between Sher Bahadur Deuba and himself about the nomination of the General Secretary and Vice President in the club. “The pact does not exist. The rumor is baseless. Both Deuba ji and I had clarified that it is a false alarm,” Koirala said.
Answering a query about the prime ministerial candidacy from the party Koirala said, “According to our party statute, the parliamentary party leader becomes the prime minister. But this discussion is not contextual at this point of time.”
Koirala further said that premiership is not the priority of the Nepali Congress. “I have been advocating for the premiership because UCPN (Maoist) and CPN-UML had already taken the charge of the government after the elections. However, peace process is our main priority rather than the government,” he said.
OTHER DETAILS OF THE INTERVIEW
“They [Indians] have expressed concern over the slow-paced progress peace process and drafting of a democratic constitution.” he added in reply to a question
“Specifically, they did not talk about reliability of a particular party. But their concern is perhaps enough to indicate that,” Koirala said when asked on Indian establishment discontentment with Maoists.
He charged Maoists for renegading on commitments,
“The Maoists are not matching their words with real action, Unless they implement past agreements, we cannot be hopeful [of implementation of 5-point accord]/
:There would be no meaning extending the tenure of CA until some substantial progress is made in the peace process.”
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Police bust abduction gang‚ rescue Indian traders

Kathmandu, 14 July: Undercover cops arrested six kidnappers in a dense forest of Pokhara and rescued two Indian traders today [Wednesday], The Himalayan Times reports.

Four members of the gang are from India. They have been identified as Manjil Rai (38) from Dehradun, Shiv Narayan Yadav (69) and Samuel Hembral (38) from Jharkhand and Riya (19) from Assam. The other two members are Rakesh Shakya (35) from Pokhara and Santosh Ghimire (34) of Siddha- 6, Kaski.

SP Kedar Rijal said the kidnappers lured Indian traders — Joginder Pal and Salamat Ali of Chandani Chowk, New Delhi — to Kathmandu ‘for trading in antiques’ and took them to Kalika jungle near Begnas Lake in Pokhara.

“Pal and Ali landed at Tribhuvan International Airport on July 7 and were received by Majil. He drove them to Pokhara in a private car on the pretext of making a deal in a secret location,” said SP Rijal. The kidnappers then held the duo hostage in the jungle for three days.

The criminals then called the victims’ family members in New Delhi and demanded a ransom of 2.5 million Indian rupees each for their release. The families sought the help of a woman they knew in Kathmandu and she lodged a complaint with the police.

“Our search operation was based on the cell phone numbers the kidnappers had used, which the woman gave us,” said SP Rijal. The Indian kidnappers had first made a deal with two criminals — Tara Chandra and Sambhu in Kolkata to hold talks with Pal and Ali in Nepal with the help of two Nepalis.

They will be charged with kidnapping and hostage-taking.
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