A popular actress of Bollywood, Manisha Koirala, has urged the seven party opposition alliance to participate in the upcoming municipal polls and to work towards building consensus for resolving the present crisis of the country.
Actress Manisha Koirala (File photo)
In an exclusive interview with the state run Gorkhapatra daily on Wedensday, Koirala asked, “You claim to be democrats but reject the polls. How can you be democrat?”
The alliance of seven political parties is actively boycotting the municipal poll slated for February 8.
Born in the political family of Koiralas that has produced three prime ministers since 1950s, Manisha is the daughter of minister in the royal cabinet, Prakash Koirala
Stating that people’s mandate is the true identity of the political parties and their leaders, actress Koirala said, “How can you become leaders and go to parliament without getting people’s mandate/”
Gorkhapatra daily quoted the popular actress of Indian cinema as saying that the ongoing street protests would only lead to greater conflict in the country., “It is the need of the hour to go for talks and understanding with His Majesty the King by putting an end to the protests,” she added.
Ms. Koirala said that while there was Maoist problem in the country, the parties were aggravating the situation by rejecting the polls. Recalling the contribution made by her grandfather, late B. P. Koirala, and other leaders,, she accused the opposition leaders of leading democracy to the present situation during the 12-year-long rule. “They could not solve the Maoist problem that began during their own time,” she added.
“The King and the parties should unite because others will continue to take advantage as long as we fight among ourselves,” she said.
Beauty comes to rescue: Anchor news in Wednesday’s Gorkhapatra daily based on interview with the Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala
Beauty comes to rescue: Anchor news in Wednesday’s Gorkhapatra daily based on interview with the Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala
Ms. Koirala expressed her sincere trust on His Majesty the King saying, “The King is democratic. His Majesty has asked for three years, which is not a very long period. The democratic forces should not fear that there may not be democracy in the country. Once it is established, it will remain there forever,” she added.
She said she would assist in the forthcoming elections and would stay in Nepal until the munipal polls are over. “During my stay in Kathmandu, I will help create an atmosphere for polls. It was my duty to come to Nepal during elections, that’s why I am here,” she said.
Stating that boycotting elections means failing to trust people’s mandate, Ms. Koirala asked the political parties to be broadminded and participate in the polls.
Ms. Koirala insisted that there was democracy in Nepal at present. “That we are going for polls is itself proof that at present there is democracy in Nepal.”
Coming down heavily on the international community for their call for the restoration of democracy in Nepal, she said, “They are selfish, and they look at things with biased perspective. They did not say a word when Bhutan’s King evicted 100,000 of his citizens of Nepalese origin who have been suffering ever since.”
Ms. Koirala also claimed that the world’s analysis of human rights situation in Nepal was not impartial. “The USA itself is violating human rights. Haven’t rights of people been violated in Iraq and Afghanistan? Should we keep mum on the human rights violations by America?” she asked.
Indian ambassador to Nepal Shiv Shankar Mukherjee on Wednesday met Nepali Congress (NC) president and former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala at the latter’s residence at Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, to discuss the latest political developments in Nepal.
During the meeting that lasted for nearly an hour in the morning, Koirala apprised Mukherjee about the position of seven-party alliance and its future moves to restore ‘total democracy’ in the country, a source close to the NC president said.
The Indian ambassador on his part reiterated his country’s support to the democratic movement in the Himalayan Kingdom, the source added.
The meeting between the Indian ambassador and the NC president comes three days after the release of the latter from a three-day house arrest. He was placed under house arrests last Friday.
Recently, Mukherjee had briefed senior Indian government officials, including defence minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister Shiv Raj Patil, in New Delhi about the political situation in Nepal.
A day after attacking key security installations in the mid-western town of Nepalgunj, Maoist rebels have resumed attacks in the far-western town of Dhangadhi Wednesday evening.
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According to preliminary reports, the rebels opened fire at a number of security offices in Dhangadhi—the district headquarters of Kailali—from around 7:15 p. m.
