The National Medical Education Bill, 2075 BS has been presented in Friday’s meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR).

Minister for Education, Science and Technology Giriraj Mani Pokhrel, presented the bill in the second meeting of the lower house.

Presenting the bill, Minister Pokhrel said the government was taking a proactive approach to implement the people’s basic rights to education and health service. Lawmakers Gagan Kumar Thapa and Sarita Giri who had lodged a note of protest over the bill withdrew the protest while a note of protest registered by NWPP Prem Suwal was refused by the meeting with majority.

After an acrimonious campaign, polls opened in Pakistan on Wednesday to elect the country’s third straight civilian election __ a first for this majority Muslim nation that has been directly or indirectly ruled by its military for most of its 71-year history.

Rights groups have warned that the rancorous campaign and widespread allegations of manipulation imperil the wobbly transition to democratic rule and raise the specter of bitter post-election challenges of fraud.

The unprecedented participation of radical religious groups, including those banned for terrorist links but resurrected and renamed, has also raised fears the space for moderate thought may shrink further in Pakistan.

Attacks against minorities have increased in recent years. One candidate, Jibran Nasir, an independent from Pakistan’s financial hub of Karachi, received death threats and even had a fatwa or religious edict issued against him after he refused to condemn Ahmadis, who are reviled by mainstream Muslims as heretics because they believe the messiah promised in Islam arrived over a century ago.

In Pakistan it is a crime for an Ahmadi to call himself a Muslim after a 1974 constitutional amendment declared them non-Muslims.

“I am speaking for the millions of Pakistanis who are too afraid to confront religious bigotry,” he said in a telephone interview. He also said that no arrests have been made of those who threatened him.

The leading contenders in Wednesday’s polling are former cricket star Imran Khan and his right-of-center Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party or PTI and the right-of-center Pakistan Muslim League, the party of disgraced Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is in jail serving 10 years on corruption charges. His younger brother Shahbaz Sharif took control of the party. The third-largest party in the running is the left-leaning Pakistan People’s Party, headed by Bilawal Bhutto, the son of late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, assassinated by Pakistan’s Taliban militants, whom she had vowed to eradicate.

Election officials say more than 11,000 candidates are vying for 270 seats in Pakistan’s law-making Lower House of Parliament and 577 seats in four provincial assemblies. The 85,307 polling stations opened at 8 a.m. and will continue for 10 hours, an hour longer than in the 2013 polls. Voting for two parliament seats and six seats in provincial assemblies has been postponed due to attacks on candidates or disqualifications.

There are 105.96 million eligible voters in Pakistan, with 59.22 million men and 46.73 million women.

Pakistan’s election commission reminded candidates their elections will be nullified if the female voter turnout does not reach 10 percent. The requirement was imposed after the 2013 elections when several areas banned voting by women, mostly in Pakistan’s religiously conservative northwest. Some candidates were elected without a single woman marking a ballot.

The commission issued its reminder Tuesday after veteran rights activist, Tahira Abdullah, said local jirgas or councils of elders from 60 areas of the country, representing 16 different constituencies, had signed agreements banning women from voting.

Citing security worries, the election commission announced internet and mobile phone services in several districts in southwestern Baluchistan province has been suspended because of security issues. Some of the worst violence during campaigning occurred in Baluchistan, where earlier this month a suicide bomber devastated a political rally killing 149 people including the candidate, Siraj Raisani. Voting in that constituency is suspended.

Election commission secretary Babar Yaqub, told reporters late Tuesday that threats against polling stations, staff and even candidates have been received.

His statement came just hours after militants lobbed grenades and opened fire at a military convoy escorting election staffers and voting material in Baluchistan’s district of Turbat, killing four troops. At the request of the election commission, Pakistan’s military is deploying 350,000 troops countrywide outside and inside polling stations.

