PARTIES MEETING TO OFFER PM JOB TO CHIEF JUSTICE Kathmandu , 17 Feb.: Leaders of the Big Three in government and the opposition and five parties of the ruling Madeshiadi Alliance are meeting Chief Justice Khil Dhok Regmi Sunday to ask him to head an election government to coduct constituent assembly polls. The offer is being made following a package to be developed by a eight-member task force of the Maoists, NC, UML and the Morcha to formulate a breakthrough agreement on forming a Regmi-led government to replace n 18-,pth administration of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai. The body was formed Saturday in the party leaders in the presence of President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav overnight.. Former Speaker Subash Nemwang said a Regmi-led government will be unconstitutional. ‘Former chief justices and justices are debarred even from the supreme court. Theycan hold only work related to the justice system, “ Nemwang said., ‘Why can’t parties agree on a candidate forprime minister from parties when they can agree on Regmi,” he asked. Sixteen parties of a 21-party ruling party alliance said Saturday they will tear copies of of a document installing Regmi. They threatened to come out on the streets even against the head of state for relying only on the Big Three and MNadeshi Morcha for a resolution to a prolonged deadlock. mmm DONATIONS STOLEN FROM PASHUPATINATH TEMPLE Kathmandu, 17 Feb.: Donations were stolen Friday night from a box at Pashupatinath Temple. The amount was not revealed by an official of the Pashupatina Development Trust. Images captured by CCTV are being studied to identify and catch the thief, he said, ‘The amount of donation may not be big—probably around Rs,13,000. “What is serious is serious is the theft occurred,” he said. Police are on 24-hour security dety at the holiest Hindu shrine. Radio reports said the theft is the second in recent moths. Nnnn RAINFALL TO CONTINUE SUNDAY IN CAPITAL Kathmandu, 17 Feb: Saturday’s rainfall will continue Sunday in the capital. Altogther.23.6mm rain was recorded in the capital Saturday. Sunday morning’s temperature in the capital was 6 degrees Celsius at seven. Minimum temperature Satirday was 4 degrees Celsius. Nnnn PARTIES AGREE ON CJ-LED ELECTION GOVT. Kathmandu, 17 Feb.: The four major political forces -- UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) -- have finally reached consensus on forming an interim political mechanism led by sitting chief justice for holding fresh election to the Constituent Assembly (CA), Kosh Raj Regmi writes in Republica.. A meeting of the top leaders of the four political parties held at President´s Office in Shital Niwas Saturday evening decided to form a task force comprising two members from each party to do necessary homework on the modality of the proposed government under sitting chief justice and make recommendations for removing constitutional difficulties to pave the way for CA polls by May end. The parties have decided to hamer out a “package deal” on all issues related to the election in the four-party meeting scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Maoist leaders Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Khim Lal Devkota, NC leaders Bimalendra Nidhi and Minendra Rijal, UML leaders Bhim Rawal and Agni Kharel and UDMF leaders Hridayesh Tripathi and Jitendra Dev are in the taskforce. “The task force will do the necessary homework for a policy level decision on technical and other issues related to the interim government and fresh polls,” said a senior leader involved in the talks. The leader said that top leaders of all the four major parties are scheduled to meet Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi to ask him to head an interim government for holding election after taking a policy level decision Sunday afternoon. The four parties are, likewise, scheduled to hold an all-party meeting Monday morning to endorse the decision. Though the meeting was scheduled to take a formal decision on CJ-led government for holding polls, the meeting with president was put off after UML leaders argued that settling the name of the person to head the new government alone won´t be enough. They had maintained that the parties reach a “package deal” on issues such as amending the interim constitution to facilitate polls, filling up vacant positions in the Election Commission, modality of the election government, relationship between the non-party government and political parties. Talking to media persons after the meeting, NC leader Dr Ram Sharan Mahat said the task force will work out the modality of the interim government, election date and electoral system and resolve constitutional difficulties. The proposals made by the task force will be presented in the four-party meeting scheduled for 2 pm Sunday at the President´s Office in Shital Niwas for official endorsement. Among other things, the parties also need to settle other crucial issues such as registration of eligible voters who are yet to register their names in the voters´ list, electoral system, and delineation of electoral constituencies in line with the 2011 census. The task force will prepare a draft proposal incorporating all these issues for a “package agreement”. “The country is heading toward consensus,” said UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal after the meeting with the president. “Discussions are under way to settle issues such as the election date, electoral system and the modality of the government under chief justice.” The president is scheduled to hold an all-party meeting in Shital Niwas Monday to officially announce formation of chief justice-led election government. Party leaders said the president will also announce fresh election date after the all-party meeting. