MEDIA GOOGLE 'If such situation emerges, the parties have no alternative but to stand by the President's move,' (Sharat Singh Bhandari, The Himalayan Times , 18 Dec.) Nnnn FILMMAKER NANIKAZI THAPA DEAD Katthmandu,18 Dec.: Filmmaker Nanikaji Thapa passed away at his residence Kuleshwor on Tuesday. He was 69. He was suffering from diabetes. Film maker of Nepali feature film 'Bahadur', Thapa was associated to various social organizations including Kuleswor-based Community Health Association and Janamaitri Campus. nnnn ARMY CHIEF PUSHES CONTROVERSIAL PROMOTION OF MAK.GEN. Kathmandu, 18 Dec.:In a move that breaches the Nepal Army Act, Chief of Army Staff General Gaurav SJB Rana has recommended promotion of Maj Gen Naresh Bahadur Basnyat to the rank of lieutenant general, pKanindra Dahalwrites in The Kathmandu Post.. Basnyat heads the office of the general directorate of development and construction that falls in the technical trade of the Army. Bypassing the Defence Ministry, Gen Rana has reached out to Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and recommended Basnyat’s promotion by creating a new position of lieutenant general in the Army. The Nepal Army Act 2006 states that Army officers under technical trade will be entitled to serve up to the rank of a major general. Basnyat is scheduled to complete his five-year tenure as major general and retire on December 30. In its proposal submitted to the PM, the Army Headquarters has sought to upgrade the general directorate of development and construction to an engineer core headed by a lieutenant general. The Ministry of Defence is in the dark about the proposal which will be presented in the next Cabinet meeting. “The process to upgrade the general directorate of development and construction under a lieutenant general will move forward once the Cabinet formalises it. A proposal on this has been forwarded by the Army to the government,” said PM’s Political Advisor Devendra Pou-del. Bhattarai is learnt to be positive on the proposal. A source said there has been an understanding that the Army will adopt a flexible approach towards the newly-recr-uited Maoist combatants and help provide a rank of colonel to the integrated fighters in return for Basnyat’s promotion.Currently, there are two lieutenant generals—the Chief of General Staff (CGS) and the Chief of Staff (COS)—in the 92,753 strong Army. The Army leadership has proposed bringing the combat engineering wing, bomb disposal squad and signal directorate under the proposed lieutenant general. A general at the Army Headquarters said appointment of a lieutenant general to command around 4,000 personnel is ‘alarming’ and intended to promote nepotism. Nepal Army had court-martialed Basnyat’s deputy Brig Gen Kiran Bajracharya in 2011 for reaching out to then PM Madhav Kumar Nepal to lobby against Basnyat’s term extension. Bajracharya had accused Basnyat of being involved in misappropriations while executing various projects. Gen Basnyat is in-laws to former defence secretary Rishi Kumar Pande, a relative of Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Pawan Bahadur Pande. DGMO Pande is the relative of the Army Chief and is in his kitchen cabinet at the Army Headquarters. nnnn