International and domestic election observers will monitor voting. The European Union Election Observation Mission has 120 monitors at polling stations in major centers across Pakistan, with the exception of southwestern Baluchistan province where a suicide bomber earlier this month killed 149 people, including a candidate.

Under Pakistani law, separate seats are reserved for women and for non-Muslim minorities, which comprise 4 percent of the population.

Voter turnout in 2013 was 54.8 percent.

A secretly recorded tape of US President Donald Trump by his longtime personal lawyer was played on CNN Tuesday night in which the two can be heard talking about a potential payment for a Playboy model’s story about an alleged affair and the soon-to-be president is heard discussing whether to “pay with cash.”

The audio recording , surreptitiously made by Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen two months before the 2016 presidential election, was provided to CNN by Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis.

The conversation between Trump and Cohen came weeks after the National Enquirer’s parent company reached a $150,000 deal to pay former Playboy model Karen McDougal for her story of a 2006 affair, which it never published, a tabloid practice known as catch and kill. Trump denies the affair ever happened and his campaign had said he knew nothing about the payment.

Trump and Cohen appear to be discussing buying the rights to McDougal’s story from the Enquirer’s parent company.

Cohen can be heard on the tape saying that he needed to start a company “for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David,” a possible reference to David Pecker, Trump’s friend and president of the National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc.

When Cohen begins to discuss financing, Trump interrupts him and asks, “What financing?”

“We’ll have to pay,” Cohen responded.

The audio is muffled, but Trump can be heard saying “pay with cash,” though it isn’t clear if he is suggesting to pay with cash or not to pay with cash. Cohen immediately says, “No, no, no” and Trump can then be heard saying, “check.”

A transcript of the conversation provided by Trump’s current attorney, Rudy Giuliani, says Trump actually said, “Don’t pay with cash…check.”

Last week, Giuliani said the recording would prove that “the president said it has to be done correctly and it has to be done by check.”

“The transcript that we provided CNN accurately reflects the taped conversation,” Giuliani told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

“Listen to the tape. Donald Trump is not shocked money is being paid about someone named Karen McDougal,” Davis said during an interview with CNN.

Davis said his client — who is under investigation by federal officials in New York — “has been disparaged and insulted and called all kinds of things.”

“He’s got truth on his side and he’ll continue to tell the truth,” Davis said.

Davis did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the AP on Tuesday night.

American Media, Inc.’s payment effectively silenced McDougal through the election, though days beforehand news of the deal emerged in The Wall Street Journal. At the time, a Trump spokeswoman said his campaign had “no knowledge of any of this.”

The FBI raided Cohen’s office, home and hotel room in April, searching in part for information about payments to McDougal and porn actress Stormy Daniels, who says she had a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006 — which Trump denies — and was paid $130,000 as part of a non-disclosure agreement signed days before the 2016 election.

A dozen audio recordings seized during those raids were forwarded to federal prosecutors last week after lawyers dropped challenges on attorney-client privilege grounds.

Trump and Cohen can also be heard discussing other legal issues, including fighting a request by The New York Times to unseal court records concerning Trump’s divorce from his first wife, Ivana.

The government deposited Rs 12 million in the bank account of Ganga Maya Adhikari, who has been staging hunger strike, demanding justice for her murdered son.

Her son Krishna Prasad Adhikari was murdered after abduction by the then Maoist cadres during the Maoist insurgency in the country.

Ganga Maya was promised Rs 10 million in 2014 by the then government when she ended hunger strike.

“The amount was deposited in the bank account opened in Agriculture Development Bank Limited by the government on Sunday,” informed spokesperson at Ministry for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ramesh Dhakal. He further said that the interest of the compensation amount which sums up to Rs 2 million until the date was also deposited in the account.

Ganga Maya started her last fast-unto-death on May 29 the Republic Day. She ended the hunger strike after Chhabilal Paudel, the main accused in murder of Krishna Prasad Adhikari, surrendered before the court.

Ganga Maya had also demanded accommodation stating that her home was devastated in course of fighting for  justice for long.

