Submit your Article

The ruling coalition has decided to send the Citizenship Bill without making any changes again to the President’s office for authentication. A meeting of the ruling coalition held at the Prime Minister’s office in Baluwatar on Tuesday decided to send the Citizenship Bill to the President’s Office by completing all the parliamentary process for authentication. Government spokesperson Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said that the meeting has decided to send the Citizenship Bill as it is to the President’s office. Earlier, President Bidya Devi Bhandari had sent the Citizenship Bill back to the Parliament for reconsideration. On July 31, Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota had sent the Citizenship Bill to the President’s office for certification.

The Election Commission (EC) has intensified preparations in order to hold the November 20 elections of the provincial and federal parliaments in a free and fair manner. In this connection, it endorsed the election schedule. The directive, work procedure and amendments relating to the elections have also been approved. Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said that the EC had called for registration of the political parties willing to participate in the elections and completed the financial management work procedure and budget. The EC has been provided 107 days for the preparations. It has estimated the election cost at Rs 10 billion while the total voters would be around 18.2 million. Even the international organizations have been called for election observation in order to hold the elections in a free, fair and frugal manner. It is shared that there will be some 10,825 polling stations. CCTV surveillance will be put in place for making the vote count credible. It will be helpful for monitoring of the elections and vote count as well. The citizens turning 18 years on the eve of the elections are eligible to exercise voting rights. For voting literacy, digital media is used extensively by the Election Commission. There is continuous discussion and consultation with the experts and political representatives in a bid to minimize the percentage of invalid votes and increase voters' turnout. Moreover, the EC has also planned to ensure voting rights to the employees and security persons mobilized for the elections and the inmates by including them in the temporary voter list. With this, they can at least vote for proportional elections. Efforts are on to discourage prodigal election publicity. Another nagging issue the EC is facing and taking efforts to address is the spread of fake news. The EC believes that fake news- disinformation and misinformation- pollutes the electoral information system. Equal attention has been drawn towards the promotion of honest politics. The candidates will be urged to make self-disclosure on their qualification and financial issues.

Nepal Communist Party Ekata Rastriya Abhiyan Coordinator Bamdev Gautam has decided to contest the upcoming election with the election symbol of the CPN (Maoist Center). A Standing Committee meeting of the CPN (Maoist Center) held on Tuesday has decided to allow Gautam to contest the election with the party’s election symbol. Maoist Center spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara said that the meeting has given permission to Gautam to contest the forthcoming election with the party’s election symbol. The government has decided to hold the federal and provincial elections on November 20.

A roaring Himalayan river and one of the world's most militarised borders separate the Khokhar family in Kashmir, a mountainous region divided between India and Pakistan - arch rivals that gained independence from Britain 75 years ago.

Abdul Rashid Khokhar lives on the Indian side, in the village of Teetwal.

Across the fast-flowing waters of the Neelum River, also known as the Kishanganga, his nephews - Javed Iqbal Khokhar and Muneer Hussain Khokhar - run small stores in the hamlet of Chilehana in Pakistan.

Above them, on both sides, loom tall, green mountains from where the militaries of the nuclear-armed neighbours have intermittently rained mortars, shells and small arm fire on each other through the decades.

Since early 2021, the Line of Control (LOC), a 740-km (460-mile) de facto border that cuts Kashmir into two, has been mostly quiet, following the renewal of a ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan.

After years of bombardment and destruction in this part of Kashmir, farmers have returned to abandoned fields and orchards, markets are bustling, small businesses are expanding and schools are back to normal routines, residents on both sides said.

But the broken diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan, who fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, continue to cast a dark shadow over the region. Kashmir, claimed by both nations, remains the biggest unresolved issue between the two, much the same as it was in 1947.

India and Pakistan have no viable trade links and their diplomatic missions are downgraded. Visas to visit from either side are extremely limited, Reuters reported.

The picture-postcard valleys and mountains of Kashmir are divided into Pakistani and Indian sectors, while China controls a slice of the region in the north.

The narrow rope bridge that connects Teetwal to Chilehana is blocked on both sides by barbed wire, and no crossings have been allowed since 2018.

Sentry posts remain on both sides of the bridge, which straddles the LOC.

"The line runs through our hearts," said Khokhar, a 73-year-old who is the village council head of Teetwal, referring to the LOC.

"It is very traumatic that you can see your relatives across but can't talk to them, meet them."

The Khokhars are among the millions of families that found themselves divided following the partition of colonial India into the independent nations, Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan, at midnight on August 14/15 in 1947.