CONSERVATIONIST PRAHLAD YONJON DEAD

CONSERVATIONIST PRAHLAD YONJON DEAD

Kathmandu, 1 Nov.: Conservationist and biologist Prahlad Yonjon
was killed Monday in a road accident in the capital.
His bicycle was hit by a truck.
He did his doctorate on the threatened red panda
From University of Maine, USA.
Yonjon was visiting professor at Central Department of Environment Science, TU and founded the Research Himalaya Foundation.
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PRADIP JUNG PANDEY APPOINTED CITIZENS BANK
CHAIRMAN

Kathmandu, 1 Nov. Pradip Jung Pandey has been appointed chairman of Citizens Bank/
The Bank’s board appointed Pandey.
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NEPALI GIRL SURVIVES AUSSIE ORDEAL

Kathmandu, 1 Nov.: Australian police have literally rescued a Nepali student based in Melbourne from the ‘pit of death’, according to media reports, The Himalayan
Times reports.

Darren Saltmarsh (35), an alleged Australian kidnapper, took the girl (identity withheld) ‘on a date’ after chatting her up online, offering to marry the girl and get her Permanent Residency in Australia if she pays him Australian $ 20,000.

The man bundled the girl onto the boot of his van and drove around 45 minutes, ultimately forcing the girl to call up her mother in Nepal for ransom payment of Australian $20,000 for her release.

The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard that the girl’s family in Nepal alerted Victoria Police through the Nepali Embassy after receiving threats from the kidnapper that he will kill the girl if it does not deposit the money in the girl’s account. After receiving information about the abduction and hostage-taking that took place on October 18-20, police rushed to a house in Pakenham and found that the kidnapper had pushed the girl into a shallow grave with her hands tied. The court denied bail to Saltmarsh today.

Saltmarsh faces charges including kidnapping, false imprisonment and making a threat to kill.
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RECONCILIATION BILL AWAITS POLITICAL
NOD
Kathmandu, 1 Nov.: With the technical panel sorting out almost all disputes, the bill on Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is awaiting final endorsement from the three major political parties—UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and
CPN-UML, The Kathmandu Post reports.
However, the deal’s endorsement has been delayed as the parties are trying to incorporate it as part of a package deal in the larger peace process.
Lawmakers in a subcommittee assigned to finalise the bill said they have completed all discussions and are awaiting the draft bill’s endorsement at the political level.
“We have resolved almost all issues in the TRC and forwarded it to the parties for a final call,” said NC lawmaker Pushpa Bhusal, who coordinates the subcommittee on TRC. “It is part of the ongoing negotiations on the peace process and we hope it will come in the package.”
The subcommittee, according to its members, has resolved the key disputes, including those on amnesty and prosecution, the preamble which explains the key objective of the TRC as both reconciliation and justice for past crimes and the process of forming an independent truth-seeking commission. The lawmakers, however, have left unresolved some issues such as whether or not to grant amnesty for torture, abduction and hostage-taking. The panel has agreed not to grant amnesty for murder of a person in captivity, murder of an unarmed person, rape and enforced disappearance.
UML lawmaker Direndra Shrestha, also a member in the panel, said the TRC has been discussed in the ongoing negotiations on peace process between the three political parties and that its political endorsement will depend on how the talks progress. Maoist lawmaker and advocate Ek Raj Bhandari said the issue of whether the TRC’s major objective is to achieve reconciliation or go for prosecution has to be dealt with politically. “There are differences on the very phrasing of the TRC preamble, which outlines the objective. We cannot take any call on that. It has to be decided at the political level.”
Lawmakers said that if the parties endorse the bill in its current form, it will be one of the best models to strike a fine balance between prosecution and amnesty in dealing with the violent past.
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