“I can hear sounds of gun fire and explosions from various parts of the town. It seems heavy fighting is going on. It’s too early to assess the situation,” a Dhangadhi-based journalist, Dirgha Upadhyay, told Nepalnews over phone.
He said that there is load-shedding in Dhangadhi this evening.
A major administrative and business center of the far-western region, Dhangadhi houses district police, zonal police, regional police and army barrack, among others.
The authorities are yet to provide details about the latest offensive by the Maoists.
Meanwhile, reports from Nepalgunj say the rebels had again opened fire at the main town area in the city at around 6:45 p.m. today. The firing has now stopped, according to reports.
At least eight persons, including three security personnel, a civilian and four rebels, had been killed during clashes in Nepalgunj late Tuesday.
With just two weeks to go for the municipal polls, the rebels are intensifying their attacks against security personnel in the municipal areas.
Two leading citizens’ groups have urged His Majesty King Gyanendra to immediately take initiative to diffuse what they called grave political crisis in the country by calling off municipal polls, releasing all the political prisoners and invite CPM (Maoist) for talks.
A joint statement — signed by former Justice and chairman of the Citizens’ Commission for Peace (CCP) Krishna Jung Rayamajhi, general secretary of CCP Bishnu Pukar Shrestha and chairman of Civil Society for Peace and Democracy (CSPD) Dr. Sunder Mani Dixit—on Wednesday has also appealed His Majesty to create what they called minimum environment for peace by withdrawing the terrorist tag against Maoist leaders.
“In fact, the four-month-long unilateral ceasefire announced by the CPN (Maoist) was a great opportunity to restore peace and consensus in the country,” the civil society groups said. “But the utter apathy by the government towards the Maoist move has brought about a series of fresh violence in the country. It has made all the Nepalis worried,” they added.
Since His Majesty has assumed direct rule of the country, the main responsibility to direct the country’s polity towards a direction of consensus also falls upon the monarch, the statement said.
The citizens’ groups warned that the country was on the verge of becoming a failed state due to what they called the on-going civil war and political polarization had become intense.
“It is not in the country’s interest to allow such a situation to continue for long,” they said.
On Tuesday, former premier and a senior leader of Nepali Congress, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, had appealed His Majesty King Gyanendra to give up his direct rule, call of municipal polls and form a powerful all-party government that will hold dialogue with the Maoists and conduct parliamentary elections in the country.
There has been no response to latest calls by senior politicians and the civil society groups from the royal government as yet.
Meanwhile, reports said the meeting of council of ministers was going on Wednesday to review the latest political and security situation in the country ahead of the municipal polls slated on February 8.
No details were available.
Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) led by Pashupati Shumsher JB Rana and the dissident group led by Home Minister Kamal Thapa blasted the Election Commission (EC) for denying them to award the party’s official election symbol, plough.
The coveted election symbol: Plough
The EC on Tuesday refused to assign the RPP’s official symbol to the establishment as well as the dissident group. It instead assigned new symbols to both the groups.
Talking to Nepalnews on Wednesday, spokesman Parshuram Khapung alleged that the EC deprived his party of its election symbol despite producing sufficient legal grounds to support its claim.
“To bar our party from using the symbol that has been used in all previous elections is sheer injustice. We are disappointed by the Commission’s decision,” he said. “RPP is a party recognized by the EC as a ‘national party’ on the basis of popular votes we received in the last general elections. The EC has no power to deprive us from using our election symbol,” he added.
Leaders of the RPP led by Rana have said they will now knock the doors of the Supreme Court to protect their election symbol.
The dissident group led by Home Minister Thapa, however, has termed the EC’s decision as legal and done according to the Constitution. Padma Sundar Lawoti, who led the dissident faction to call a ‘special general convention’ of the party early this month, told Nepalnews that his party would participate in the municipal polls with the new election symbol assigned by the EC.
“However, our claim to the party’s official election symbol remains unchanged,” he added.
