MAOIST STANDING COMMITTEE MEETS WEDNESDAY AMID PUBLIC TALK OF SPLIT

MAOIST STANDING COMMITTEE MEETS WEDNESDAY

Kathmandu, 12 Oct.: A Maoist standing committee
meet is being held Wednesday to discuss a serious and bitter dispute in the party as leaders of the UCPN (Maoist) openly talk of a split.
First Vice-Chairman Mohan Baidya and General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa Tuesday asked the party chief not convene a national meeting to him 16 October amid threat of the split.
Baidya is leading a revolt against the party establishment of
Chairman Prachanda and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai
who have allied to complete the peace process.
The faction has also decided to convene a separate national meet in the capital one day earlier to explain its position on inner party differences.
Baidya group opposed a decision to deliver keys of containers with Maoist insurgency-era weapons to a special committee chaired ex-officio by a premier.
Baidya and Thapa asked Prachanda Tuesday to immediately
convene repeatedly postponed meetings of the broader central committee
to discuss differences.
A national meet has been convened without convening a
central committee meet.

PRESIDENT YADAV HAS BUSY SCHEDULE ON THIRD DAY OF QATAR STATE VISIT; OTHER DETAILS WITH CORRECTION

Kathmandu, 12 Oct. : President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav has a busy schedule Wednesday on the HAS A BUSY third day of his four-day state visit of the Gulf emirate of Qatar.
Ram Baran Yadav and Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani at the Qatari Royal Palace in Doha.
Nepal and Qatar signed an agreement and a memorandum of understanding Tuesday in the presence of the emir who ceremonially
received the president and held discussions with the visitor who concludes a four-day visit Thursday.
Accompanying Minister for Physical Planning Hridayesh Tripathi, accompanying the president and Qatar Law Minister Hasan Bin Abdullah Al-Ghanem signed a 12-point legal cooperation agreement
The agreement ensures legal help for nearly 400,000 workers in th gUlf emirate.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on bilateral
tourism promotion was also signed by Ambassador Suryanath
Mishra and Chairman of the Tourism and Exhibition Authority
of Qatar
The MoU aims to promote Nepal as a safe destination
Workers will get help to extend visas to ensure legal stay in Qatar which is hosting the 2022 Summer Olympics.
Workers are in demand to help build infrastructure for the Games.
President invited the emir to visit Nepal earliest.
The emir directed his government to move to establish an embassy in Nepal.
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FIFTH NRNA MEET BEGINS WEDNESDAY IN CAPITAL

Kathmandu, 12 Oct.: The fifth NRNA global conference begins in the capital Wednesday.
The meet will elect a new leadership for the next two years.
Nearly 800 delegates from three dozen countries are participating in the jamboree of Nepalis living or working outside the country.
Jiba Lamichane and incumbent chief Debman Hrachan are contesting the leadership.
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EXILED REBEL BHUTAN GROUP IN NEPAL TAKES RESPONSBLITY FOR BLASTS AHEAD OF THURSDAY’S
ROYAL WEDDNG
Kathmandu, 12 Oct.: An underground Bhutanese outfit has owned up to the responsibility of the twin blasts carried out in Phuentsholing, a town in Bhutan bordering India, on Monday evening, The Himalayan Time sreports.
The United Revolutionary Front of Bhutan said in an emailed statement that the explosions on the eve of royal wedding intended to draw the attention of Bhutanese King Jigme Keshar Wangchuk towards the gross national sufferings of the Bhutanese people.

“It would be inappropriate to describe the cause and the kind of sufferings of the Bhutanese people as everyone is aware and it has been continuing since the reign of previous King Jigme Singye Wangchuk who had laid down the foundation stones of these existing and emerging sufferings of Bhutanese people in Bhutan,” the URFB commander-in-chief, Karma, said in the statement.

Bhutanese history will never forgive and forget the deeds of the previous despotic ruler, the statement added.

According to reports, two Indian nationals sustained minor injuries in the blasts.

The outfit congratulated the royal couple, expressing hope that they would not follow the steps of previous king who, it said, compelled them to take up the path of violence. “Now the ball is inside His Majesty's court that decides our future actions,” the statement added.

Thousands of ethnic Nepalis, who were residing in Bhutan for generations, were forced to leave their homes in the 1990s following the state-backed atrocities against them. Most of them took refuge in the eastern districts of Nepal.

At the time over 50,000 of refugees have been taken to the western countries by the UNHCR for the third country resettlement, some Bhutanese parties are voicing for the people's rights, claiming that the apparent democratic changes in Bhutan are cosmetic only.

Though not much is known about it, the URFB is believed to be set up in 2007. It had claimed responsibility of the four simultaneous bomb explosions in the southwestern Bhutan in January 2008 for the first time.
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