Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam has revealed that the government has so far established contact with 14 armed groups operating in Terai and eastern hills in an attempt to bring them to the negotiating table.
According to him, the government’s talks team is preparing to start formal dialogue with the armed outfits very soon.
Speaking to reporters after a programme in the capital Wednesday, Gautam also said police forces would be mobilised against the armed groups if they refused to sit for talks to resolve the problem.
Asked if the government would mobilise the army if talks fail, Gautam said, “Army won’t be mobilised. Armed Police Force and Nepal Police are enough [to deal with them.”
The DPM also dismissed reports that education minister Renu Yadav, who is a member of the government’s talks team, has gone to India to meet the leaders of the armed groups as part of the talks preparations. Minister Yadav, according to him, is in India on a private tour. nepalews.com mk Nov 05 08
Barack Obama became America’s 44th president resoundingly defeating his republican rival John McCain and made history as the nation’s first black commander-in-chief in a presidential election meant for the ages.
Obama giving his first speech as US presidential elect.
In his first speech as president elect to thousands of jubilant supporters at Grant Park in his home town of Chicago, Obama said, “Change has come.” He vowed to be a president for all Americans, even those who voted against him, and described the challenges ahead of him as the “greatest of a lifetime”.
“Even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century,” he said. “There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and, for us to lead, alliances to repair.”
He added, “There are many who won’t agree with every decision or policy I make as president, and we know that government can’t solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face.”
He appeared on stage with his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, to give the speech before the multiracial crowd that city officials estimated at 240,000 people.
McCain called his former rival to concede defeat. The president-elect said he looks forward to working with him.
“The American people have spoken, and spoken clearly,” McCain told disappointed supporters in Arizona.
According to agency reports, President Bush added his congratulations from the White House, where his tenure runs out on Jan. 20. “May God bless whoever wins tonight,” he had told dinner guests earlier.
Obama, a first-term Illinois senator born 47 years ago, is son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas.
He and his running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, will take their oaths of office as president and vice president on Jan. 20, 2009. nepalnews.com Nov 05 08
The cabinet meeting, Wednesday, decided to change the name of three municipalities, which were earlier named after former Kings.
As such, the Prithvi Narayan municipality has become Gorkha municipality, Tribhuwan municipality of Dang district has become Ghorahi municipality and Mahendra Nagar municipality of Kanchanpur district has become Bhim Dutta municipality.
The cabinet decided to appoint Uttar Kumar Shrestha as the general manager of Nepal Electricity Authority while Sugat Ratna Kansakar has been named as managing director of Nepal Airlines Corporation.
The government has also picked six members for the National Planning Commission including Yogendra Yadav, Ram Mani Pokharel, Sunil Babu Shrestha, Ayo Devi Yami, Prem Kunwar, and Ram Dev Singh.
The cabinet also decided to promote Bimala Thapa and Parbati Thapa as Deputy Inspector Generals of Police. nepalnews.com sd Nov 05 08
The Hits FM has announced the nominees for its upcoming Hits FM music Award for this year to be held on Saturday.
The Close Up Hits FM Music Awards 2065 include prizes on singles/albums/soundtracks registered at Hits FM 91.2 in the year 2064.
Nominations were solicited through Hits FM website, various print media and through SMS.
A panel of experts who eventually decide the winner(s) in each category conducts the next stage of the judging process.
This year the award incorporated two new categories – Best Rock Vocal Performance and Pop Rock Album of the year and excluded Best Song in a Foreign Language and Best Music Video.
Since 1997, the FM station has been organising such award ceremony annually to acknowledge and honour the best in Nepali music industry.
“The sole purpose of the Music Awards is to promote the Nepali recording industry and give due recognition to talent,” a statement by the radio station reads.
CPN-UML general secretary Jhala Nath Khanal has called for the scrapping of the Tri-Partite Agreement (TPA) between Nepal, the dominion of India and Great Britain that has provisions for recruiting Gurkha soldiers in the British Army.
In a meeting with representatives of the Gurkha Army Ex-Soldiers’ Organisation (GAESO) at the party’s headquarters, Khanal said there was a need to review the treaty and a new one signed between Nepal and Britain, excluding India. He did not explain.
Tri-partite agreement to recruit Gurkha soldiers in the British Armed Forces was signed just a week before the independence of India in 1947. An influential leader of the ruling coalition, Khanal said the agreement was now outdated and needed review.
