16th SAARC Convection is being held at Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan. Looking back to its history there have been the record of one of the participating leader to face a bad fate after the summit. In the history of 15 Summits being held so far, 7 of the participants faced bad luck at home. To me, it looks more like a coincidence as the political scenario are pretty much dynamic and they are always changing.
With Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal visiting the 16th Summit, and volatile political environment in Kathmandu, many are expecting the history to repeat on his case.
(Left to Right: Hussain Mohammed Ershad, Nawaz Sharif, Ranasinghe Premadasa, Khaleda Zia)
The Nepali year 2066 BS is going to finish on April 14, 2010. The year had a few ups and a lot of downs. I am compiling the top newsmakers of the year 2066. Writing the full list will take some time. I will update this page later and hopefully will finish before the year 2066 finishes.
1. Gyanendra Shah (Ex-King, wounded lion?)
Gyanendra (King of Nepal from 2001 to 2008) made news again at the end of the year by telling that the royalty is not dead yet. The political environment was heated and it started political debate on his statement.
2. Paramananda Jha (Hindi attachment)
Paramananda Jha came into controversy after he took the oath of office and secrecy in Hindi language. Paramananda Jha’s position as the Vice President has become defunct from 31 August 2009, with his refusal to take oath in Nepali. According to the Supreme Court’s verdict, Jha wasn’t allowed to perform any duties in capacity of the VP and wasn’t entitled to special security and privileges given to him as the VP. Jha was then in a situation where he has been elected as the VP by the parliament, but hasn’t taken oath.
After six months off duty, Vice President’s post was reactivated from February 7, 2010, after he took fresh oath of office and secrecy. This time, he took the oath both in Nepali and his mother tongue Maithali. Taking oath in mother tongue other than Nepali is permitted after a recent amendment in current Constitution letting President, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ministers to take oath of office and secrecy in their respective mother tongues.