Submit your Article

The Rautahat District Court has issued a verdict awarding life imprisonment to four persons, including Nepali Congress leader and former minister Mohammad Aftab Alam.

District judge Matrika Prasad Acharya handed down life imprisonment to Alam, his brother Mahatav, Badri Sahani and Sheikh Sheraj after finding them guilty in a case relating to bomb explosion and murder.

However, another one implicated in the case, Mukti Shah has been acquitted.

The bomb was exploded at Rajpurfardawa village of Rautahat on the run up to the election of then Constituent Assembly in 2008.

Similarly, the case of six others absconding after the incident and accused of involvement in the crime has been put on hold.

A case was filed in 2019 accusing 11 persons, including former lawmaker Alam of explosion and murder.

Hearing on the case had concluded on Monday.

On April 28 and 29, Nepal is hosting the 3rd Nepal Investment Summit with the aim of attracting foreign investment for the country's major infrastructure projects. For a long time, there has been a widespread perception among the international community that Nepal presents numerous policy and bureaucratic hurdles for investment. However, this perception is only partially accurate, and there are many misunderstandings about Nepal's investment climate.

While the decade-long insurgency, followed by a prolonged transition period and ongoing political instability, undoubtedly created an unfavorable environment for international investors, these factors alone do not fully explain the lack of foreign direct investment in Nepal. One of the main arguments put forth by the diplomatic community is the lack of policy consistency in the country. However, if we look at the past 10 years, with the exception of a few development projects, there has been relative policy consistency in the country. When it comes to attracting foreign direct investment, there are no major policy disagreements among the major political parties. For instance, the government has issued ordinances to amend nine laws in line with the demands of international investors, and there is no disagreement among the major political parties on this matter. Regardless of whether the government is led by communist or other parties, all are seeking international investment, and there is no disagreement on this front.

Another argument often raised is the lack of political stability in Nepal. While it is true that there has been instability in the past, there has been a degree of political stability following the promulgation of a new constitution in 2015, as elections for all three tiers of government are now held every five years. There are no hostile political parties or groups actively obstructing or discouraging foreign direct investment in Nepal. Concerns raised by the international community, such as tightened labor laws or difficulties in exiting the market, have been substantially eased over the past few years. While issues of corruption and bureaucratic red tape still exist to some extent, there has been progress in addressing these challenges. It is also true that some foreign companies have taken undue advantage of Nepal's poor governance systems. Despite these challenges, Nepal remains an ideal destination for international investors due to its strategic location bordering the large markets of India and China, its youthful population and other factors. 

While Nepal may not achieve full political stability within the next 5-10 years, the current political situation does not pose any significant threats to the international investors.. There is an all-party consensus regarding the investment summit, with no prominent opposition voices raised against it. Therefore, international investors should not be overly influenced by narratives claiming an inappropriate environment for investments in Nepal. At the same time, the diplomatic community should be cautious about misleading their respective investors through flawed briefings about the political situation in Nepal. Despite some occasional street protests, Nepal has largely remained a peaceful country since signing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2006.

The Supreme Court has ordered the police administration to keep seven persons including CPN-UML leader Top Bahadur Rayamajhi charged in the Bhutanese refugee scam in the custody,  

A joint bench of Justices Kumar Regmi and Tek Prasad Dhungana refused to release them on bail, upholding the decisions of the previous two levels of courts.

Earlier, the Kathmandu District Court and Patan High Court had issued an order to sent UML leader Rayamajhi, the then Home Secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, then then Home Minister Ram Bahadur Badal’s advisor Indrajit Rai, main accused of Bhutanese refugee case Keshav Dulal, Sagar Rai and Sandesh Sharma to the jail.

The apex court, however, had ordered to release Angtawa Sherpa and Govinda Chaudhary on bail.

The court had sought bail of Rs 3 million from Sherpa and Rs 1 million from Chaudhary.

Home Secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, former minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Keshva Prasad Dulal, Sanu Bhandari, Sagar Rai, Indrajit Rai, Govinda Kumar Chaudhary, Sandesh Sharma and Angtawa Sherpa, who were in the custody, had filed a complaint against the decision of the High Court.

They are accused of collecting millions of rupees from Nepali nationals promising to send them to the United States as Bhutanese refugees.

The Kathmandu District Court had ordered to send 16 out of 18 defendants allegedly involved in the same to the jail while two others were released on bail.

