GANG RAPE WOMAN DIED IN SINGAPORE Kathmandu, 29 Dec.: The gang-rape victim whose assault in New Delhi triggered nationwide protests died in hospital on Saturday of injuries suffered in the attack, a Singapore hospital treating her said, Reuters reports from Singapore. . The death of the 23-year-old medical student could spawn new protests and possibly fresh confrontations with the police, especially in the New Delhi, which has been the focus of the demonstrations. "We are very sad to report that the patient passed away peacefully at 4:45 a.m. on Dec 29, 2012 (2:15 a.m. IST Friday). Her family and officials from the High Commission of India were by her side," Mount Elizabeth Hospital Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Loh said in a statement. The woman, who was severely beaten, raped and thrown out of a moving bus in New Delhi, was flown to Singapore by the Indian government on Wednesday for specialist treatment. Most rapes and other sex crimes in India go unreported and offenders are rarely punished, women's rights activists say. But the brutality of the assault on December 16 triggered public outrage and demands for better policing and harsher punishment for rapists. The case has received blanket coverage on cable television news channels. The woman has not been identified but some Indian media have called her "Amanat", an Urdu word meaning "treasure". Earlier on Friday, the hospital had reported that the young woman's condition had taken a turn for the worse. It said that her family had been informed and were by her side. T.C.A. Raghavan, the Indian High Commissioner to Singapore, said after her death that the family has expressed a desire for her body to be flown back to India. At a briefing earlier on Saturday, Raghavan declined to comment on reports in India accusing the government of sending her to Singapore to minimise the possible backlash in the event of her death. Some Indian medical experts had questioned the decision to airlift the woman to Singapore, calling it a risky manoeuvre given the seriousness of her injuries. They had said she was already receiving the best possible care in India. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government has been battling criticism that it was tone-deaf to the outcry and heavy-handed in its response to the protests in the Indian capital. "It is deeply saddening and just beyond words. The police and government definitely have to do something more," said Sharanya Ramachandran, an Indian national who is working as an engineer in Singapore. "They should bring in very severe punishment for such cases. They should start recognising that it is a big crime." The Singapore hospital said earlier that the woman had suffered "significant brain injury" and was surviving against the odds. She had already undergone three abdominal operations before being flown to Singapore. Demonstrations over the lack of safety for women erupted across India after the attack, culminating last weekend in pitched battles between police and protesters in the heart of New Delhi. New Delhi has been on edge since the weekend clashes. Hundreds of policemen have been deployed on the streets of the capital and streets leading to the main protest site, the India Gate war memorial, have been shut for long periods, causing commuter chaos in the city of 16 million. Political commentators and sociologists say the rape has tapped into a deep well of frustration that many Indians feel over what they see as weak governance and poor leadership on social and economic issues. Many protesters have complained that Singh's government has done little to curb the abuse of women in the country of 1.2 billion. A global poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in June found that India was the worst place to be a woman because of high rates of infanticide, child marriage and slavery. New Delhi has the highest number of sex crimes among India's major cities, with a rape reported on average every 18 hours, according to police figures. Government data show the number of reported rape cases in the country rose by nearly 17 percent between 2007 and 2011. Nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE “MPRF-R is no longer my party," (Jayaprakash Prasad Gupta- Chief of MJFN-R from his cell, Republica, 29 Dec.) . ________________________________________ PRESIDENT, PM HAVE LOST CREDIBILITY SAYS MOHAN BAIDY Kathmandu, 29 Dec.: CPN-Maoist Chairman Mohan Baidya has argued that none of the political parties in the country are in a position to claim that they are legitimate forces with the country facing economic, political, cultural and constitutional Crises, Republica reports from Banepa.. “No one, including the president and the prime minister, can claim to be legitimate in view of these crises,” Baidya said, inaugurating the first general convention of the party´s Tamsaling State Committee in Dhulikhel, Friday. Baidya argued that since constitution and constitutional organs are now defunct, both president and the prime