Nepal is out of the AFC Challenge Cup after losing to Sri Lanka 5-3 in penalty shoot out of the semi-finals at MA Aziz Stadium, Chittagong on Wednesday.
Pradeep Maharjan squandered two spots kick to dash the hopes of the Nepalese team reaching the finals of an international tournament since 1993, when they defeated India in the final of SAF Championship in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Nepal was awarded an penalty in the 63rd minute when Lankan goalie Sugath Thilakarathne pulled down Basanta Thapa inside the box. Nepal’s hopes of going ahead 1-0 was dashed when Pradeep Maharjan missed the penalty kick.
The Lankan team took a huge boost from the miss and thwarted the Nepalese den two minutes later. Weerarathna Jayasuriya bamboozled the Nepalese sleeping defense line capitalizing on the free-kick from Mohamed Izzadeen to shoot past goalie Bikash Malla.
However, the Nepalese team continued its attacking attempts and were rewarded when Bijaya Gurung showed a classy move to supply a superb pass to Basanta who didn’t miss the sitter to level the score. Nepalese skipper Basanta Thapa, Vishan Gauchan and others missed several chances throughout the match. Sri Lanka also had some attempts late in the second half but their attempts were denied by Bikash Malla.
After completion of regulation time, the teams played to a scoreless 30 minutes of extra time and settled for the penalty shootout for the victory. Sri Lanka began the shoot out with Kamaldeen Fuard, Chathura Madurange Weerasingha, Chathura Gunarathna and Ediribandanage Channa converting their penalties. For Nepal Anjan KC, Tashi Tsering and Nabin Neupane converted and it was Pradeep Maharjan’s turn to kick to level the score. But his kick sailed over the bar and when Lankan Jeewantha Dhammika Ratnayaka netted a cool spot kick, the celebrations started for the Lankan side victorious 5-3.
“We were bereft from lady luck and it is hard to believe that Pradeep missed a spot kick as he is our best shooter,” Nepalese coach Shyam Thapa told reporters. “However, I am satisfied with their play,” he added. Sri Lanka will now travel to Dhaka to play the winner of the second semi-final between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to be played on Thursday.
The final will be played on April 16. nepalnews.com bt Apr 13 06
Tens of thousands of people joined a major demonstration organised by the seven opposition political parties in Bharatpur in the southwestern district of Chitwan on Thursday.
General people, seven-party activists, human rights workers and professionals gathered in Bharatpur from different parts of Chitwan and neighbouring Nawalparasi district in the afternoon and defied the curfew orders imposed in the town, reports said.
The demonstrators who assembled to protest the government clampdown on seven-party agitations around the country in recent days chanted slogans demanding ‘total democracy’ and end to ‘royal autocracy’.
The Chitwan demonstration is said to be biggest in recent days after the launching of nationwide general strike by the seven-party alliance on April 6. Local leaders of the alliance claimed more than 100,000 participated in the rally.
Unlike in the past, security forces did not intervene into the mass rally even as it defied the curfew orders, reports added. nepalnews.com mk Apr 13 06
A day after the announcement to close down the consular office and the American Library indefinitely, the US State Department has at the recommendation of the US Embassy in Kathmandu authorised US mission officials and their families to leave Nepal voluntarily.
”At the recommendation of the US Embassy in Kathmandu, the State Department on April 12 authorized departure from Nepal for non-emergency US Mission personnel and families. “This authorization means non-emergency employees, their family members, and families of employees who must remain at post can opt to depart Nepal in coming days,” a press statement issued by the US Embassy on Thursday said.
The Embassy recommended this step following a week of widespread demonstrations, violence, and growing instability throughout Nepal, the statement further said.
Similarly, the State Department in its “updated Travel Warning for Nepal” said, “American citizens are urged to evaluate their personal security posture and consider whether it is appropriate to remain in Nepal. American citizens also are advised that His Majesty’s Government of Nepal continues to use curfews to control the growing number of large and widespread demonstrations.”
