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The special probe committee of the House of Representatives has decided to record former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma's statement on Thursday.

The committee, which had grilled former finance secretaries and a journalist of the Annapurna Post who had published the news, has decided to record the statement of former Minister Sharma tomorrow.

Sharma is accused of inviting two unauthorized persons to tweak tax rates a day before he presented the budget in the Parliament on May 29.

He has been summoned at 8 am tomorrow, committee secretary Surendra Aryal said.

Aryal said that the term of the committee will expire tomorrow.

"The term will expire tomorrow. Discussions have been held to extend the time," he said.

Transitional justice is a tricky balancing act between, on the one hand, upholding universal human-rights norms and ensuring justice to conflict victims and, on the other, respecting the legitimacy of a political settlement to a conflict. Sixteen years after the guns in Nepal fell silent following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2006, the Nepali state is still struggling to maintain the delicate balance. The government has just tabled a bill to amend the transitional justice law; make it more ‘victim-centric’ and in keeping with ‘international norms’. The amendment underlines the need for recognition of injustice meted out to conflict victims. Unlike the earlier law, it also bars amnesty in cases of grave human rights violations. The government argues that the amendments are adequate and just. 

But rights activists and conflict victims are not buying it, for various reasons. For instance, although the amendment penalizes killing, rape and torture, it does not specify that such cases can be retrospectively pursued. (The relevant penal code came into effect only in 2018.) New provisions also allow the government to recommend light punishment if the perpetrators confess to their crimes. Moreover, there will be no provision of challenging the court verdict. In other words, the new amendment is no more than a fig leaf for Nepal to cover its transitional justice blunders. 

It was clear from the start that no transitional justice law would be universally acceptable to the two sides to the conflict as well as to the conflict victims. The goal was always to find a middle-ground where neither grave rights violations from conflict-time were excused nor did the victims feel left in the lurch. The proposed amendment bill could have been that middle-ground had there been adequate buy-in of conflict victims. It wasn’t meant to be. 

The National Human Rights Commission has already made public its dissatisfaction with the amendment bill. Victims want more tweaks in it. Yet there is no political will to fairly pursue all war-time cases. The cumbersome transitional justice process will drag on.

Nepal and China have agreed to jointly inspect the border.

During a Nepal-China border affairs virtual meeting held on July 14, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal and the desk which looks after the border of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China had agreed to inspect the border jointly.

Nepal and China have failed to conduct joint inspection of the border since 2011.

Because of this, the two countries have been facing problems at the border frequently.

Earlier, Nepal had to search for pillar number 11 in Humla district which was said to have been missing.

As the two countries have not carried out joint inspection of the border for a long time, Nepal had faced problems to determine the pillar.

The missing border pillar had created a dispute between the two countries, after reports that China built some infrastructure in the area.

Similarly, the border dispute has also been seen in Limi-based Lolungjong of Humla.

Likewise, the Chinese side has also been found putting up barbed fences in the northern part of Gorkha unilaterally.

Nepal had requested China for joint inspection after the disputes started to surface in the northern part of the country.

Sewal Lamsal, spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the meeting has agreed to jointly inspect the border.

The meeting has also decided to open the Kerung and Tatopani border by adopting the Covid-19 safety protocols, Lamsal said.

She said that the meeting has decided to open the Hilsa border one way.

Nepal reported 391 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 2, 562 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 340 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 419 people underwent antigen tests, of which 51 were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of the virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 46 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 2, 276 active cases in the country.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 4. 89 points to close at 2,050.59 points on Wednesday.

Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 0. 97 points to close at 392. 50 points.

Meanwhile, a total of 4,133,709 unit shares of 215 companies were traded for Rs 1. 73 billion.

In today’s market, all sub-indices saw green except for Banking, Trading, Hotel and Tourism, HydroPower and Life Insurance.

Meanwhile, Multipurpose Finance Company Limited was the top gainer today, with its price surging by 5. 69 percent. Laxmi Equity Fund was the top loser as its price fell by 6. 33 percent.

At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 92 trillion.

Sri Lankan lawmakers chose six-time Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as president Wednesday to succeed the ousted leader who fled the country in a vote that risks reigniting political turmoil in the troubled South Asian island nation, Associated Press reported.

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed Wickremesinghe as prime minister in May, hoping to bring stability to a country engulfed in its worst economic crisis in memory. Wickremesinghe became acting president after Rajapaksa fled the country last week and resigned by email.

Wickremesinghe, 73, is a seasoned politician with wide experience in diplomatic and international affairs. He has been leading crucial talks on an economic bailout package with the International Monetary Fund and was backed by members of the fragmented ruling coalition. But he is unpopular among voters who view him as a holdover from Rajapaksa’s government, according to Associated Press.

The vote of 134 lawmakers put Wickremesinghe ahead of former government minister Dullas Alahapperuma, who received 82 votes. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has clarified that Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will visit the United States at an appropriate time.

The Ministry made it clear about the visit at a time when rumors have been making rounds that Prime Minister Deuba’s visit to the United States has been canceled.

Sewa Lamsal, spokesperson at the Ministry, said that the Prime Minister’s visit to the United States is being worked out at one level.

“The Prime Minister has been waiting for a favorable time to visit the United States. There is no truth about the cancellation of the visit,” she said.

The Ministry said that the reply about the cancellation of the State Partnership Program (SPP) will be sent to the United States only after the effective preparation.

A person died and other sustained injuries when two motorbikes collided with each other in Gaushala of Mahottari on Wednesday.

Police said that the motorbike (Province 2-02-003 Pa 7738) collided head-on with another motorbike (Province 2-02-001 Pa 8679) today.

According to the Area Police Office, Gaushala, the deceased has been identified as bike (Province 2-01-001 Pa 8679) rider Bibek Yadav (24) of Aurahi Municipality-2.

Similarly, biker (Province 2-02-003 Pa 7738) rider Krishna Yadav (25) of Rajkhor, Gaushala Municipality-4 was injured in the incident.

Inspector Ranjan Mishra said that Krishna, who was seriously injured in the incident, has been sent to Kathmandu for further treatment.

He said that they have impounded both the bikes.

The Area Police Office, Gaushala said that the body of Bibek has been sent to the District Hospital, Jaleshwor for postmortem.