GOVT. TO DECLARE DEBENDRA DAS KILLED IN JANAKPUR BLAST MARTYR Kathmandu, 25 May: Government Thursday decided to compensate Debendra Das killed this month with four others in a Janakpur with one million rupees while declaring him a martyr. Others dead have already been declared martyrs along with monetary compensation. Government also decided to compensate journalists whose vehicles were damaged during recent bandh of ethnic indigenous groups and pay medical expenses of injured journalists. nnnn. - LEGAL LUMINIARIES DIVIDED ON CA TERM EXTENSION Kathmandu, 25 May:. Constitutional experts and lawyers on Thursday expressed divided views about the extension of Constituent Assembly (CA) tenure, The Rising Nepal reports . Speaking at an interaction organised by Reporters Club, some constitutional experts said that the CA had not rights to ignore the Supreme Court verdict while others stressed that the CA had rights to extend its tenure. Nepal Bar Association (NBA) Chairman Prem Bahadur Khadka said that the parties had no moral, constitutional and legal right to extend the CA tenure and stressed that all parties should honor the verdict of the Supreme Court. He urged the political parties to promulgate the new constitution within stipulated deadline. Senor Advocate Ramnarayan Bidari said that the CA has rights to extend the tenure through constitution amendment process. He said that the Supreme Court had no rights to interfere on the affairs of the CA. Former Chairman of NBA, Bishwa Kanta Mainali said that the CA and parties had no rights to extend the tenure and if they extend the tenure, it would be against the constitution. Constitutional Expert Bhimarjun Acharya said that the bill on constitution amendment was non constitutional. Acharya said that NC and UML proposals to extend the CA tenure on condition of prime minister’s resignation, are also unconstitutional. Nnnn INDIAN OFFICIALS WATCH NEPAL DEVELOPMENTS Kathmandu, 25 May: . At a time when Nepal is gearing for a new constitution, the top Indian officials have opined that Nepal’s lasting peace, stability and prosperous new ‘New Nepal’ would be of immense importance to India, RSS reports from New Delhi. Stating that Nepal and India share hundreds of kilometers of porous boundary, the Indian officials said that lasting peace in Nepal was inevitable for the welfare of Indian living in Nepal’s border adding that India was ready to extend its support to this end. “Nepal should have a strong and permanent democratic system. Nepal’s prosperity and stability of democracy was India’s wish,” Indian External Affairs Secretary Ranjan Mathai told a team of Nepalese journalists in India. “Our desire is for Nepal’s peace, stability, prosperity and lasting development,” Mathai told journalists. Saying he was excited by the consensus among the parties regarding the army integration, the Indian External Affairs Secretary expressed confidence that the political parties in Nepal would ink a same deal on form of governance and federalism as well. I have heard that Nepalese parties are discussing on from French Model to Finnish Model lately. Every form of governance has both merits and demerits. But, it is appropriate to have democratic government and form of governance and Nepal is capable of taking decision in this issue,” Mathai added. Similarly, Joint-Secretary at South Block in India’s External Affairs Ministry Akhilesh Mishra said that Nepal-India relations was multi-dimensional and bilateral adding that India would cooperate with Nepal for social and economic transformation, and for sustainable development. Secretary of India’s Water Resources Ministry D.B. Singh said water resource could be crucial for Nepal’s sustainable development. But, Nepal has not utilized its hydro potential so far and added India was ready for maximum support in Nepal’s hydropower development, he added. Singh said that India could be a huge market for Nepal’s hydro electricity export if Nepal generated hydropower. On a question asked by Nepalese journalists, Secretary Singh admitted that there were some problems in Pancheshwor, Koshi high dam and some other issues but added that the issues could be resolved through bilateral talks. nnnn DEPT. OF ARCHAEOLOGY, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TO STUDY MUSTANG HUMAN SETTLEMENTS Kathmandu, 25 May: A team of experts from the Department of Archaeology (DoA) and the National Geographic magazine has resumed its hunt for the mysteries of human civilisation, underlying within the thousands of years old man-made cave complexes in Mustang, The Kathmandu Post reports. The excavation this year aims to unravel the evidences that Samdzong cave complex could potentially produce, thereby bringing out interesting facts about "extinct" cave settlement in Mustang. The researchers also expect to stumble upon new facts, which could fortify their speculations that the cave civilisation of Mustang and other regions in the same Himalayan stretch could emerge as an independent civilisation. Since the discovery of a series of similar ancient man-made caves in the highlands of Nepal and elsewhere, researchers digging into the Mustang settlement have been looking for evidences to prove if there existed an independent civilisation in the Himalayan range of the Indian subcontinent. So far, it is believed the settlements in this region have been directly influenced by either the Indus Valley civilisation or the Chinese one. The team of eight researchers headed for the site on Wednesday. Excavation will begin once the team reaches Samdzong cave complex. nnnnn