Krishna Prasad was shot dead on June 6, 2004 in Chitwan when he had been there to meet his grandparents. Later, his father Nanda Prasad died on September 22, 2014 in course of his fast-unto-death for justice. The dead body of Nanda Prasad is still in the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) because Ganga Maya refused to perform the last rights of her spouse until justice was guaranteed to the family.

Minister for Law Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Sher Bahadur Tamang has announced resignation with teary eyes over his comments about Nepali female students going to Bangladesh to study MBBS.

Addressing a press conference at the ministry in the afternoon with his wife by his side, Tamang was overwhelmed with emotions and announced he is resigning on moral grounds and will submit the resignation to Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli.

Talking to Setopati earlier on the day after rumors that the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) has asked him to resign over his comments in a damage control measure, he had denied the rumors.

“That may just be rumors,” Tamang told Setopati about the rumors. He claimed that new laws will be discussed during the press conference to be held at the ministry when asked if he has called the press conference to announce resignation. He did talk about his achievements at the start of the press conference but announced resignation toward the end.

Speaking at a program organized by Practice International Academy in Chuchchepati in Kathmandu on Friday, Tamang had claimed that Nepali girls studying MBBS in Bangladesh have to sell themselves to get the certificate.

“I will now reveal a story. I have heard that our daughters who go to study in Bangladesh have to somehow sell themselves to get a certificate of doctor,” Tamang said during the program. “We send our daughters abroad to study. But they can’t acquire certificates there without yielding themselves.”

The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) and RPP officially condemned Minister Tamang’s comments while the minister on Sunday issued a press statement apologizing for hurting students who have studied and are studying in Bangladesh.

But the apology, which was not an unreserved one, did more damage as he tried to reinforce his claims instead of apologizing for making unfounded claims that the female students have to sell themselves. He insisted that he wanted to bring the problems faced by Nepalis studying abroad to the fore. The statement added that he said so with an intention that the situation would end if the students get to study medicine inside Nepal and do not have to go abroad for study.

His remarks on Friday and the stated intent of the comments as mentioned in the apology are in line with the comments of promoter of B &C Hospital Durga Prasai about Nepali female students in Bangladesh, and his accusation that Dr Govinda KC is lobbying for the brokers who send Nepali students abroad to study medicine.

North Korea appears to have started dismantling key facilities at its main satellite launch site in a step toward fulfilling a commitment made by leader Kim Jong Un at his summit with President Donald Trump in June.

While Pyongyang could be trying to build trust with Washington as they engage in talks to resolve the nuclear standoff, analysts say dismantling a few facilities at the site alone wouldn’t realistically reduce North Korea’s military capability or represent a material step toward denuclearization. And they expressed concern the work is being done without verification.

The North Korea-focused 38 North website said commercial satellite images between July 20 and 22 indicate the North began dismantling key facilities at the Sohae launch site. The facilities being razed or disassembled include a rocket engine test stand used to develop liquid-fuel engines for ballistic missiles and space-launch vehicles and a rail-mounted processing building where space launch vehicles were assembled before being moved to the launch pad, according to the report.

“Since these facilities are believed to have played an important role in the development of technologies for the North’s intercontinental ballistic missile program, these efforts represent a significant confidence building measure on the part of North Korea,” analyst Joseph Bermudez wrote in the report.

An official from South Korea’s presidential office on Tuesday said Seoul has also been detecting dismantlement activities at the Sohae launch site but did not specify what the North was supposedly taking apart.

Other analysts said North Korea is giving up little in dismantling the rocket engine test site when it’s clear the country is satisfied with its current design of long-range weapons and could easily build other similar facilities if needed in the future.

Adam Mount, a senior defense analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, said it’s also troubling that the North has been apparently allowed to duck verification by unilaterally dismantling parts of its nuclear and missile facilities without the presence of international inspectors. North Korea in May invited foreign journalists to observe the destruction of tunnels at its nuclear testing ground, but did not invite outside experts capable of certifying what had been destroyed.