Former Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand, however, was released after posting a bail amount of Rs 3 million in the same case.

Laxmi Maharjan, Ashish Budhathoki, Tanka Kumar Gurung and Keshav Tuladhar were released on general date.

Karnali Province Chief Minister Yamlal Kandel won a vote of confidence from the Karnali Province Assembly on Thursday.

Of the total 40 province assembly members, 35 members were present in the voting process, of which 23 seconded Kandel's request for the vote of confidence.

Likewise, 12 province assembly members voted against Kandel's proposal while a province assembly member chose to remain neutral.

After the voting in the Karnali Province Assembly, Speaker of Karnali Province Assembly Nanda Gurung said Kandel's proposal for the vote of confidence tabled as per Article 168 (4) of the Constitution was passed with a majority.

In the Karnali Province Assembly, Nepali Congress has 14 seats, CPN (Maoist Center) has 13 and 10 are with the CPN-UML).

Likewise, CPN (Unified Socialist) and RPP have one each province assembly member in Karnali Province. Also, an independent province assembly member is there.

The next meeting of the Karnali Province Assembly is summoned for April 29.

The 17th Nepal-China (Tibet) Economic and Trade Fair is going to be held in Kathmandu on April 29.

The trade fair is held every two years in one another country as per the agreement reached between the government of Nepal and the commerce department of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in 1990.

According to the Trade and Export Promotion Center, the main objective of the fair is to further expand the bilateral economic and trade relations between Nepal and China (Tibet).

Around 125 businesspersons including a five-member high-level delegation will participate in the fair.  The official delegation will be led by the Vice Chair of the Tibet Autonomous Region Government of China, Long Fukuan.

There will be 50 exhibition stalls on behalf of China (Tibet) in the fair, including herbs, agricultural products, modern agricultural tools, tea, electrical appliances, household appliances, carpets, beverages, handicrafts, incense, two-wheelers, three-wheelers, four-wheelers, electric vehicles and beauty products.

Likewise, there will be 15 exhibition stalls on behalf of Nepal, including herbs, coffee, tea, handicrafts/carpentry, metalwork, carpet, pashmina and other products.

The fair will be open from 10 am to 6 pm and entry is free.

President Ram Chandra Paduel has given approval for mobilizing Nepal Army (NA) in the House of Representatives (HoR) and the Province Assembly (PA) by-elections scheduled to take place on April 27.

The Council of the Ministers on April 22 recommended the President to endorse the deployment of the NA to hold the by-elections in a free, impartial and reliable atmosphere, based on the recommendations of the National Security Council meeting held earlier the same day.

The President granted permission for the mobilization of the NA in the by-elections in accordance with Article 66 (2) of the Constitution.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has urged the Election Commission (EC) to provide it with details of the work execution committee of the political parties.

According to the Ministry, a decision was taken to write to the EC demanding the details of office-bearers of all the central, province and district level work execution committees of the political parties.

Secretariat of the Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Sumana Shrestha, said the details of the political parties affiliated working committees, which are in record of the EC, have been sought in order to forward the action against those teachers affiliated in the political parties.

After receiving the record from the EC, the Ministry would cross check the details of teachers and employees, which the ministry has, and office-bearers of the work execution committee of the political parties, it is said.

Minister Shrestha has been warning of a forwarding process for legal action against the teachers and staff if they were found holding positions in the work execution committees of the political parties. According to the Secretariat, the Ministry has received complaints about the issue that teachers and staff working at community schools have taken membership of different political parties, are holding positions in work execution committees and are party's general convention delegates.

Earlier, the Ministry had already sent a circular to District-based all education development and coordination units to take action against those teachers and staff, who are members of political parties' work execution committee.

Some of the district units have already forwarded action as per the circular.

A ministerial decision had already been taken to remove teachers holding position on political parties' work execution committees as per the existing laws and court's order and inform the Ministry about this and taking action continuously on such complaints of same nature.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 3. 24 points to close at 1,965.93 points on Thursday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 0. 37 points to close at 348. 18 points.

 A total of 6,312,552-unit shares of 303 companies were traded for Rs 2. 36 billion.

Meanwhile, Multipurpose Finance Company Limited (MPFL) was the top gainer today with its price surging by 9. 99 percent. Likewise, Sabaiko Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (SABSL) was the top loser with its price dropped by 6. 09 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 11 trillion.