Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, on Sunday, said that the republic will come in the country if King Gyanendra and Crown Prince Paras do not voluntarily abdicate before the elections of the Constituent Assembly (CA).

In his meeting with the visiting delegation of representatives of Weekly-Fortnightly Newspapers Network who were accompanied with visiting Pakistani journalists at Baluwatar, PM Koirala implied to the reporters that a ceremonial monarchy can be saved in favour of Nava Yubaraj Hridayendra – who is second-in-line for the succession of 239-year-old Shah dynasty.

The eight parties have already agreed to decide the fate of monarchy by the first meeting of the elected CA. As per the second amendment of the interim constitution, the CA elections will take place sometime in Mangsir – probably on Mangsir 10 (November 26) as per recent media reports. The amendment also has a clause whereby the parliament can actually abolish the monarchy by two-third votes if the latter is found conspiring to derail the CA elections.

PM Koirala’s Nepali Congress has not yet clarified its stance on monarchy. PM Koirala himself had, on a number of occasions, aired his preference for ceremonial monarchy .

Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula (File photo)

Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula (File photo)
Home Minister Krishna Prasad Situala today said the government would soon for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to find out the whereabouts of the people who went missing during the decade long insurgency.

Sitaula said this while speaking during today’s sitting of the legislature parliament

He also informed the parliament that the government had already directed the police administration to take stern action against those found guilty of inciting violence during the Terai unrest.

Meanwhile, legislator Asta Laxmi Shakya tabled the Legislative Parliament Regulation Amendment Draft Committee Report – 2064 before the parliament for ratification.

Four other bills related were also presentd before the parliament today.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index registered an impressive growth for the third consecutive week, with a large number of investors purchasing shares, according to the weekly trading analysis. The Nepse opened at 559.15 points on Sunday and closed at an impressive 575. 04 points on Thursday, the last day of stock trading.

After plunging for a few weeks, the Nepse index had risen by over 16 points three weeks ago and the bullish trend continued unabated this week also.

The weekly Nepse data shows that the weekly turnover stood at Rs 281.3 million with 555,153 unit of shares being traded over the week. During the previous week, a total of 500,285 shares were traded on a turnover of Rs 217.5 million.

Stock analysts said that this succession of growth can be attributed to increasing prices of commercial banks and other leading scrips.

Former Prime Minister and founder leader of the Nepali Congress (NC) Krishna Prasad Bhattarai has said the NC and NC (Democratic) will reunite within a month.

Former Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai inaugurating the Kupundol Festival organised on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the Friends Club in Lalitpur, Saturday, June 16 07. nepalnews.com/ANA

Former Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai inaugurating the Kupundol Festival…
Talking to reporters after inaugurating the Kupuandole Jatra organised by Friends Club, Lalitpur, on Saturday, Bhattarai said, “The Congress parties will reunite within one month. Ask me after one month…if unification does not take place by then.”

Bhattarai, who has distanced himself from active politics for some years now, said the unification between the two parties was the need of the hour.

The former Prime Minister is close to Sher Bahaudur Deuba-led NC (D), but hasn’t held any position in the party since the split in 2002.

NC president and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala had few weeks earlier met with Bhattarai and discussed the unification process. Koirala has already announced that he wants unification between the two parties before the constituent assembly election slated for November-end.

Maoist chairman Prachanda has said that the current parliament should declare republic now.

Addressing a programme in Kirtipur on Friday, Prachanda said that since the parliament has already passed the second amendment allowing it to abolish monarchy by two-third majority and since it states that the cabinet can table such a proposal (to sack monarchy), his party would work in that direction.

“We need big movement in order to compel (the cabinet) to table such proposal,” Prachanda said.

He also said that if the current problems continue, the CA elections will not be held even in December – which, in turn, will further create trouble for the country, he added.

Meanwhile, the meeting of the Maoists’ central secretariat held on Friday decided to launch ‘retaliatory agitation’ against the spate of killings of its leaders and cadres in Madhes.

The party, however, has not clarified the exact form of the agitation.

The general secretary of Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) Madhav Kumar Nepal has said that India has urged the political leadership to ensure that the elections are held within Mangsir (mid-November till mid-December).

Speaking at a party programme in the capital, he said that India feels it will be “dangerous” to push the elections beyond Mangsir.

Nepal, leading a senior delegation of UML, had recently visited New Delhi where he met with senior Indian leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The UML leader also said that the legitimacy of the current government would end if the CA elections are not held on time.