“Department of State urges American citizens to defer non-essential travel to Nepal and urges those Americans currently in Nepal consider departing in light of the information noted below. This supersedes the Travel Warning issued on December 15, 2005,” the updated travel warning posted in the State Department’s website said. nepalnews.com mk Apr 13 06
Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey has said that the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have agreed to provide more employment opportunities to Nepalis.
Pandey who returned from a visit to those countries on Thursday said that the UAE has also agreed to conduct a feasibility study to set up a special economic zone and that it was also positive about investing in Nepal.
According to a Foreign Ministry release, Qatar has also agreed to provide employment on security-related sectors and to invest in some special economic zones. nepalnews.com pb Apr 13 06
The UNICEF has expressed its deep concern at reports of children being beaten and arrested by the security forces in recent demonstrations organised by the seven opposition political parties in Kathmandu and other cities. The UNICEF also expressed concern over the participation of children in the demonstrations.
“Children have no place being near demonstrations that could turn violent,” UNICEF’s Nepal representative, Dr Suomi Sakai, was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the UNICEF Thursday. She added, “It is of great concern that children, some under the age of 10, have been seen taking part in demonstrations and have been injured and arrested.”
Saying that children are entitled to freedom of expression under the Convention on the Rights of Child and that their parents and guardians also have the right and responsibility to ensure that rights, the UNICEF statement said, “Organizers of any demonstration or public gathering have a responsibility to ensure that children are out of harm’s way, particularly children without family, such as street children who have no-one to look after them and are even more vulnerable.”
“UNICEF also has received some very disturbing reports from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal (OHCHR-Nepal) that children in demonstrations have been arrested, beaten following arrest and have been detained, sometimes with adults,” the statement further said.
The statement further said the UNICEF has received information of five children aged between 12 and 16 years who were arrested in locations in the Kathmandu Valley on April 10, and two 14-year old boys arrested in districts outside the Kathmandu Valley in recent days.
“UNICEF reiterates the call of the UN System last year for His Majesty’s Government of Nepal to ensure that the security forces and offices with responsibility for custody verify that any child in custody is being held in accordance with the above undertakings in Article 37.” nepalnews.com mk Apr 13 06
The Nepal Telecom (NT) resumed the mobile phone services that were snapped one week ago in Kathmandu from Thursday afternoon.
The NT had disconnected both post-paid and pre-paid mobile services on Thursday, the first the nationwide general strike of the seven opposition parties, at the directives of the government.
Telecom employees had also been carrying out protests demanding immediate resumption of services.
The resumption of the mobile phone services comes on eve of the Nepali New Year.
The government had snapped the mobile phone services twice after the February 1, 2005, royal takeover. NT officials said that net loss of Nepal’s giant telecommunication service provider has grown to Rs. 2.5 billion due to frequent disruption of services.
The NT has distributed around 500 thousand mobile phone lines across the country– nearly half of the mobile lines have been distributed to in the Kathmandu Valley.
King Gyanendra is expected to address the nation on the New Year day,while speculations of some drastic announcements are rife in Kathmandu’s political circle.
On Wednesday, after six days, the government ended the curfew in the capital as angry protests organised by the seven parties continued. nepalnews.com mk Apr 13 06
Maoists exploded a bomb at the ancestral house of Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Govind Choudary, in Simra Bhawanipur VDC, Rautahat district, Wednesday night.
A group of Maoists barged into the Choudhary’s house and detonated a powerful bomb at around 9:00 p.m., completely destroying the two-storey apartment, according to the state-owned Radio Nepal. The rebels also looted properties from the house.
However, nobody was injured in the incident. nepalnews.com mk Apr 13 06
Police on Thursday intervened in a peaceful sit-in programme being organised by Kathmandu-based development agencies and took into custody over 200 of them.
Police intervened in the sit-in programme being organised by the Association of International NGOs in Nepal (AIN) this afternoon at Maitighar Mandala. Police officers told the demonstrators that all type of rallies and demonstrations were prohibited inside the Ring Road. They first asked them to disperse, when they refused they intervened and drove them away in police vans and mini-trucks.
