PM BHATTARAI EXPANDING GOVT. THURSDAY

GOVT.BEING EXPANDED

Kathmandu, 15 Sept.: Prime Minister Dr.Baburam Bhattarai is conducting homework to further expand the government Thursday morning
Discussions are being held between the premier and Chairman Prachanda.
Bhattarai will be expanding government for the second time; Maoists and Madeshbadi leaders were inducted in the first the expansion
Bhattarai is bringing inmore Madeshbadi leaders besides adding to government some representatives of small parties that supported the Maoist/Madeshbadi coalition.
Baidya faction in the UCPN (I(Maoist)has refused to join the government.
nnnn

NATIONAL CHILDREN’S DAY OBSERVED THURSDAY.

Kathmandu, 15 Sept. Rashtriya Bal Divas or National Children’s Day is being observed Thursday nation-wide.
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai addressed the nation over Radio Nepal Thursday morning.
The day is observed nationally every year to promote and protect interests of children
Bhattarai said government will implement commitments to children.
nnnn


UML CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEET CONTINUES THRUSDAY

Kathmandu, 15 Sept.: UML central committee meet will continue for the fourth consecutive day Thursday.to adopt official party positions on various national issues.
The committee is taking up party matters Thurday.
There’s no alternative to a national government, the central committee concluded Wednesday calling for the dissolution of the present Baburam Bhattarai government.
The committee completed discussions mainly on a four-point agreement between Maoists and a front of five Madeshbadi parties.
The committee concluded the four-point agreement between ruling Maoists and five Madeshbadi
Parties was misleading and opportunistic.
The central committee of the party which is now in opposition after being in office for 29 months in two successive governments unanimously adopted a special political resolution.
The resolution was prepared by the party secretariat and adopted unanimously even as it is factionlized between groups led by Chairman Jhalanath Khanal and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.
The central committee opposed amnesty suggested in the four-point agreement.
Nnnn


NEPAL SOUTH ASIAN FOURM OF ORGANZATIONS MEET BEGINS

Kathmandu, 15 Sept.: A second convention of Nepal South Asian Forum of Organizations began in the capital Wednesday.
Prime Minister Dr. Babuam Bhattarai inaugurated the meeting.
“Nepal would like to act as a vibrant bridge between these two historic [South Asia and China] regions, rather than merely playing the role of a traditional buffer state,” Bhattarai said.
“China neighbours five out of eight SAARC countries. Therefore, its involvement in SAARC has become crucial.”
Nnnn

VETERAN VOLLLEYBALL PLAYER DEAD

Kathmandu, 15 Sept.: Veteran volleyball ball player Ram Kumar Bista died Wednesday.
He was 54.
Bista participated in the 1978 and 1982 Asian Games.
He was suffering lung ailment and was a national player for 15 years.
nnnn

BHANDARKHAL, SITE OF KOT MASSASRE, DOORS TO OPEN FOR PUBLIC

Kathmandu, 15 Sept.: The Bhandarkhal garden inside Hanumandhoka Palace, where Jung Bahadur Rana´s men massacred nearly two dozen members of the nobility in 1846, thereby eliminating the last front of resistance to his rise as the most powerful man of Nepal, will be open to the public after 165 years of lockout. Bikash Sangraula reports .

The garden is among over half-a-dozen historically significant wings and squares inside the Malla-era palace that will be restored to their past glory and opened for public viewing, said Jal Krishna Shrestha, spokesperson of the Ministry of Culture.

“The Hanumandhoka Durbar Development Committee constituted a year ago is currently doing the homework to open up some seven squares and Bhandarkhal garden,” said Shrestha.

All sections of the palace apart from the wing that houses the Hanumandhoka Palace Museum have been out of bounds for commoners for over one-and-a-half centuries.

Those sections of the palace were inaccessible to the public both during the Rana regime and thereafter when the palace became the property of the country´s kings. But after the abolition of monarchy in 2008, the ownership was transferred to the government.

“The homework for opening more of the palace to the public is in accordance with the government´s policy of increasing the public´s access to historically important places,” said Shrestha.

BHANDARKHAL MASSACRE

The infamous Bhandarkhal massacre that took place in 1846 preempted a conspiracy hatched by Queen Laxmidevi in collusion with members of some powerful Basnyat families of the time to oust Jung Bahadur from the premiership, which he had assumed earlier that year after staging the Kot massacre.

Some 23 members of the nobility were massacred at Bhandarkhal garden by Jung´s men.