The EC has assigned `peacock’ as election symbol to the RPP led by Rana while the dissident group led by Minister Thapa has been assigned ‘flower pot’ as the election symbol.
When contacted by Nepalnews, spokesperson at the Election Commission Tejmuni Bajracharya said that it was only an interim decision taken for the purpose of the forthcoming municipal polls.
“The Commission will decide which faction of the RPP is the genuine one only after the completion of the polls,” he added. He denied allegations that the decision was taken under the influence of the royal government.
Two way gun battle between the Maoist rebels and security forces has stopped in the far-western town of Dhangadhi, reports said.
According to latest reports, two way gun battle ensued for around one hour in the far-western town after the Maoist rebels tried to mount simultaneous attacks at a number of security installations in Dhangadhi from around 7:30 p. m. Wednesday.
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Local security sources said they did not have details about casualties on the either side. They said the situation was under control and that they had foiled the Maoist attempt to overrun security outposts in the town.
The latest Maoist offensive came just a day after the rebels attacked a number of security-related offices in the mid-western town of Nepalgunj.
At least eight persons– including three security personnel, a civilian and four rebels– had been killed during clashes in Nepalgunj late Tuesday.
Meanwhile, security sources in Kathmandu claimed that the rebels were targeting major municipalities in the far-western region to terrorise local people ahead of the municipal polls slated on February 8.
“They can’t engage in a close battle with security forces. So, they have retreated after their failed attempt to overrun security outposts,” they said.
The rebels are yet to comment on their latest offensive in Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi.
Addressing a mass meeting at Musuriya in far-western district of Kailali on Wednesday, a regional leader of Maoists had warned that they would continue targeting municipalities in the region, according to reports.
Big guns Mahendra Police Club (MPC) and Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) suffered big blows in their championship run today as MPC locked horns against Friends Club (FC) 0-0 and minnow Boys Union Club (BUC) handed TAC a bitter 2-1 defeat while another big gun Nabil Three Star Club (NTSC) took advantage and thrashed Boudha Football Club (BFC) 6-0 to go atop the league standings in the ANFA Martyrs’ Memorial “A” Division League Football Tournament matches played today.
In the BUC versus TAC match, Suman Shrestha drew first blood for Tripureswore based BUC in the 25th minute. The joy was short-lived as lanky Ram Kumar Biswash restored parity for TAC in the 29th minute. However, Hari Thakuri, a former NRT player, found the net after a two years gap in the 40th minute. The lemon break couldn’t refresh the Army men and the scoreline remained the same till the end of regulation.
The win saw BUC moving up to a safer zone leaving Machhindra FC, Mahabir Club and Boudha FC in the relegation dilemma. “The defeat was a big shock for us,” TAC coach Kishor KC told reporters while happy BUC coach Rajendra KC poured his ecstasy saying, “All credit goes to my boys and they made me ecstatic.”
In the MPC versus FC game, the injury hit police team couldn’t threaten FC’s den and were reluctant to create goal-scoring chances. Friends Club played well to end the game goalless, but also did not create any goal scoring chances.
“The draw frustrated us,” MPC coach Yogambar Suwal told reporters at the post match conference. FC coach Siddi Bynjankar was pleased with the results. “Boys labored hard to continue the same results as the first leg, which also ended 0-0”.
Meanwhile, defending champions Nabil Three Star Club took advantage to get back on top of the league standings with a 6-0 thrashing of tail ender BFC.
Pradeep Maharjan, Bijaya Gurung and Bishan Gauchan netted apiece in the first half. After the re-start, NTSC was again aggressive and Surendra Tamang found the net twice in the 48th and 73rd minute while Pralaya Rajbhandari scored in the 78th minute.
“We played as per our expectations but we are happy with the other bigwigs going down,” NTSC president Mrigendra Mishra told reporters. BFC asst. coach Drubha Gurung said, “The result has pressed us into deep meditation to survive the relegation zone.”
Mrigendra now finds his team atop with 46 points, one ahead of MPC.
