YAN to encircle CA building with 50,000 youth on May 28

Youth Association Nepal (YAN), wing of ruling party, CPN-UML, has announced that about 50,000 youths will encircle the Constituent Assembly (CA) premises in New Baneshwar on May 28 (Jestha 14) to exert pressure on political parties for ensuring peace and constitution-drafting. On May 28, the extended term of the CA will expire, if not decided to extend once again.

Organizing a press conference at Reporters Club in the Capital, YAN chairman, Mahesh Basnet made such announcement on Friday and he also announced that there will be mass gatherings in 18 different places across the country on May 26. On May 19, YAN will protest the “irresponsible attitude and wrongdoings of the CA after the CA elections” in front of the CA building.

He further said that the CA term should not be extended again without giving justifiable reasons. On Thursday, the government has registered a proposal in Parliament to amend the Interim Constitution and extend the tenure of the CA by one more year.

Meanwhile, YAN is set to hold an interaction between Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal, UCPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress President Susil Koirala and CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal on the topic “Peace, Statute and National Consensus” in Kathmandu to mark its 21st anniversary on Monday.

Nepal Bandh, Anti-strike rally in Kathmandu, British money

On Friday the 13th of May, Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) had organized a Nepal Bandh (Nepal strike). The streets in Kathmandu were empty and more people were walking to go to their jobs.

The police has told that they have nabbed 73 workers of NEFIN who were forcing the businesses to close and stopping vehicles. By 11 in the morning the police has told that it has already arrested more than a 1000 people all over Nepal.

At the same time, some youths have organized a motorbike rally against the strike, in Kathmandu. The strike was organized by using social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter and mobile phone SMS message:

Enough is Enough. Nepalese want constitution NOT Bandhs. Come one. Come all, with your motorbikes & cycles and ask for Constitution & defy Bandhs. Rally starts at 10 am. May 13. Friday, from Tridevi Marg, Thamel. Alliance against Bandh. Please forward to all

Kantipur has reported that, in response to the strike, the British government agency has withheld the support equivalent of Rs 110 million to NEFIN. The British agency has told that such strike violates human rights and they can’t help organizations involved in violation of human rights.

It seems, with the popularity of social network in Nepal, any future such strikes will fail. Following photos were taken by Shreedeep Rayamajhi. (more photos of artists in anti-bandh rally)

Anti-strike rally in Kathmandu

Youths in Kathmandu have organized a anti-strike motorbike rally in Kathmandu. The event organized in part with the help of Facebook group named "DIE Nepal Bandh DIE" and through the exchange of SMS with message:

Enough is Enough. Nepalese want constitution NOT Bandhs. Come one. Come all, with your motorbikes & cycles and ask for Constitution & defy Bandhs. Rally starts at 10 am. May 13. Friday, from Tridevi Marg, Thamel. Alliance against Bandh. Please forward to all

Nepali director has uploaded the following photo of him in his Facebook profile from the rally:

We will post more photos of Nepali film personalities as we receive them. Read the rest of this entry »

Rajesh Hamal to be featured in US Embassy Ad.

Fake US Visa is one of the most important issue being dealt by the US Embassy in Nepal. To reduce such cases, the Embassy has decided to start awareness campaign against such fraud.

The awareness advertisement directed by Abhaya Pandey features Rajesh Hamal.

Read the rest of this entry »

CA members Yadav, Sah suspended and CIAA demands for 15 years jail term

Constituent Assembly (CA) members B.P Yadav of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum and Gayatri Sah of Nepali Janata Dal automatically lost their Constituent Assembly membership as per Section 33 of Corruption Prevention Act, 2002 as the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed corruption cases against them at the Special Court on Wednesday. Yadav and Sah are facing charges of misuse of their diplomatic passports

CIAA also filed cases again others seven suspected for assisting them in renting their passports for hefty sums. Suspected seven are:-

1. CA member Sah’s father Hari Charan Sah, who heads the Nepali Janata Dal,
2. Santosh Raj Upreti, Hari Charan Sah’s aide
3. Head of the Immigration Department Khadananda Dhakal,
4. Section Officer Shyam Babu Bhandari
5. Section Officer Bhumi Nanda Bhandari,
6. Computer Officer Indra Kumar Sunar and
7. Junior Officer Devi Dutta Khatri

The CIAA has demanded jail sentence up to 15 years for Yadav and Sah-

• 10 years for the crime as per Section 3(1) of the Corruption Prevention Act, 2002,
• additional 2 years for tampering the red passports as per Section 11 of the Act and
• additional 3 years for misusing honourable positions.

CIAA has also demanded for Rs 16 million as fine since the investigation has found that the duo had sold their passports for Rs 16 million with the help of a mediator named Santosh Uprety. CA members Yadav and Shah are currently in police custody while other accused are at large.