MAN ON MOST WANTED LIST KILLED IN ENCOUNTER Kathmandu, 9 Dec,: Sukhi Lonia, 26, was killed Saturday in an encounter with police at Banke. The man on the most wanted list hailed from Harimaniya, Banke. He was killed in a police firing s at Gangapur VDC. Lonia was involved in abductions, explosions and shootings in the district. Nnnn NC CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEETS SUNDAY Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: Main opposition NC central committee meets Sunday afternoon amid a continuing political crisis. Chief Secretary Basanta Kumar Gautam, said the party will discuss statute of sister wings Nepal Mahila Sangh and Nepal Tarun Dal. But a crisis has escalated with refusal of Maoists to handover leadership of a consensus government to President Sushil Koirala to hold expected national elections isn April/May. nnnn BRITON ARRESTED AT AIRPORT Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: British national Simon Peter was arrested Friday with 300 gram hashish at Tribhuvan International Airport9TIA) before boarding a flight for Hong Kong. He was arrested before catching a flight of Dragon Air for the island. Nnnn INDIA ROUTS NEPAL IN T20 WORLD CUP FOR BLIND Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: Nepal lost by 249 runs to India Saturday in Bangalore in the T20 World Cup for the blind India batted first after winning the toss and scored 342 runs for the loss of one wicket in 20 overs. Nepal was bowled out for 93 runs in 14.2 overs. Nnnn SHANKATA PLAYS FRIENDS CLUB IN FOOTBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: Shankata plays Friends Club in the Martyrs Memorial A Division League Championship at Dashrath Rangashala Sunday, Machindra plays Bansbari in a second match nnnn DISQUALIFIED FORMER PLA FIGHTERS WARN STERN ACTION Kathmandu, 9 Dec : Disqualified combatants of former People´s Liberation Army (PLA), who have been holding sit-ins at UCPN (Maoist) head office at Parisdanda since past one week, have accused their party leaders and government of betraying them Republica reports.. They have not only objected to the orders from the party leaders to end the protests, but also warned of taking revenge for the betrayal. They have been chanting slogans against Peace Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who has not agreed yet to meet them. "We are surveying the places where all our leaders live. So Beware! We also know where the Lazimpat durbar is. We will not just stop at slapping the leaders. You [Maoist leaders] have taught us to make bombs and use bullets. If you continue to ignore us, we will take actions," said Sagar Limbu, in-charge of the Discharged People´s Liberation Army (DPLA), addressing a press meet on Thursday at Perisdanda. The agitators padlocked the gate of UCPN (Maoist) headquarters last week and the DPLA women, carrying their babies, had spent one whole night under the tree inside the headquarters premise. They were pushed out from there by the police the next day. There is a heavy presence of security forces at the UCPN (Maoist) headquarters now. On Saturday they met Finance Minister Barshaman Pun and peace minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi. “Talks were held with the government on Saturday as well. They just repeated assurances like earlier,” said Arjun Budhathoki, vice coordinator of DPLA. "Peace Minister Rayamahi met us and said that he too fought the people´s war and that he was not afraid us," Budhathoki said. “His intention was not to address our demands but to threaten us that the party would take action against us if we continued to protest.” Maoist leaders have been assuring the protestors that their demands would be addressed if the party came to power. "Maoist leaders and government are not serious about our concerns," said Sunita Chaudhari, who is from Bardiya and has a one-and-half-year old daughter. Tulasa Pariyar, from Rolpa, said, “The party hates us as we were disqualified.” After they were disqualified by UNMIN, the UCPN (Maoist) discharged them giving them Rs 10,000 each. UNMIN had disqualified 4,008 combatants calling them minor or later recruits. The party then hastily discharged them to save itself from the accusations of employing “child soldiers.” The DPLA has been holding various protest programs for the past two-and-half years. The DPLA has 8-point demand to the party and government. Their main demand is removal of the “disqualified” tag. Their other demands are compensations to the families of the disqualified combatants who have committed suicide due to the humiliation of being called disqualified; compensation package similar to the combatants who opted voluntary retirement; reserved quota in state organs; and free education. Nnnn RULING ALLIANCE FAVOURS CABINET EXPANSION AFTER WEDNESDAY Kathmandu, 9 Dec : The ruling Federal Democratic Republican Alliance (FDRA) has decided to expand the cabinet under Baburam Bhattarai to give the current government the shape of a national consensus government if there was no consensus within the extended deadline given by President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, Republica reports.. The latest deadline given by the president expires on Wednesday. A meeting of the UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led FDRA held at the prime minister´s official residence in Baluwatar took a decision to this effect, according to FDRA Spokesperson Prem Bahadur Singh. “We have called upon all the political parties to forge consensus within the deadline to ensure fresh polls by mid-May,” Singh told Republica. Singh said the constituent parties of FDRA have agreed to move ahead with