Nepal

Kathmandu, September 20

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli today hinted that immediate amendment to the constitution was not on the governmentpriority list and said the government would do the needful at the right time.

Addressing a function to mark the fourth Constitutional Day and National Day in Kathmandu, Oli said there was no difference between ruling or opposition parties when it came to implementation of the constitution.

Stating that Nepaldemocracy was broad enough to mainstream extreme views in all these years, he said he was keen to bring to the mainstream even those who still remained misguided. The prime ministerstatement comes at a time when marginalised communities and groups, including Madhesis and Janajatis, marked the day as ‘Black Day& demanding amendment to the constitution to address their concerns.

Political parties, including the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal and ruling coalition partner Samajwadi Party-Nepal, have also been demanding constitutional amendments.

RJP-N leader Sarvendra Nath Shukla said his party would never give up its demand for constitution amendment. He said the government and the prime minister could not stay mum for very long on the issue that had backing from a huge section of society.

&Unless the concerns of such a huge section of society are addressed through constitution amendment, conflict will not end,& Shukla told THT. &Without ending the conflict, prosperity is impossible.&

• Constitution Day marked with grand affair today

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Kathmandu, September 19

The Narcotics Control Bureau has rounded up three Indian nationals with a huge cache of controlled pharmaceutical drugs they were smuggling into Nepal.

Acting on an intelligence input, a special team deployed by the NCB arrested them along with a jeep bearing Indian registration number used for smuggling the prescription drugs from Shantinagar of Kathmandu Metropolitan City yesterday. The suspects have been identified as Raja Kunal, 37, Rajesh Kumar Jaiswal, 32, and Abhishek Kumar Jaiswal, 37, of Bihar.

As many as 3,126 ampules of diazepam, phenergan and norphine have been confiscated from them. The NCB has also impounded the vehicle. The alleged drug traffickers have been charged under the Narcotic Drug (Control and Punishment) Act. According to the NCB, the Indian nationals were involved in smuggling prescription drugs to Kathmandu and other major cities of Nepal from India for a long time. The drug smugglers were under constant surveillance of narco cops after several drug peddlers arrested by the NCB implicated them.

Earlier this week, the NCB had arrested four persons in possession of 1,200 ampoules of injectable drugs from Jambu Danda of Gokarneshwor Municipality-5. They were Utim Lalit Sah, 42 and Ashok Tamang, 23, of Siraha, Sujendra Lohani, 34, of Udayapur and Pema Lama, 28, of Kavre. They were also found to be involved in smuggling prescription drugs to Nepal from India and were repeat offenders, according to the NCB. Sah had served three years in jail for an attempted murder case, while Lohani was sentenced to two years on drug smuggling charge.

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Kathmandu, September 19

The government has decided to recommend President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to grant amnesty to 282 jailbirds doing time in prisons across the country.

Speaking at a press conference organised in Singha Durbar today to disclose the 26-point decisions of the Cabinet meetings convened on September 12 and 17, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gokul Prasad Baskota, who is also the government spokesperson, said the Council of Ministers had also decided to honour veteran ophthalmologist Dr Sanduk Ruit with the Prime Minister National Talent Award. The award carries a purse of Rs 500,000 and a citation.

National Talent Grant Assistance will be awarded to Radi Miya and Bikalpa Dhungana. The grant assistance is Rs 250,000. As per the Cabinet decision, the government will provide one million rupees for South Asian Women Development Forum for its fifth International Women Entrepreneurs& Conference.

A nine-member talks team headed by Joint Secretary Nawara Dhakal for the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies has been formed for the third meeting relating to review of Nepal-India Trade Treaty-2009.

The government has also decided to provide Euro 66,885 for the stall management of Nepali industrialists and entrepreneurs, who will be taking part in a trade exhibition scheduled for October 9-10, in Netherlands and in BIOFACH-2020, set to be held in Germany in February 14-17. The stalls will showcase and promote Nepali herbs and agricultural products in the international arena, Minister Baskota said.

The government announced its decision of creating temporary positions for 49 gazetted officers for the current fiscal 2019-20, to implement projects and programmes under the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation. The government has also decided to promote lieutenant colonels (technical) Banira Thapa and Amul Karki to the post of colonel. On the occasion of the Constitution Day, the government will allow the entry of people to Hanumandhoka Durbar Museum, Patan Museum and National Arts Gallery free of charge.

The government has approved the Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Programme (Operation Procedures)-2019, and the 13th South Asian Games Organisation and Management Procedures. The government has also decided to table the Policy Research Academy Bill, the Yogmaya Ayurveda University Bill, the Animal Health and Veterinary Council Bill, the Railway Bill and the National Science Technology and Innovation Policy in the House of Representatives.Toyam Raya has been promoted and transferred to the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers of Province 3 in Hetauda as the principal secretary.

The government decided to promote and transfer Shivahari Sharma to the National Reconstruction Authority as secretary.

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Kathmandu, September 19

Kathmandu District Court has released a ‘high profile& person who was facing sexual harassment and cyber-crime charges against his step-daughter. The court released 65-year-old Rishi (name changed) yesterday after he posted bail amount of Rs 300,000.

Police said Rishi used to send obscene messages to his step-daughter with the intention of luring her into physical relationship with him. He had been sending vulgar text messages and graphic pictures to the girl for many years, police told THT citing a complaint filed by the girl with police. &The messages were sent in a way to compel her to approach the elderly to have physical relationship with him,& said a police source.

Rishi, a permanent resident of Morang district, has been living in the United Kingdom with his wife while the daughter lives in Kathmandu. He had taken the guardianship of the girl as a father, after he married the girlmother 27 years ago, when she was 11 years old. Rishi frequently visits Nepal.

Disheartened by regular abusive messages, the 38-year-old unmarried woman had finally approached the police after the step-father brought her a sex toy as a gift from the UK, in his recent visit to Kathmandu. After handing her the gift, Rishi had sent her text messages, pictures and tutorial videos which showed the method to use the sex toy, according to police.

The woman with the support of her relatives on September 3, went to police and filed an FIR against her step-father, while he was still in Nepal.

Senior Superintendent of Police Sahakul Thapa of Metropolitan Police Crime Division, Teku, said the girl was specially offended by Rishilatest act of handing her a sex toy and sending her text messages, and tutorial videos. SSP Thapa also said the girl, however, has not mentioned about any kind of physical abuse against her in the FIR. &The message was so obscene that it would be hard to believe that the man is the father of the girl,& Thapa said.

Police sources said Rishi, ‘a well educated man& is a well known non-resident Nepali in the United Kingdom.

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