Submit your Article

The government has decided to recommend the President’s Office to pardon the jail sentence of Resham Chaudhary, who is serving a life term in Dillibazaar Prison after being convicted of masterminding the 2015 Tikapur massacre. Making public the decisions of the Cabinet meeting held on Sunday morning, government spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma said that the government has decided to recommend the President’s Office to pardon the sentence of Chaudhary. Earlier, President Ram Chandra Paudel had withdrawn the proposal to pardon Chaudhary. Minister Sharma said that the government has recommended the President's Office to pardon Chaudhary on the occasion of Republic Day. Nagarik Unmukti Party leader Chaudhary will be released on the Republic Day if the President’s Office implements the recommendation of the government. Meanwhile, the Cabinet meeting to be held on Monday will decide on the agenda of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's India visit. Prime Minister Dahal will pay an official visit to India from May 31 to June 3 at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.        

Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal will pay an official visit to India from May 31 to June 3 at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. This will be the first bilateral visit abroad by the Prime Minister of Nepal after assuming office in December 2022. He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation. During the visit, the Prime Minister of Nepal will call on the President and Vice-President and will hold extensive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the diverse areas of the bilateral partnership between India and Nepal. Other Indian dignitaries will call on the Prime Minister of Nepal, reads a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs of India. In addition to the official engagements, the Prime Minister of Nepal will also be visiting Ujjain and Indore as part of his visit. The visit continues the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between India and Nepal in furtherance of our ‘Neighborhood First’ policy. The bilateral relations between the two countries have significantly strengthened in the last few years in all areas of cooperation. This visit underscores the importance given by both sides in adding further momentum to the bilateral partnership.  

The main opposition CPN-UML lawmakers obstructed a meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Friday. The lawmakers stood from their seats in protest and obstructed the meeting, saying that the Parliament could not start its business until the government clarified whether the 'jalahari' installed at the sanctum sanctorum of the Pashupatinath Temple is made of gold or brass. Following the protest, Speaker Devraj Ghimire gave time to the UML's Chief Whip Padam Giri to speak. Giri said that the House could not proceed ahead with its business until the government responded to the allegation made by Lekhnath Dahal, a ruling party lawmaker, that the 'jalahari' installed at the Temple when UML Chair KP Sharma Oli was the Prime Minister was not gold but brass. He reiterated that the House session could not proceed with its business until the government investigated whether the 'jalahari' in Pashupatinath Temple is made of gold or brass, and responded to the allegation. Similarly, UML Parliamentary Party deputy leader Subas Chandra Nembang said that it was not for the sake of fun that the main opposition party has obstructed the meeting, but for the seriousness of the false allegation that a 'responsible' lawmaker from a 'responsible' party has leveled against the former prime minister. The UML lawmakers expressed regret, stating that the ruling party lawmakers made a serious accusation against them that they had committed corruption by offering the 'jalahari' made of brass instead of gold. They demanded that an investigation be made to find out the truth. Speaker Ghimire time and again requested the UML lawmakers to take seats and cooperate in allowing the House meeting to proceed ahead as per the parliamentary process. Despite the Speaker's repeated requests, the UML lawmakers picketed the rostrum, shouting slogans. The Speaker then adjourned the meeting for 20 minutes after his requests went unheeded even after the sloganeering that lasted for about five minutes.  

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha has said all those accused and suspected in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam will be investigated. Receiving a memorandum from a delegation of the CPN-UML-aligned Youth Association Nepal today, the Deputy Prime Minister said that Nepali people are ashamed of the scam. "The scam has posed a challenge to a journey towards good governance, the precondition for prosperity," he said, adding that he has directed the Nepal Police to carry out and conclude investigations into the scam, unaffected by possible political pressure and unwanted influence. Thirty people, including the former Home Minister, now face charges of crime against the state over their alleged roles in the scam.  The case was registered by the Nepal Police on Wednesday. "A journey towards prosperity will remain obstructed until a nexus of corruption and commission is dismantled," the Deputy Prime Minister said. According to him, the government and police mechanism is clear about its stance against the scam and they are dealing with the matter with the determination to conclude it impartially and in a substantive way. "We want each guilty in the case to be prosecuted and no innocent be blamed for it." The Deputy Prime Minister ruled out the possibility of the protection of probable offenders on the basis of any political connection or nepotism and said that the police would bring those suspected in the case into investigation once it found evidence to suggest their involvements. Association Acting Chair Amit Lama demanded a fair investigation into the scam, urging the government not to divert the issue under any circumstances.