DEADLINE FOR WEAPONS HANDOVER EXTENDED BY ONE MONTH Kathmandu, 2 April: :The home ministry Sunday through a circular extended by one moth a deadline to handover illegal firearms by one ore month or 29 April. Home ministry joint-secretary Shankar Prasad Koirala said public response to the first call to handover weapons was positive and 1,000 small weapons has been handed over nnnn . STUDENTS CLASH WITH POLICE IN LAINCHAUR Kathmandu, 2 April: Students of Amrit Science Collage clashed with police Tuesday morning. The violence broke out at the Lainchaur campus after the campus Students didn’t get entrance passes for B.Sc. students appearing for tests Tuesday. Nnnn GOVT., PETROLEUM DEALERS RESOLVE TO END DISPUTE Kathmandu, 2 April:: The Ministry of Commerce and Supplies and agitating petroleum dealers at a meeting held on Monday agreed to continue dialogue to settle the issues raised by the entrepreneurs, The Rising Nepal Reports.. Three associations involved in the distribution of petroleum products have announced joint protests against the recent directives of the government on regulation of petroleum products’ distribution. The entrepreneurs have demanded the withdrawal of the directives. Khageshor Bohora, coordinator of agitating entrepreneurs informed that their talks with the ministry on Monday was positive for resolving the issues. Both the parties have agreed that the process in which the directives were issued was wrong, he said. We have agreed to continue our talks for resolving the issues; he said and added that the next meeting is called for Wednesday. Bohora said that the directives should be withdrawn as it was brought through illegal process. The directives should be withdraw and should be introduced through the parliamentary channel after the elections, he said. He said that various provisions made in the directives should not be enforces as they are irrelevant in the current context. Nepal Petroleum Dealers’ National Association, Nepal Petroleum Transportation Entrepreneurs Federation and LPG Gas Association-Nepal have warned of halting all petroleum transactions from April 7 if the government did not withdraw its new directives. The agitating entrepreneurs have planned protests in Hetauda, Nepalgunj and Biratnagar on Tuesday and Thankot of Kathmandu on Thursday to publicize their demands. Nnnn INDIAN MISINFORMATION ON TILAURAKOT COUNTERED Kathmandu, 2 April:: Lumbini Development Trust has initiated a campaign for the conservation, development and publicity of Tilaurakot, the capital city of ancient kingdom of Kapilvastu and the site where the palace of Shakya king Shuddhodhana was located. Bishnu Gautam/ Laxman Paudel write in The Rising Nepal.. According to Acharya Karma Syangbo, vice-chairman of the Trust, works to prepare plans for the integrated development of Tilaurakot, Kudan, Gotihawa, Niglihawa and Sagarhawa, all associated with the life of Lord Buddha, have begun. LDT placed priority on the development and conservation of Tilaurakot after Indian officials and a section of the Indian scholars spread misleading publicity that Piprahawa and Ganwariya of Aligadh in India were the capital city of Suddhodhana’s kingdom. Suddhodhana was the father of Lord Buddha. India has been carrying out conservation and development activities in Piprahawa and Ganwariaya, portraying them as Kapilvastu’s capital city. “LDT has given special priority to Tilaurakot from this year as the latest move of the Indian officials and the scholars could put true Kapilvastu and Tilaurakot under shadow,” said Temba Sherpa, Planning Officer of LDT. Many tourists, influenced by the false information, have started visiting Ganwariya. LDT is preparing to ask the government for a separate budget for Tilaurakot, mobilize the internal resources and request the donor communities for their support. LDT officials are planning to devote 15 days a month to work at Tilaurakot by establishing an office at Taulihawa. Although all the historical and archaeological evidences proved that Tilaurakot was the capital of Kapilvastu and Lord Buddha was born in Lumbini, some section of the Indian scholars have been falsely claiming that both places are in India. A recent excavation jointly carried by the Department of Archaeology and a group of archaeologists from Durham University of the United Kingdom unearthed additional evidences to trace the dates prior to the time of king Suddhodhana. With the finding of new evidences, LDT has decided to give continuity to the excavation works every year and disseminate news about the findings and historical facts to counter the Indian misinformation about Kapilvastu and Tilaurakot. According to Madan Rimal, Associate Professor at the Central Department of Nepali History Culture and Archaeology, Tribhuvan University, even the evidences of the Indian scholars proved that Tilaurakot was the capital of Kapilvastu. “Both Piprahawa and Ganawariya are only religious sites. There were monasteries and Stupas in Piprahawa and a big Bihar in Ganawariya both built in the first century AD or during the Kushana period. No evidence of human settlement has been found in the two Indian sites whereas terracotta potteries, toys and beads and ornaments were found in abundance at Tilaurakot,” Rimal said. According to literary sources, a number of Chinese pilgrims had visited Lumbini and Kapilvastu from the fourth century onward. Among them Fa-hien and Hiuen Tsiang had visited Lumbini in 403 and 636 AD respectively. They have mentioned that Tilaurakot was on the bank of Bhagirathi river. Rimal said no river is near the two Indian sites whereas the Banaganga flows near by Tilaurakot. He also said that finding of the 45-feet wide fortification wall around the palace of Tilaurakot also suffices as evidence. “No such fortification wall was found in Ganawariya and Piprahawa,” Rimal claimed. He said that no concrete effort was made from the Nepali scholars as well as the government to counter the Indian misinformation. During his recent Nepal visit, Indian spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said that Buddha was born in Nepal’s Lumbini. nnnn