Saturday, December 15, 2007

Sushil blames Maoists for deadlock, polls delay

Acting president of the Nepali Congress Sushil Koirala has blamed the Maoists of their resistive stand on demands that brought deadlock in the political process.
Speaking at the national gathering of the Nepal Press Union on Friday, Koirala said his party now has no inch to go ahead for consensus on the issues raised by the communist parties.
Koirala also blamed Maoists for the failure of holding the CA polls for the second time in pretext of Nepali Congress not agreeing with republic and their other agendas. He said his party was not an obstacle to establishing republic.
Expressing concern over the increasing attacks and intimidation of journalists, Koirala appraised that journalists are the first pillars to institutionalising democracy.
Speaking at the same programme, President of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) Bishnu Nisthuri urged the journalists for unity for security. He flayed the government for failure to bring those involved in targeting journalists to book.

No bird flu here, say officials

At a time when bird flu has hit parts of West Bengal of India, which also borders Nepal, officials here have said that the dreaded disease has not arrived in the country.
But they have warned that the disease could enter into the country if proper precautions are not taken.
“Bird flu has not been seen in Nepal. But we cannot be complacent,” Dr. Baikuntha Parajuli, director of Livestock Health Directorate, told today.
He said that experts would immediately be dispatched to any area reporting unusually high mortality of birds and chicken.
He informed that chicken that recently died in hundreds in Jhapa district had not suffered from bird flu but quite another disease.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

CA election is the most important step: Mukherjee

The Indian ambassador to Nepal has pointed out that upcoming election for the Constituent Assembly (CA) is ‘the most important step’ in the current journey, which Nepal is taking.
“A free and fair election to the Constituent Assembly, which will give Nepal and its people their new social, economic and political future, remains the most important step in this journey,” Shiv Shankar Mukherjee has said in a statement he issued on the occasion of 59th Republic Day of India, on Saturday.
“As Nepal turns a new chapter in its history, India has expanded its existing cooperation with Nepal and is rendering all possible assistance for the success of the peace process,” he said.
Ambassador Mukherjee also reiterated India’s commitment to contribute to meeting ‘the requirements of Nepal and the friendly people of Nepal in their historic quest and endeavour.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

EU troika delegation to visit Nepal

With the objective of pressing the political parties to work together to meet the demands that people of Nepal have expressed for change and peace an EU troika delegation will visit Nepal from December 3 to 6.
"The aim of the visit is to express continued EU support for Nepal's peace process and to encourage the parties to work together to meet the demands that the people of Nepal have expressed for change and peace. An essential part of this will include free and fair elections," states a press release by the EU.
"The Troika will offer its support to the Government to put in place the key building blocks of the peace process to enable credible elections at the earliest opportunity. These include improvement of public security, discussion on the future of Maoist combatants, an end to impunity for human rights abuses, progress on development and dialogue with marginalised groups," it adds.

UML MPs criticise their leaders for divergent views

The lawmakers of UML, on Friday, took their leaders to task over the ‘divergent’ views regarding the issue of implementation of proposals on republic and PR system.
At the meeting held at the party’s parliamentary party office, the MPs urged the leaders to clarify the actual wordings and intention of the proposal on republic passed by the special session of the parliament. They complained that the Maoists were making their own interpretations about the proposal. The UML’s proposal on republic was supported by the Maoists while the Maoists’ proposal on PR system was supported by the UML during the special session.
“The MPs have urged to shed light on the UML’s proposal in straight manner,” said UML standing committee member Jhal Nath Khanal, adding, “They also urged the leadership to reach to political resolution soon and pave the way for election.”

Don't ask for leadership change ahead of polls: NC

A day after the major four communist parties agreed on reshuffling the current cabinet including replacing the government leadership, Nepali Congress has asked not to raise any other issues ahead of the constituent assembly polls.
The party has asked the communists groups to concentrate on holding polls at the earliest to achieve the mandate given by Jana Andolan II.
During an informal meeting of the party leaders held on Saturday morning, NC leaders criticised the Maoists and the UML for raising issue of leadership change that would put the agenda of constituent assembly polls under shadow.
The Congress leaders held the meeting ahead of the seven party meeting to discuss the political impasse. The top leaders of the ruling alliance and the Maoists are scheduled to meet this afternoon to make another round of effort to end the deadlock.
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who attended the meeting briefly, expressed hope of solving the impasse after the meeting of the top leaders.