Nepal

Kathmandu, September 4

Police have arrested a person for allegedly attempting to extort money from a woman by issuing death threats.

A special team deployed from Kalimati-based Metropolitan Police Circle took Santosh Kandel, 27, into custody from Balaju yesterday.

A permanent resident of Dhading district, Kandel had sent a threatening letter to the woman in Syuchatar, Nagarjun Municipality-9, demanding two million rupees, police said.

Kandel threatened to plant a bomb in the womanhouse and kill her daughter if she did not provide the cash and informed the police about it.

&Come to the bridge in Balaju with two million ruppes in cash, on Tuesday at 1:00pm. If you didn&t turn up with the cash in the givenplace and time, I will plant a bomb in your house and kill your daughter,& police quoted from an excerpt of the letter sent to the woman.

After receiving the letter, the woman lodged a complaint with police. Acting on the complaint, a police team was deployed to the bridge in Balaju at the time given time and date mentioned in the letter, and arrested Kandel.

Officials said they had launched special security operation to crack down on extortion rackets. Police said they were working out to ascertain his involvement in other cases of extortion.

On Sunday, police had arrested three persons for allegedly threatening chiefs of various government offices of extortion, posing as cadres of Netra Bikram Chand (Biplav)-led Communist Party of Nepal, which was outlawed by the government.

The suspects were Bishwaraj Sharma, 42, Subash Koirala, 41, and Subham Ghimire, 24, of Jhapa.

A special team of Metropolitan Police Crime Divisionhad held them from different places of Kathmandu valley.

Investigators said the gang issued death and bombing threats to the government officials as part of their extortion attempts.

A taxi driver was arrested with donation pad and literature of Biplav-led CPN from Sukedhara last week.

Officials said Bhabiraj Rai, 29, of Khotang was found possessing donation receipts and membership documents related to All Nepal Revolutionary Transport Workers Association, affiliated with Biplav-led Communist Party of Nepal.

Earlier, the Ministry of Home Affairs had warned generalpublic, businesspersons and all organisations against extending any support or assistance, including donation, to the Bilav-led CPN.

&Any person or organisation found acting contrary to the governmentappeal and assisting the outfit will be treated on a par with the outlawed group and brought to book under the prevailing laws, read,& a press statement issued by the MoHA.

The ministry stated the CPN was behaving like a ‘terrorist& outfit and appealed to all not to come under influence of threat, intimidation and inducement by the group.

The government has heightened security and crackdown on the CPN following its decision to ban its activities, on March 12.

Many cadres of the outfit have been arrested from various locations of Kathmandu valley.

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Kathmandu, September 4

Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi is arriving in Kathmandu on Sunday, on a two-day visit as part of preparation for Chinese President Xi Jinping‘yet-to-be-confirmed& sojourn to Nepal, government sources said.

Wang Yi will be arriving in Kathmandu from Pakistan where he is scheduled to attend Pakistan-Afghanistan-China trilateral meeting on Saturday. He is visiting Nepal at the invitation of Minister of Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali.

During his stay in Nepal, Yi is scheduled to hold bilateral meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, and pay courtesy call on President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has yet to officially confirm YiNepal visit, his schedule and agenda for the bilateral meeting. Government sources said the talks would mainly focus on implementation of past agreements, including projects under the Chinese-led Belt and Road Initiative. &Basically, the visit is taking place in the run-up to Presidnet Jinpingplanned visit to Nepal,& said a source. President Jinpingis likely to visit Nepal in mid-October on his way back home from his visit to India.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be hosting President Jinping in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, on October 11-13, for the second India-China informal summit between the two leaders, according to Indian news portal www.thehindu.com.

The first informal summit between the leaders was held in Wuhan, China, on April 27-28 last year. As the government intensifies preparations to welcome President Jinping, all three security agencies, including the Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and Nepali Army, have boosted coordination to ensure high-level security for the VVIP guest, according to a security official. &All three security agencies and the Ministry of Home Affairs are continuously holding meetings to leave no stone unturned as far as security to the VVIP is concerned,& said the security official.

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&Institutional corruption,abuse of state mechanism, insecurity and price hike are rife&

Kathmandu, September 4

Main Opposition Nepali Congress today said people were not fed-up with the federal system, but with dismal performance of the government.

NC issued the statement around two weeks after the government, calling an all-party meeting, had sought support from all political parties to fight attempts from various quarters to jeopardise federal democratic republic system of governance and the constitution.

Endorsing a resolution in its central working committee meeting that concluded yesterday, the NC concluded that the governmentmove was nothing but a ploy to cover-up its weaknesses and failures.

&People are frustrated with the governmentdismal performance and it cannot shirk from its responsibility of addressing peopleconcern,& said NC leader Prakash Sharan Mahat addressing a press conference held at the NC headquarters in Sanepa, Lalitpur.

&NC would like to caution all stakeholders about the conspiracy to portray governmentfailure as the failure of the democratic system.&

The NC concluded that one-and-half-year rule by the Nepal Communist Party (NCP)-led government had left people highly disappointed. It concluded that institutional corruption, abuse of state mechanisms, price hikes, violence, rape, and insecurity were normal in the country.

&The government is attempting to snatch away rights the people earned through long struggle, muzzle freedom of expression, and jeopardise religion and social harmony,& said Mahat. He warned that NC would launch a decisive movement if the government did not mend its ways.

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Kathmandu, September 4

Nepali Congress lawmaker Gagan Kumar Thapa today urged the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) to relieve Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli from the responsibility of the executive head as he was not in the pink of health.

Speaking in the House of Representatives today, Thapa said the government had not informed the House about the PMhealth but media reports indicated that his health was improving. The PM, who underwent kidney transplant 12 years ago, is undergoing treatment in Singapore to enhance the function of his kidney.

Thapa said he wished PM Oli well but if he required to go abroad for treatment frequently, then the ruling NCP should replace him with another capable leader of the party.

&We all know that there are other capable leaders in the ruling party who want to become the prime minister, Thapa added.

&It is not good for the prime minister to go abroad after 10-12 days for treatment and try to run the country with teleconference,& he said. Thapa said PM Oli was old and it would be better if he sought retirement on the ground of age.

Thapa said it was important for the PM to remain in the country as his role in protecting the countrysovereignty and security was crucial. &The PM performs such an important job that he cannot remain out of the country for too long,& Thapa added.

He said the Nepali Congress made a mistake allowing an old man to remain the PM and the ruling NCP should not repeat the same mistake. But he did not name the NC leader who he thought was allowed by the party to remain the PM even when he was too old for the post. &I respect the PM for making sacrifices for the country but nobody has control over his/her body. I wish the PM speaks from the rostrum with the same zeal when he returns from Singapore after undergoing treatment, as he did before,& he added.

A lawmaker of the ruling NCP Surya Prasad Pathak took a potshot at Thapa, saying, &Some people say Oli should resign from his post, but we know that if he rules for five years, the country would leap forward in terms of development and that will put the existence of other parties at risk.&

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