The Bhandarkhal massacre was engineered to finish off Jung Bahadur´s potential political enemies who escaped the Kot massacre at Hanumandhoka Palace armory in September 1946. Nearly four dozen members of the nobility were slain at the Kot.


The Bhahdarkhal massacre culminated in the exile of King Rajendra and his queen and kick-started 104 years of autocratic Rana rule.

Despite the historical significance of the Kot massacre, the site where it occured will not be open to the public as there is no structure there to help visitors visualize that historically and politically important event.

“What remains at the site of the massacre is a dilapidated one-storey structure that houses an office for Nepal Army soldiers guarding Hanumandhoka Palace,” Shrestha said.

At the Kot, soldiers to this day offer goat sacrifice during Dashain and Chaite Dashain festivals, according to culture expert Satya Mohan Joshi.

“Before the Rana oligarchy ended, even civil servants were required to appear at the Kot with goats during the festivals. The loyalty of those who did not show up would immediately come under question,” he added.

But after 1951, the Kot was closed to civil servants as well.

BHANDARKHAL GARDEN

The Bhandarkhal garden, however, retains many magnificent structures that have survived 165 years of oblivion.

A pit that used to be a pond in the past and spaces where flowers used to sway in the breeze blowing in through the palace´s tri-windows and penta-windows rich in oriental woodcraft remain to this day.

“At the Bhandarkhal garden is a replica of the sleeping Vishnu to be seen at Budhanilkantha. And there are scripts in various languages sculpted into the stone. During the Malla era, only those who could read all the scripts were labeled learned,” said Joshi who has personally visited Bhandarkhal garden and the squares inside the palace.

“The squares are artistically magnificent,” Joshi added. Oriental woodcraft and sculpted stonework seen in the squares cannot be found even in China today, according to Joshi.

The name Bhandarkhal derives from the garden´s use in the past as the state treasury, said Saraswati Singh, chief of Hanumandhoka Palace Museum.

“All Malla-era palaces in the Valley have gardens named bhandarkhal as they served as the state treasury,” Singh said.

At the Bhandarkhal garden at Hanumandhoka Palace, two containers in which state treasures were safely stored during the Malla era remain to this day, Singh added.
Nnnn

BAIDYA FACTION IN UCPN (MAOIST) CONTINUES MEET

Kathmandu, 15 Sept.: The ongoing internal rift within the UCPN (Maoist) has widened as the faction led by senior Vice-chairman of the party Mohan Baidya expedited unilateral mass meetings in the eastern region, Republica reports.

The Baidya faction has been conducting training programs following the government’s decision to hand over the keys of the arms containers to the Special Committee.
Maoist district level leaders and cadres have been protesting continuously against the programs organized by the Baidya faction in the eastern region. On Wednesday alone, Maoist cadres close to Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal held a separate press conference in Dharan and protested the training programs organized by the Baidya faction.

Addressing a program organized by the Baidya faction, Maoist secretary CP Gajurel, who is close to Baidya, said peace and constitution writing are possible only through a people’s revolt. “I would like to ask Maoist cadres and leaders to be ready for a revolt,” Gajural said, speaking in Dharan.

Gajurel and another Maoist leader, Hitman Shakya, conducted the training programs for Maoist cadres close to the Baidya faction.

Gajurel warned that the Maoist party can be split if the Dahal faction treats them as an enemy. “I am here to conduct a training program and all senior party leader know about this,” he said, adding, “Everyone has the right to organize programs and express opinions without obstruction. The party can split if attempts are made to create problems in organizing programs and expressing opinions.” Gajurel alleged that Dr Baburam Bhattarai became prime minister with the help of India.

“The agreement with Madhesi allaince clearly shows that there is an Indian role behind the deal. Though he was the priministerial canidadate of our party, he was appointed from somewhere else,” Gajurel said.

He was of the view that the agreement with the Madhesi parties and the decision to hand over the keys of arm containers tantamount to surrender. Maoist cadres close to Dahal protested the Baidya faction’s program in Itahari. They showed black flags to CP Gajurel while he was on his way there on Wednesday.

They also attempted to pelt stones at Gajurel’s vehicle. Police arrested six Maoist cadres trying to vandalize the vehicle. Despite obstructions created by the Dahal faction, Gajurel attended the program and instructed the Maoist cadres. They have already conducted training programs in Morang, Jhapa and Ilam districts amids obstructions by the Dahal faction.

Maoist district level leaders and cadres close to the Dahal faction have demanded action against Central Member Baburam Nepali and District Secretary Tak Bahadur KC for organizing a torch rally against the government decision to hand over the arms container keys to the Special Committee.
Nnnn