“The actions at Sohae are a helpful signal that Pyongyang wants to continue negotiations, but do not in themselves advance nuclear disarmament,” Mount said in an email. “North Korea still has not disclosed or offered to dismantle facilities that produce or store nuclear or missile systems, or the means to transport the missiles. So far, the facilities dismantled have been peripheral to these core functions.”

Lee Choon Geun, a missile expert at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, said the North’s supposed move to dismantle the rail-mounted processing building was the more meaningful development as it potentially indicated to broader dismantlement activities at the site.

“If North Korea goes further and dismantle the entire Sohae site, that would meaningfully reduce the country’s long-range missile capability by eliminating a facility where it could fire multiple ICBMs in succession,” Lee said. “The North can also fire ICBMs from transporter erector launchers, but their technology with these vehicles isn’t stable.”

However, Mount said the military consequences of a broader dismantlement would be “marginal.” North Korea has invested a great deal of effort in ensuring its missiles can be fired from austere locations and doesn’t require a site like Sohae, he said.

“Dismantling a test site does not seriously constrain the existing arsenal or even future designs,” said Mount. “While it would be a significant step for the regime to shut down its space launch programs, it has always argued that these programs are distinct from military ones. Easing the missile threat would require restrictions on the number, types, or capabilities of missiles or the vehicles that transport and fire them.”

After his summit with Kim in Singapore on June 12, Trump said he was told by Kim that the North was “already destroying a major missile engine testing site” without identifying which site. The leaders concluded their summit by declaring their vague aspirational goal of moving toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, but there’s lingering doubts on whether Kim would ever agree to fully give up the nuclear weapons he may see as a stronger guarantee of his survival that whatever security assurances the United States can provide.

Kim in late 2017 declared his nuclear weapons and missile program was complete, following a torrent of nuclear and missile tests that include the detonation of a purported thermonuclear warhead and flight tests of three developmental ICBMs potentially capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. Kim announced the mission of his nuclear testing site as finished weeks before inviting foreign journalists to observe the destruction of the tunnels.

The South Korean presidential official, who didn’t want to be named, citing office rules, said the supposed dismantlement activities shows the North is moving gradually.

“We need further analysis to figure out why the North didn’t turn the dismantlement activities into an event and whether the country is trying to control the speed of the process to maintain a pace it wants,” he said.

Director of Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital Prof Dr Deepak Mahara has stepped down from his post on Friday.

He tendered his resignation to Prof Dr Jagadish Agrawal at Dean office at 11 am.

Mahara stated in his resignation letter that his resignation has no relation with Dr Govinda KC, who is into his 15th fast-unto-death for the past 21 days at TUTH.

The dialogue between the government team and representatives of Dr Govinda KC ended without any conclusion even on the second day Tuesday after the government side repeated its stance that Dr KC should be brought to Kathmandu first and the medical education bill will not be withdrawn. The meeting between the two sides on Monday had also failed to yield any result.

“They presented their stance that Dr KC should be brought to Kathmandu. We told them that he should not be treated as a patient,” senior advocate Surendra Bhandari, who participated in the dialogue held at the Education Ministry in Singha Durbar on behalf of Dr KC, told Setopati.

“We said he cannot be brought to Kathmandu until we are assured that his demands will be addressed. We told them that he demands that the government should at least take back the bill presented to the parliament, and submit the ordinance brought by the Sher Bahadur Deuba government if possible. But they did not budge from their stance.”

Bhandari revealed that the representatives advised the government team to go to Jumla and negotiate with the fasting doctor themselves.

Dr KC’s representatives went to meet Education Minister Giri Raj Mani Pokharel after the government team did not budge from their stance. Minister Pokharel told them that a helicopter is on standby to fly to Jumla to bring the doctor to Kathmandu and he cannot do anything without that.