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai through his twitter account @brb_laaldhwoj said that the government under the leadership of CJ will not violate the principle of separation of powers. "An acting chief justice will be appointed as the chief of the judiciary. The chief justice will return to his usual job after holding election. Therefore, this will not violate the principle of separation of powers," the PM in his twitter account said. Nnnn 8 MISSING RETURN HOME FROM KHUMBA MELA Kathmandu, 17Feb.: Eight of the Nepalis, who went missing from the world´s biggest religious festival Kumbhmela in Allahabad, have returned home on Friday evening. Thirty-five people had died in a terrifying stampede as pilgrims headed home from the festival on February 9, Madan Thakur reports in Republica from Rautahat. . According to Shree Narayan Jha, a local, Birendra Jha, Taeti Devi Jha, Champa Devi Jha and Bhakuliya Devi Jha of Sangrampur VDC-8 of Rautahat, among others, returned home. A group of missing devotees, who had left from Hathiyahi VDC-1 for the festival, has also come into contact at Brindaban of India. It has been learnt that they had continued their pilgrimage after taking a dip in Ganges River, informed Prem Chandra Jha, former secretary of the Rautahat chapter of Federation of Nepali Journalists. “Another 38 devotees from the same VDC have also come into contact and they will return home within two days,” said Jha. Meanwhile, Rashmi Devi Jha of Gaur municipality-8, who returned home on Friday, informed that she had helped several lost Nepali pilgrims reach Betiya of West Champaran. Some 30 million pilgrims from around the globe had taken a dip in the Ganges River during the festival. Superintendent of Police Govindaram Pariyar said police have been deployed to find out the exact numbers of pilgrims who had left for the festival. Nnnn POLLS POSSIBLE SAYS FORMER ELECTION CHIEF UPRETI Kathmandu, 17 Feb.: Former chief election commissioner Nilkantha Upreti today said Constituent Assembly election should be held within the first week of June provided all constitutional hurdles were cleared by Monday, The Himalayan Times reports.. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai had called Upreti to his residence today to discuss whether elections could be held on time. “I suggested to the PM that elections could be held in the first week of June before the monsoon starts if all constitutional hurdles were cleared by Monday through consensus,” Upreti told this daily. He also said he told the PM that consensus among parties would be crucial for all necessary decisions regarding the Election Commission to ensure timely elections. The Prime Minister said experienced hands should take the responsibility of holding elections, hinting that Upreti should take charge if parties forge agreement on him. However, Upreti said the PM had not proposed that he should become the chief election commissioner. He only said experienced hands should take responsibility when the nation needed them. “All-party consensus is a must while choosing any person responsible for the task of holding elections at this crucial stage,” he commented. Upreti further said all the tasks must be completed on a war-footing by the government, parties and the Election Commission if elections are to be held at the scheduled time. “Clearing constitutional hurdles is the point of departure for preparations for elections,” he said. He further said that the monsoon pattern of the last four decades should also be studied before announcing the CA poll date. Nnnn NUMBER OF BLACKLISTED FIRMS UP Kathmandu, 17 Feb.: The number of firms and individuals blacklisted by the Credit Information Bureau (CIB) has surged following the downsizing of default limit to Rs one million, The Himalayan Times reports.. Since Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)’s decree to blacklist borrowers defaulting on loans as less as Rs one million back on November 25, 134 firms and individuals have been blacklisted in the last two and a half months. The number of blacklisted since the beginning of the current fiscal year stands at 338. In fiscal year 2011-12, only 305 firms and individuals were blacklisted by CIB. NRB’s circular had directed financial institutions to blacklist defaulted loans worth Rs one million or more. According to the earlier regulation, the floor was fixed at Rs 2.5 million. More than half of those