In the meantime, ANFA has to re-scheduled the fixtures of the league for tomorrow due to the political parties call for a Nepal bandh. On Friday, four matches will be played at two venues seeing Nabil Three Star Club taking on Machhindra FC, Tribhuvan Army against Mahabir, NRT against BBC and RCT against Friends Club.
The management of Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) has said that the bank is planning to reduce the bad debt or non-performing assets (NPAs) to 28 percent by July 2007 from the existing around 50 percent.
Speaking on the occasion of the 41st anniversary of the bank, Bruce F Henderson, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the bank, said that the bank is committed to advance automation to 47 branches of the country to improve their performance along with rightsizing loan portfolios by increasing loan recovery, according to reports.
Henderson expressed satisfaction over the bank’s success in recovering over Rs 7.4 billion in cash over the past three years and restructuring of Rs 2.56 billion worth of loans.
Dr Manoj Shahi, chairman of the bank said, “We have greater challenges ahead to be the top banking institution in the country.” He stressed on the need to expedite the introduction of modern banking products to satisfy customers with effective and fast service delivery.
Speaking at the same programme, deputy governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), Bir Bikram Rayamajhi, said that to achieve the target set by the new management team, employees have to fully support the bank’s network. “The bank would achieve its goal as a state-owned bank by adopting a modern banking approach,” he added.
The government had handed over the management of the state owned RBB to a foreign management team led by led by Bruce F Henderson.
As the date of the municipal polls is coming nearer, people of different walks of life are urging the government to postpone it and hold it only after reaching consensus with the major political parties.
Nepal Government Employees’ Organization (NGEO) and Confederation of Nepalese Professionals (CONEP) have urged the government to postpone poll dates until a consensus is reached among the major political forces, reports said.
They have called on the government not to hold elections amid chaos and conflict in the country risking the safety and life of the employees. They have urged the government to explore options for a negotiated peace instead.
The NGEO handed over a memorandum to Election Commission on Monday, requesting the Commission to ensure security of life of polling officials and their family members during and after the polls, if the government wants to hold the polls.
The CONEP, an umbrella organization of 400,000 professionals has also called on the government to bridge the disparity of allowances to be provided to the polling staff. It also urged the government to arrange adequate insurance for the employees if polls were held.
The government is holding the municipal polls on February 8 despite the call of major political parties to actively boycott it and Maoist threats to disrupt it.
The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Nepal Telecom (NT) to install the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system with which NT plans to launch the Wireless Local Loop (WLL) telephone service in the country.
On July 11, the apex court had issued a stay order barring the NT from installing the CDMA system.
A division bench of Justices Badri Kumar Basnet and Top Bahadur Magar quashed the writ petitions seeking the apex court order to bar the NT from installing the system. “There is no ground to issue order as sought by the writ petitioners,” the bench ruled while pronouncing the verdict.
The NT told the SC that the company plans to distribute over one million wireless local lines across the country after installation of the CDMA system.
According to NT, around 250,000 phone lines will be made available in Kathmandu, Narayani zone, Janakpur, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa, Pokhara and Dhangadhi in the first phase. Around 50,000 lines will be available in the capital alone. The total demand of phones in the capital is estimated at 100,000 while the total demand of phones across the country is around 400,000.
Advocates Bishnu Prasad Dhakal, Arjun Prasad Uprety and a businessman Sanjeev Parajuli had filed petitions raising questions over the process of acquiring permission from the government to install the system.
While issuing the stay order, the SC had raised serious doubts over the payment of tax by the NT while getting permission to launch the CDMA.
The petitioners had claimed that it was improper to provide authority to the NT without issuing a tender notice to provide a chance for every Nepali citizen to bid for the programme.
The CDMA telephone service is based on the latest wireless technology. Besides, the technology is expected to make telephone network expansion cost effective and time saving. The technology is said be suitable for Nepal’s geographical terrain where wire telephone services is a difficult proposition.