Bhandari, advocate Om Prakash Aryal and Dr Avishek Raj Singh has taken part in the dialogue on behalf of Dr KC.

The government on Monday had formed its dialogue team under Education Secretary Khaga Raj Baral and including joint secretaries at the home and health ministries.

Dr KC is into the 18th day of his fast-unto-death at the Karnali Academy of Health Sciences in Jumla demanding that the ordinance brought by the Deuba government be implemented as it is.

Dr KC has accused the government of bringing the bill to replace the ordinance with an intention of providing affiliation for medical college to four hospitals owned by businessmen close to the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN).

The ordinance stops establishment of new medical colleges in Kathmandu Valley for 10 years as demanded by Dr KC, limits granting of affiliation by a university to a maximum of five medical colleges, and allows affiliation to only those that have operated a hospital, taking permission from the Health Ministry, for three years among others.

The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) will start street protest across the country against the KP Sharma Oli government.

NC has announced the street protest accusing the federal and provincial governments of undermining the rule of law instead of moving ahead in accordance to the spirit of constitution.

“District committees have been instructed to organize protest programs at the district headquarters on July 31 against autocratic and anti-people activities, and instructed all units of the party to take the issue to the people to make them participate in the protest programs,” a press statement issued in the name of NC General Secretary Shashank Koirala reads.

The statement adds that the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) has blatantly violated the constitutional provision requiring the speaker and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) from different parties.

The party has also accused the government of ‘illegally’ revoking the ‘legitimate’ appointments made by the Sher Bahadur Deuba government. “The anti-people decision of the government to revoke the decision of the then government to reduce the threshold for elderly allowance to 65 years from 70, and provide Rs 5,000 per month to people with kidney and heart diseases, cancer and spinal injuries must be opposed,” the press statement adds.

Mayor of Dharan Sub-metropolitan City Tara Subba has died on Tuesday. Subba, who was elected on ticket of the then CPN-UML, died at 11 Tuesday morning in course of treatment at Grande Hospital.

He was being treated at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after suffering from pneumonia caused by a strong strain of infectious agent, according to the hospital.

He was admitted at the hospital a week ago.

Today’s meeting of the National Assembly has unanimously passed a condolence motion on the demise of former lawmaker Mohammed Mustaq Alam.

The leader of the Communist Party of Nepal, and former Minister of State died of cardiac arrest in the night of July 13. He died while undergoing treatment at Bansabari-based Shahid Gangalal National Heart Center.

In the meeting, NA Chairperson Ganesh Timilsina read out the condolence motion. A minute silence was also observed in the meeting in the death of Alam.

The NA will meet next at 11:00 am on July 24.

The locals from Bailakundi of Krishnapur municipality-4 in the district have been elated after their representatives began working for the upgrading of the local road.

The road left unrepaired for long was causing inconvenience to them. But now, they have felt easy for mobility, and for taking sick ones to health posts, and children to schools and ferrying agro products to the market.

Ambulance was not accessed to the village for not having motorable road.

“Earlier, the local bodies used to act as if it was ignorant of the presence of people in Bailkundi,” a local Sitaram Chaudhari said, adding, “After the election, people’s representatives have begun addressing our problems and coordinate for developments in village.”

Even the people became active to share their problems with the representatives. Entire settlement is of free Kamaiyas.

Another thing bringing happiness to them is that the land revenue they had been paying was waived.

Another local Ramcharan Rana said, “We’ve improved seeds, pesticides and fertilizers in subsidy.”

Moreover, most of the houses have been supplied electricity, while expansion is continuous for the remaining households.

However, they are worrying about the upgrading of the basic school in the locality, which runs up to grade 3. “As the children are bound to walk a long distance for higher classes, we’ve requested the local representatives to ensure the upgrading of the existing school,” said Buddhi Ram Chaudhary.