Expressing his satisfaction over the passage of the Constituent Assembly Members Election Bill by the parliament, Chief Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokharel has urged the government to fix the date of the elections at the soonest so that they can finalise various schedules and electoral calendar.

Pokharel said the Election Commission will now work to finalise over two dozen Rules and Guidelines. “Our immediate priority would be to formulate Rules and Guidelines; carry out voters’ education and train officials,” said Pokharel.

He also stressed on the need to improve security situation. “Still we are not seeing stable security situation. Our position that the government needs to put on more effort (to stabilise security) remains the same,” he said.

Meanwhile, earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala asked CEC Pokharel to work in full swing for the CA elections. On the sidelines of the anniversary celebrations of Public Service Commission, PM Koirala told Pokharel that he will take care of law and order situation.

Maoist chairman Prachanda said he requested the former US president Jimmy Carter to take initiative to withdraw US terrorist tag on his party.

CPN-M chairman shaking hands with visiting former US president Jimmy Carter, Friday, June 15 07. (Photo courtesy: The Carter Center)

CPN-M chairman shaking hands with visiting former US president Jimmy Carter,…
Talking to reporters after holding 50-minute long meeting with the visiting US dignitary – who is here in his capacity as co-founder of Carter Center – Prachanda said, “We said we want to build good relations with the United States. We said it would be good if he took initiative to withdraw (the terrorist tag).”

On the issue of Constituent Assembly elections, Carter inquired about the Maoists’ commitment on December polls. “We said we will be happy to see the election conducted at the earliest. We have been fighting for a decade for CA,” said Prachanda.

Prachanda said that Carter also inquired about YCL activities. “We told him that there is big exaggeration. We said that we are ready to correct if there have been some mistakes. We also wanted to draw attention on the spate of killings of YCL cadres in Madhes of late.”

“He also inquired about our commitment on plural competition,” Prachanda said. Prachanda added that he also raised the issue of Bhutanese refugees and requested Carter’s help in ensuring the environment whereby those who want to return to their home country will be allowed to do so.

Meanwhile, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, senior Maoist leader who was also present during the meeting – which took place in Hotel Soaltee – said that Carter would be presenting a report to US president after he returns home about Nepal situation.

The European Union (EU) has announced that it would support Nepal in the implementation of the Renewable Energy Project (REP).

The project which would be executed by the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) intends to create a renewable energy infrastructure in rural areas that would facilitate income generation, sustainable growth and delivery of social services, thus alleviating poverty, said a press release issued by EU Thursday.

“As per it, REP would provide solar energy systems (PV systems) to communities of around 300 VDCs in 21 remote districts of Nepal,” the release said, and added that REP is also supporting solar thermal applications for income generation.

The total project cost is estimated at EUR 15.675 million, and of which EU would contribute EUR 15 million and the rest would be covered by the Nepalese government.

A glimpse of the interaction programme. Photo source: FBNNTO

A glimpse of the interaction programme. Photo source: FBNNTO
Friends of Britain and Nepal, Nepal Tourism Organisation (FBNNTO)- UK organised a press meet Thursday to interact with Nepal travel representatives, local media and stakeholders about the latest political development in Nepal and learn how trade and tourism was moving ahead in this new political scenario.

Speaking at the interaction programme, CEO of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) Subash Nirola spoke on the recent positive growth in Nepal tourism industry.

“I hope that Nepal would continue to benefit from the support and co-operation of the United Kingdom and other friendly countries of the world in this regard,” Nirola said.

Highlighting the need to promote Nepal more effectively in UK, president of FBNNTO-UK Raja Ram Giri said, “If Nepal wants to attract more visitors not only from UK but rest of the world, Government and stake holders have to do more than just participating in regular fairs and shows.”

It is about time the country thinks seriously to utilise Nepalese Embassies by opening tourism information centers, he added

Similarly, Prakash Shrestha, President of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) stressed the need to promote Nepal more aggressively not only in UK but whole of Europe.

Representative of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FNCCI), Birendra Kumar Singh, Under Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation, Dhruba Narayan Shrestha, including various other travel operators, hoteliers and local media were present in the interaction programme.

FBNNTO-UK also brought two national reporters of The Daily Express and Hayling Islander from UK for the meet. The reporters came to Nepal for a ten days tour, where they visited Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan before attending the press meet.

FBNNTO-UK is a voluntary organisation working for the promotion of Nepal travel and tourism industry for the last ten years.