NEPSE INDEX 39.32 POINTS LAST WEEK Kathmandu, 3 June: Nepse index fell 39.32 points last week because of political turmoil following announcement of unusual elections for a constituent assembly (CA) which had completed its original two-year elected tenure; assembly members themselves extended their tenure. The market opened at 412.88 points Sunday and closed at closed at 373.55 points at the end of four-day trading Thursday; there was no trading Monday when the market was closed for Republic Day celebration.. The market, hursday. Total turnover slipped to Rs 240.02 million last week; Altogether 687, 325 shares were traded in 5,321 transactions. Altogether 3.17 million right and bonus shares of six companies were listed last week. The market opens Sunday as political uncertainty continues. nnnn. SAVE AMAR CAMPAIGN GAINING MOMENTUM Kathmandu, 3 June: The campaign to save Amar Bahadur Bam—on whom United Arab Emirates courts have slapped death penalty—is receiving huge support from Nepalis home and abroad, Roshan Sedhai writes in The Kathmandu Post.,. The campaign, which started after members of the Save Amar Campaign urged the President and the prime minister to take diplomatic initiatives to seek amnesty for Bam, is gaining overwhelming public response and support. The campaign was initiated by family members of Bam, lawmakers in Darchula district and various Nepali communities within and outside the country. Bam, a permanent resident of Darchula, was arrested along with four other men in connection with the murder of an Indian businessman, Sharad Shetty, in Dubai in 2003. However, he was given death penalty only because he was the driver of a car used by the gunmen. The other arrestees have already told the court that Bam was not involved in their plan. Bam was given death penalty from three different levels of court. With rising public pressure to save Bam, the government has started a legal process. Following request from the Nepali embassy in UAE, the joint secretary-level meeting of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and the Ministry of Labour and Transportation Management has decided to request the Ministry of Finance to manage money needed to save Bam. In the letter, the Nepali mission has mentioned the estimated cost of hiring the lawyer and to fulfil the remaining procedure. On May 9, the MoFA received a letter from Nepali Ambassador to UAE Dhananjay Jha. The letter addressed to a MoFA secretary briefed on the case and the steps the government could take. For more clarity, the MoFA again requested the Nepali mission on Thursday to send updated information and Bam’s case. MoFA spokesman Arjun Bahadur Thapa told the Post that the ministry was preparing to do everything possible to save Bam. “We will write a formal letter to the prime minister of UAE to reconsider his death penalty. Preparations are going on to hire a lawyer to undertake further legal process,” said Thapa. According to a source, it will take some more days to send the letter to the UAE prime minister, to manage money and to hire a lawyer. The Foreign Employment Promotion Board, a body responsible for supporting migrant workers in need, refused to allocate the money as Bam had left Dubai via India on tourist visa. Meanwhile, the Hello Sarkar, a mechanism for people’s direct reach to the Prime Minister’s Office, has received a number of pleas to save Bam. Besides getting support from various Nepali organisations in and outside Nepal, the campaign has gone viral in the social media of Facebook and Twitter. Bam’s kin are receiving equally good financial support. An aggressive coverage of the campaign by the mainstream media, various websites run by the Nepali Diaspora across the world, and comments and tweets have not only exerted pressure on the government but also reminded the world of Nepali solidarity that was believed to be shrinking of late. Human rights activist Bhumika Ghimire has started an online petition campaign on change.org to save Amar. Around 1,735 people have already signed the petition. The petition reads “His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Government of Dubai: Re-consider Amar Bahadur Bam’s death sentence.” “The petition closes on June 1. I will submit it to concerned authorities in Dubai and the UAE. Migrant-rights.org has also been very helpful in publicising the case,” said Ghimire. Erstwhile lawmaker from Darchula Laxmi Datta Joshi told the Post that recent political upheavals overshadowed the campaign. He wants the government to speed up efforts. nnnn BROAD MADESH FRONT URGES PRESIDENTIAL INTERVENTION Kathmandu, 3 June: Demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, the Broader Madhesi Front (BMF) has urged the President to give “way out of the political deadlock by ending the caretaker government and forging consensus among parties”. Leaders of the Front maintain that the President could play the role of a “guardian” as the protector of the constitution. Front leader Upendra Yadav said that the President could use his constitutional power to remove difficulties. The BMF has also made it clear that PM Bhattarai, who holds the caretaker status, should immediately step down in order to pave the way for the formation of a government to conduct elections. The cross-party alliance of Madhesi leaders warned that unless Bhattarai resigned, the Front would resort to protests. Organising a press meet in the Capital on Saturday, Front leaders said their protest would be peaceful but they did not give any details about the stir plan. At the press meet, the BMF also clarified that the May 27 move to dissolve the CA and declare polls for a new CA was “unconstitutional”. In a statement, the Front concluded that by dissolving the CA, the process to promulgate a constitution through an elected body was ended and that “the country has been thrown into uncertainty”. The Front has also accused the government of ending all the possibilities of promulgating the constitution through the CA and obstructing the democratic procedure. Meanwhile, the Front has “welcomed the decision of the President to term the Bhattarai-led government as caretaker”. The Front leadership has relieved Ramrijan Yadav, Prabhu Sah and Ramkumar Sharma of their responsibilities in the cross-party alliance. The trio reportedly supported the “unconstitutional” move of Bhattarai. The leaders, who belong to the Maoist party, had supported Bhattarai’s move. Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Nepal Chairman Upendra Yadav and senior leader of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik Sharat Singh Bhandari submitted in writing their dissatisfaction about the CA dissolution to the President on May 27. Front leader Upendra Yadav has accused the incumbent government and UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal of dissolving the CA in a “pre-mediated manner”. Nnnn