Over 200 development workers courted arrest silently in a graceful manner. Nobody raised slogans. Placards being carried by the development workers read: We want peace, We want human rights, Start peace negotiations immediately.
Talking to Nepalnews while being escorted by policemen to a van, president of the AIN and country director of the Action Aid Nepal, Dr. Shivesh Chandra Regmi, said it is the gross violation of citizen’s right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.
“We have got no political agenda. We decided to express our concerns since development works have been affected badly due to the prolonged conflict,” he added.
Sixty member organisations of the AIN pump in nearly Rs eight billion every year to implement development works, provide humanitarian assistance and empower dalit, women and ethnic communities even in the remote areas where there is no presence of the government. nepalnews.com by Apr 13 06
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has said that it has urged the government to take action against security personnel involved in excessive force against protestors during the pro-democracy movement.
A press statement issued by the NHRC said the commission has asked Senior Superintendent of Police Madhav Thapa for clarification over the excessive use of force during demonstration of political parties in Gongabu area of Kathmandu on Tuesday.
Nearly 90 pro-democracy activists were injured when security forces opened fire using rubber bullets at protestors in Gongabu area of Kathmandu on Tuesday.
The statement further said the commission is monitoring the protest programmes organized by seven party alliance (SPA) since April 6 from central office and regional offices Biratnagar, Pokhara, Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi.
The national rights watchdog has said that the security forces used excessive forces during the demonstration of political parties on Tuesday.
“It was found that the security forces used excessive force while arresting people and many people including doctors, human rights activists and journalists were injured when security forces opened fire indiscriminately,” the statement added.
The statement also said that it found that security forces used excessive force even after taking demonstrators under control.
The statement further said, the NHRC has recommended the government to provide free treatment to all people injured in demonstrations.
Stating that the protestors also used children and vandalized public properties during demonstrations, the NHRC asked the organizers not to create any hurdle in free movement of people and conduct their programmes peacefully. nepalnews.com pb Apr 13 06
The Association of International NGOs in Nepal (AIN) has expressed solidarity with the ongoing pro-democracy movement of the country.
In a public statement issued on Thursday, the AIN said it was deeply concerned that the conflict was escalating, divisions in the society were deepening and opportunities for human, social and economic development were diminishing for an entire generation of Nepalis, unless a broadly owned solution to the escalating conflict was reached.
Talking to Nepalnews on Thursday, Shibesh Chandra Regmi, chairman of AIN said that they expressed solidarity to the ongoing movement as there will be no working environment in absence of peace, human rights and democracy.
Regmi further said that though they did not support any political party or group, they are supporting the ongoing movement of seven political parties as it is aimed at restoring peace and democracy in the country.
The AIN, which represents about 60 INGOs working in Nepal said, “Ensure an inviolate respect for the democratic rights of citizens to speak their minds publicly, to assemble publicly, to move about freely and top participate actively in the decisions that will determine their future, without intimidation or restrictions.”
The statement also urged all to ensure that children are not used in demonstrations, political rallies or in any kind of violence.
The AIN also appealed to release all civil society representatives, who are in captivity or custody.
Talking to Nepalnews, one official at the AIN said that the statement was issued to express solidarity to the ongoing pro-democracy movement.
Meanwhile, Nepal Network for Sustainable Development (NNSD), a network of 75 organizations working in the field of sustainable development has expressed solidarity to the ongoing pro-democracy movement of the country.
A statement issued by the NNSD condemned the government’s use of force in the protest rallies organized demanding restoration of democracy in the country.
The statement said that the government failed to suppress the people’s movement by imposing curfew and violence.
A report from mid western town of Nepalgunj said, students and health workers of Nepalgunj Medical College and Nepalgunj Nursing Campus condemned the government atrocities to doctors and health workers during the pro-democracy movement of the country.
A press release issued by them urged all people to protest for the restoration of democracy to protect people’s fundamental rights and right to live peacefully.
The students and health workers also organized a protest rally in Kohalpur to protest the government’s atrocities.
The pro-democracy movement of the country is getting support from all walks of life. nepalnews.com pb Apr 13 06