British Prime Minister Theresa May dug in her heels Monday after the resignation of two top government ministers over Brexit negotiations whipped up a storm that threatened to topple her fragile minority government

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson quit with a resignation letter accusing May of flying “white flags” of surrender in negotiations with the European Union. He said “the Brexit dream is dying, suffocated by needless self doubt ”

Johnson followed Brexit Secretary David Davis out the door as a hard-won government consensus on future trade ties with the bloc disintegrated less than three days after it was forged, and nine months before Britain is due to leave the EU.

Davis resigned late Sunday, saying May’s plan to maintain close trade and regulatory ties with the EU gave “too much away, too easily.”

If Davis’s resignation rattled May, Johnson’s shook the foundations of her government. The tousle-headed blond Johnson is one of Britain’s best-known politicians, and one of the most prominent advocates for Brexit. Some euroskeptic lawmakers dream of replacing May with a staunch Brexiteer such as Johnson, a populist, polarizing figure who has never made a secret of his ambition to be prime minister.

“It is as though we are sending our vanguard into battle with the white flags fluttering above them,” Johnson wrote in a letter that underscored his credentials as a champion of full-speed Brexit.

“The government now has a song to sing,” he said. “The trouble is that I have practiced the words over the weekend and find that they stick in the throat.”

May named one of her most loyal ministers, Jeremy Hunt, to replace Johnson in the job of Britain’s top diplomat. Hunt had been health secretary, and is a leading government backer of a compromise “soft Brexit.”

May met with Conservative lawmakers in a packed room at Parliament, in a bid to calm the feverish atmosphere in the deeply divided party.

Under Conservative Party rules, a confidence vote in a leader can be triggered if 48 Conservative lawmakers write a letter requesting one. But leading pro-Brexit lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg said he didn’t think she would face a leadership challenge.

“My concern is about the policy rather than the individual,” he said.

With Britain due to leave the 28-nation bloc on March 29, 2019, EU officials have warned Britain repeatedly that time is running out to seal a deal spelling out the terms of the divorce and a post-split relationship.

Two years after Britain voted 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the European Union, May is trying to find a middle way between two starkly differing views —within her party and the country — of the U.K.’s relationship with Europe. Pro-Europeans want to retain close economic ties with the bloc and its market of 500 million people, while some, but not all, Brexit supporters want a clean break to make it possible to strike new trade deals around the world.

The resignations came just days after May announced Friday that she had finally united her quarrelsome government behind a plan for a divorce deal with the EU.

Government unity began to fray within hours. Brexit-supporting lawmakers were angered by the proposals, saying they would keep Britain tethered to the bloc and unable to change its rules to strike new trade deals around the world. They also argued that the proposals breach several of the “red lines” the government had set out, including a commitment to leave the EU’s tariff-free customs union.

In his resignation letter, Davis said the “’common rule book policy hands control of large swathes of our economy to the EU and is certainly not returning control of our laws in any real sense.”

Johnson said in his letter that May’s plan to keep close economic ties with the bloc means Britain is heading for a “semi Brexit” that would leave Britain with the “status of a colony” of the EU.

May defended her Brexit plan to lawmakers in the House of Commons on Monday, with Johnson absent from his usual place on the Conservative front bench.

She said she and the two departed ministers “do not agree about the best way of delivering our shared commitment to honoring the result of the referendum” in which U.K. voters opted to leave the EU.

May’s plan seeks to keep the U.K. and the EU in a free-trade zone for goods, and commits Britain to maintaining the same rules as the bloc for goods and agricultural products.

May said the plan would deliver frictionless trade with Europe and was the “only way to avoid a hard border” between the U.K.’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland. Working out how to keep the currently invisible border free of tariffs and customs checks has been a major stumbling block in negotiations.

Rebuffing claims that her proposals make too many concessions to the EU, May said her “smooth and orderly Brexit” would leave Britain free to make its own laws and trade deals.