Stating that both Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist) should come to a negotiating point leaving their partisan interests on the issue of integrating Maoist combatants in national security organs, Khanal said all eligible Maoist combatants would get place in the national army. nepalnews.com ia Nov 05 08
A high-level Indian technical team arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday to work out a possible long-term solution to the problem caused by flooding in Koshi.
The Indian team headed by chairman of Central Water Commission of India A.K Bajaj is scheduled to take field trips to areas most affected by the breach in the Koshi embankment at west Kushaha in Sunsari district for two days starting Wednesday.
The breach had caused massive flooding in Sunsari and Inaruwa districts, forcing more than 60,000 people to seek shelter in government run relief camps. The flooding caused even more havoc in neighboring Bihar state where more than 3 million people were reportedly affected.
After the visit, the Indian team will hold discussion with a high level Nepali team led by Secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources Shanker Koirala including senior Nepali officials and experts on Friday.
The Indian team is here to facilitate the implementation of the agreements reached at the Joint Committee on Water Resources (JCWR) held in the capital last month.
Officials at the Ministry of Water Resources said Tuesday that during the meeting Nepal will stick to its original stance that the Koshi spur be reconstructed strictly as per the original design when it was first built to check river flooding in India’s Bihar state.
According to the Nepal-India Koshi Treaty of 1954, India is responsible for the operation and maintenance of Koshi Barrage and embankment in the Koshi area.
Meanwhile, the Kathmandu Post reports that there has been no progress in fulfilling the various demands of Koshi flood victims, including rehabilitation and compensation.
“The patience of flood victims who have been taking shelter in temporary camps is running out and we have intensified our protest for the fulfillment of the 11-point demand,” Bhuwaneshwor Yadav, member of Koshi Flood Victim Struggle Committee told the Post.
He said that the government has turned a deaf ear to their demands and left them with no choice but to take to the streets.
In another report, the government has asked India to resolve the problem of inundation caused by construction including the Laxmanpur barrage across the border from Banke district.
India had unilaterally built the controversial barrage without any consultation with the Nepal. nepalnews.com Nov 05 08
A senior leader of main opposition party Nepali Congress (NC) has said that the cabinet did not have the authority to form the special committee for army integration.
Sher Bahadur Deuba.
“The cabinet does not have the right to form a special committee on army integration,” said former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Talking to journalists in Kailali district, Tuesday, Deuba said the committee should have been formed in consultation with parties staying outside the government.
He recalled the seven point agreement reached in July regarding the army integration and accused the Maoists of trying to bulldoze their agenda.
He also condemned the Maoists for not returning the properties and lands seized by their supporters. nepalnews.com sd Nov 05 08
Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bamdev Gautam has said that he does not intend to extend the term of police officials who have completed 30 years of service, reports Kantipur daily.
Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bamdev Gautam
“Pressures are coming from various power centers (to extend the term of some senior police officials,” he revealed.
In coming four months, the term of half a dozen senior police officials is going to expire including that of the Inspector General of Police. The government can extend the term of such officials by two years on its discretion.
DPM Gautam has also vowed to restructure the security agencies based on a report to be submitted by a panel formed to do so.
The panel had been formed before Dashain festival. nepalnews.com Nov 05 08
The joint high-level committee of the two ruling parties – Maoists and Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) – has agreed to work to improve relations between the two parties at the local level.
This decision was made by the newly formed committee in the wake of reports of continued clashes between the cadres of Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League (YCL) and UML-affiliated Youth Force.
Similar clashes had recently occurred in Dhading district even as the central leaders of the two parties rub shoulders in the government.
The meeting decided that regular meetings should be held at local level regularly to prevent bitterness.
“We have decided to consult to make standard on making political appointments,” said Maoist leader and Minister of Information Krishna Bahadur Mahara.
He added that the two parties also agreed to look into the Terms of Reference of the special committee to ensure participation by opposition Nepali Congress (NC). nepalnews.com sd Nov 03 08
The government has recalled the ambassadors from India and the United States.
According to reports, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent a letter, Monday, recalling them.
Currently, Durgesh Man Singh is posted as the Nepalese ambassador to India while Suresh Chalise is posted as the Nepalese ambassador to the United States.
Both Singh and Chalise are said to be close to the Nepali Congress (NC) party, which is now in opposition. They had been appointed as ambassadors ten months ago after they cleared the parliamentary hearing process.
In the past also, governments use to recall envoys after change in central government as many of the ambassadors are political appointees. nepalnews.com Nov 03 08