cabinet expansion if there is no consensus within the deadline. “Meanwhile, the alliance will continue efforts to forge consensus with the opposition parties,” he said. The decision of the ruling FDRA comes in the wake of parties failing to agree on the prime ministerial candidate for the new consensus government. The president has already extended the deadline twice. FDRA leaders said the cabinet expansion had been put on hold to not derail efforts aimed at forging consensus. The Saturday´s meeting concluded that the ruling parities should not 0delay cabinet expansion if there was no consensus even by Wednesday as the day-to-day functioning of the government has badly been affected with the prime minister handling eight ministries. FDRA meeting also decided to an environment conducive to holding fresh CA polls by mid-May. “The meeting has concluded that there must be a package deal among parties on all issues, including the formation of a consensus government and fresh polls,” Singh further said. Chairman of Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (Democratic) Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, Tarai Madhes Democratic Party Chairman Mahanta Thakur and Sadbhawana Party Chairman Rajendra Mahato were not present at the meeting. Nnnn GOPVT. FAILS TO RESCUE PASHUPATINATH Kathmandu, 9 Dec.:UNESCO, the watchdog of world heritage sites, has warned it will keep the Pashupatinath Temple, one of the World Heritage Sites believed to be more than 2,5000 years old, on its endangered sites’ list for failure of government authorities to close the road that passes through the heritage site area, The Himalayan Times reports. . “Despite UNESCO’s warning to keep the temple on its endangered list, the Pashupati Area Development Trust has not cooperated with other authorities to shut the road that cuts through the area,” said Bhesh Narayan Dahal, director-general at the Department of Archaeology (DoA). “We have received UNESCO’s verbal warning with the threat to put the shrine on the endangered sites’ list many times,” said Sushil Nahata, member-secretary at the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT). “Operation of a public road in the heritage site area is the reason behind this warning,” he said. “We are ready to cooperate with the government bodies to save the heritage site,” Nahata said, terming the charges of non-cooperation for closure of the road a mere blame-game. The government had decided to open the Tilganga-Guheshwori road when Hisila Yami was Minister for Physical Planning and Works. Four months ago, the Kathmandu Valley Town Development Authority decided to shut the road for public vehicles, but implementation was a far cry. It again decided to shut the road four days ago. But this decision has also remained on paper with locals standing in protest. Centre of faith in poor shape Every month, the Pashupatinath temple earns about Rs 10 million through devotees’ offerings. But the temple is in a bad shape. Nahata said PADT is allocating budget this year for preparation of a renovation plan. He said the government should also cooperate with the temple authority for temple renovation. On his part, Dahal said, “If the temple authority comes up with a proposal for renovation, we are ready to cooperate with it.” According to the PADT, the last time the temple was renovated was during the reign of king Bhupalendra Malla (in the 17th century). Three years ago, the PADT came up with a renovation plan, but it failed to materialise due to a fund crunch and disagreement among the temple’s caretakers, storekeepers and priests. Nnnn INITIATIVE TO FIGHT SEX ABUSE IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM Kathmandu, 9 Dec.: The Nepal Police is installing surveillance cameras and help desks around bus park areas in the Kathmandu Valley to curb sex abuse against women, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, AIG Navaraj Dhakal, said at a programme in the Capital today [Saturday], The Himalayan Times reports.. Speaking at an interaction titled ‘Violence against Women in Public Vehicles’, Dhakal pledged to end all forms of sexual harassment in public vehicles and informed that the police force is trying to address the problem through public-police partnership. “Nepal Police has long maintained zero tolerance towards any forms of violence and harassment against women in public vehicles. I appeal to all civil society members and other stakeholders to cooperate with police for the protection of women’s dignity,” AIG Dhakal further said. He said the Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s Office plans to chalk out long-term and short-term strategies to fight the crime. The MPCO is committed to ensuring justice to the victims and taking action against the guilty through result-oriented investigations, Dhakal further said. Ramesh Dhakal, chief of the Gender Based Violence Unit at the Office of Prime Minister, said violence and harassment against women in public vehicles are a serious crime and underscored the need to incorporate the degree of its punishment into the constitution for discouraging the practice. While Chief District Officer of Kathmandu, Chunamani Sharma, appealed to the victims to muster courage to file complaints against the guilty. “Violence and harassment against women in public vehicles is an outcome of criminal mindset. Sadly, we have been recording remarkable number of such cases lately,”said DIG Upendra Kant Aryal, in-charge of the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division. Aryal further appealed to everyone travelling in public vehicles to come forward and protect women from sexual harassment. nnnn