blacklisted are individual borrowers. Since the beginning of fiscal year 2011-12, some 1,814 firms and individuals have been blacklisted by CIB for defaulting on loans. Among them, 642 have still been unable to clear their debts. A slowdown in the realty and housing business is the cause for the rapid expansion of the blacklisted. Among the existing blacklisted companies, there are 25 housing and land developing companies listed by CIB for not repaying loans. Likewise, there are 14 investment companies that are in list due to stock-related debt. Both share prices and housing sector were over-leveraged due to easy credit being provided by banks during their peak between 2008 and 2010. High returns made investors and realty developers seek loans at a higher interest rate but once both the markets started to plunge, the number of defaulters grew at an exponential rate. As stock investment and the land business stopped yielding high returns, those who had over-leveraged for short-term gains on land have suffered the most in recent times. “Borrowers have to pay high interest rates of more than 14 per cent, so it is really difficult for us to meet the payments while the market is still struggling,” pointed out one housing developer who has been dodging being blacklisted by selling housing units at a lower price. The unfavourable investment climate along with the political uncertainty have also led to an increment in loan defaults in Nepal. Being blacklisted makes the borrower — any person or firm — ineligible for acquiring or rescheduling any new loan from any financial institution — not even a credit card. Such blacklisted people also cannot be a guarantor for other loans. Moreover, they also become ineligible to be a director of any publicly listed company. Nnnn 63 KILLED IN PAKISTANI BOMBING Kthmandu, 17 Feb.::A bomb ripped through a crowded vegetable market in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in a southern Pakistani city Saturday, killing at least 63 people and wounding some 180, some critically, in a horrific attack on the country's minority Muslim sect, AP reports from Quetta.. Police raised the death toll several times and said many of those wounded in the explosion in Quetta remain in critical condition. The blast left many victims buried under rubble, but police said they did not know how many. It was the deadliest incident since bombings in the same city killed 86 people earlier this year and led to a dayslong protest that eventually toppled the local government. Shiites, a minority in this Sunni Muslim dominated country, have been increasingly attacked by militant groups who view them as heretics and non-Muslims. Senior police officer Wazir Khan Nasir said the bomb, set off in a residential suburb, was detonated by remote control. Another officer, Samiullah Khan, said police were investigating whether the bomb was planted in a rickshaw parked in the crowded vegetable market. He said the bomb was detonated while dozens of women and children were shopping for the evening meal. Local residents rushed the victims to three different area hospitals. Television footage of the scene showed the rubble of the destroyed buildings with fruits and vegetables from what just minutes earlier was a lively market littered across the ground next to destroyed street carts. Members of the minority Shiite sect took to the city streets in angry protest, blocking roads with burning tires and throwing stones at passing vehicles. Many also started firing into the air in an attempt to keep people away from the area in case there was a secondary explosion. Sometimes insurgents stagger the explosions as a way to target people who rush to the scene to help and thus increase the death toll. Police cordoned off the area. Most of the Shiites in the area are Hazaras, an ethnic group who migrated from Afghanistan over 100 years ago and in recent years have come under horrific attacks, mostly at the hands of Laskher-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni militant group. "This evil force is operating with the patronage of certain elements in the province," said Qayum Changezi, the chairman of a local Hazara organization. Saturday's attack was the worst since a series of bombings on Jan. 10 killed 86 people in Quetta, almost all Hazara Shiites. Residents were so furious that they refused to bury their dead for days, instead camping out on the streets in protest and demanding the government address the problem. After days of protests, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf flew to the city to meet with protesters and sacked the chief minister and his cabinet. But Saturday's attack showed the still potent power of the militant groups behind such incidents. Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province, where the Shiite minority has been attacked several times in recent months. Baluch nationalist groups are fighting an insurgency there to try to gain a greater share of income from the province's gas and mineral resources. Islamic militants and the banned sectarian group Lashker-e-Jhangvi are also active in the province. nnnn