minister have already become unconstitutional. “The transfer of government leadership from Baburam Bhattarai to Sushil Koirala won´t magically resolve the deadlock,” he said. While asking the parties to start agenda-wise discussions to find political outlet, he alleged that in the name of finding consensus, the three major parties are bargaining about power sharing arrangements. “We have proposed a roundtable conference. If they refuse to hold roundtable conference we may launch a movement,” he said. Baidya also vented anger against UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal who had alleged that CPN-Maoist was planning to launch underground armed insurgency. “We will make the revolution successful by remaining in the cities,” he said, adding that Dahal and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai are no different than the leaders of Nepali Congress and CPN-UML. nnnn________________________________________ DAHAL FOR CA REIVAL UF POLLS AYE DELAYED Kathmandu, 29 Dec.: UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said his party and the 21-party alliance under his leadership will stand for revival of the Constituent Assembly (CA) if parties failed to agree on forming new election government by the second week of January, Republica reports.. CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal, however, termed the idea of reviving the dissolved CA as "date expired medicine" that wouldn´t work when it comes to resolving the political crisis in the country. The former prime ministers expressed opposing views on solving the protracted political stalemate while responding to some queries when they visited Nepal Republic Media on Friday separately to enquire about attack on journalists at Nagarik daily and vandalism at the office last week. Dahal said his party will stand united for reviving the CA and he said that the Federal Democratic Republican Alliance (FDRA) headed by himself has an univocal position on the proposal. "The alliance´s meeting yesterday [Thursday] unanimously decided to stand for CA revival if there is no consensus on ending the deadlock by January 25," said Dahal. "We are still for holding election by mid-May. But, we should go for revival option if we can´t ensure election by May." Dahal argued that reinstatment of the elected body would be much wiser step instead of further postponement of election dates. Stating that a large section of political forces is for ending the impasse by resinstating the elected body, Dahal said he sees the possibility of all the political parties ultimately agreeing on the CA reinstatement option. "See, our party is united for reinstatement. Nepali Congress´ establishment is against reinstatement but 80 out of around total 112 former NC lawmakers have signed in favor of CA revival. Sher Bahadurji and Ram Chandraji are for revival," Dahal explained. "Similar is the situation in the UML. A section of the party is rigid against reinstatement but around 65 former lawmakers have lobbied for revival." He also claimed that even lawyers and judges have lately realized that the Supreme Court´s verdict against CA´s term extension was ill-timed. "Even people in the court have now started to say that they shouldn´t have stood against CA extension had they foreseen present political complexity," he said. "So, lately, people are again realizing the need of the elected body." But UML leader Nepal described the ruling coalition´s proposal to revive the CA as a tactic to prolong their stay in power and an execuse to avoid election. "They don´t want to hold election in April or May. Their proposal for CA revival further proves this," he said. He stated that Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai is bent on clinging to power and the opposition parties have now no alternative left other than to intensify protests. He conceded that it was a mistake on the part of the opposition alliance to halt the anti-government protests announced last month. He ruled out any possibility of NC and UML joining the present government. "We won´t join the Bhattarai government even for a minute. Period. First, the caretaker prime minister can´t expand his cabinet. Secondly, we have already burnt our fingers by joining Bhattarai government last May," said Nepal. He explained that they were betrayed by Bhattarai when NC and UML joined his government upon Maoist leaders´ request ahead of CA´s dissolution. After separately interacting with mediapersons at Nepal Republic Media at its head office in Sundhara, Kathmandu, both Dahal and Nepal denounced the attack on journalists and vandalism at the Nagarik daily´s newsroom. Dahal said the authorities must not show any sympathy toward the criminals who attack journalists. "The home ministry must take this issue seriously because it is clearly an attempt to terrorize mediapersons," said Dahal. Nepal said last week´s attack was an attempt to silence the public by terrorizing journalists. "Those involved in the attack should get harsh punishments." nnnn