Britain and the EU hope to reach broad agreement by October so the national parliaments of the remaining countries can ratify a deal before Britain leaves. The timetable increasingly looks overly optimistic, and EU frustration with British division and chaos is growing.

European Council President Donald Tusk said Monday that “the mess caused by Brexit is the biggest problem in the history of EU-UK relations and it is still very far from being resolved.”

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said the government was incapable of delivering Brexit.

“How can anyone have faith in the prime minister getting a good deal with 27 European Union governments when she can’t even broker a deal within her own Cabinet?” he asked.

May has hung on to power longer than many expected after she lost her majority in a June 2017 snap election that she had called in hopes of strengthening her hand in Brexit talks.

But May’s allies fear more resignations may follow. Steve Baker, a junior Brexit minister, resigned along with Davis. May appointed staunchly pro-Brexit lawmaker Dominic Raab as the country’s new Brexit secretary.Many pro-Brexit lawmakers were furious at what they saw as a sell-out of the clean Brexit they desire. Euroskeptic Conservative lawmaker Peter Bone said party activists felt “betrayed” by the government plan.

May was asked by an opposition lawmaker Monday whether she would contest a vote of confidence if one came rather than resign.

“Nice try,” she said with a touch of bravado. “But I’m getting on with delivering what the British people want.”

Editorial

Democratic conduct of the KP Sharma Oli government and its commitment toward rule of law have been deteriorating by the day. The communist government with two-third majority is becoming mean, narrow-minded and unrestrained instead of displaying generosity. The government’s standing is taking a toll as a result.

It has recently committed an unbecoming and irresponsible act by detaining Vice Chancellor (VC) of Nepal Sanskrit University Kul Prasad Koirala, who was leaving for Canada, from the airport. And PM Oli himself has been involved in such an unseemly act.

The team of professors from Nepal Sanskrit University had got the foreign visit approved from the previous government. It had applied with the office of the pro-chancellor, the Education Ministry, for approval of leave.

The government can deem the visit unnecessary and extravagant. That is its prerogative. Chancellor or pro-chancellor could have refused to grant leave. The visit would have been cancelled with a two-word comment on the VC’s application. He would not have gone abroad after that. His detention at the airport would have been justified had he defied the government and tried to leave at government expenses.

But the government sat on that application. It sent the police to detain the VC when he reached the airport to fly to Canada. Nobody is taking responsibility for sending the police. But it is not difficult to guess who did. The police took him to the PM’s official residence in Baluwatar stating the chancellor wishes to meet him. Nobody dares to detain VC of a university from the airport without instruction of the PM.

Neither the chancellor nor a responsible government official met the VC at Baluwatar. He was freed once the plane he was scheduled to board took off.

Why was the PM inclined to humiliate a professor instead of establishing system?

The all-powerful PM who is dreaming about ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepalis’ seems to enjoy taking a dig at others and humiliating them.

PM Oli has slighted Dr Govinda KC saying an ’employee’ should remain in discipline after the latter started his 15th fast-unto-death demanding reform in medical education. He has said one individual cannot determine who should be given affiliation, and he will not accept that.

The general public knows very well that the biggest ’employees’ are politicians and they have abused their position, government and power for personal interest the most. The luxurious lifestyle most of the leaders lead today is a result of that abuse.

Dr KC is a sage doing his job. He does not have his personal life and expectations. He does not have anything to do other than service. He has taken the rebellious path of hunger strike only after feeling the pulse of the impoverished Nepalis from remote parts who are deprived of health services, and seeing the malpractices in the name of medical colleges in Kathmandu and the connivance of politicians in that.

The then Sushil Koirala government, which included the then CPN-UML, formed a five-member task force under Kedar Bhakta Mathema to probe the malpractices in the medical education sector and suggest measures to address them only after Dr KC’s seventh fast-unto-death.

Former deans of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Dr Madan Kuamr Upadhyay and Dr Ramesh Kanta Adhikari, former executive director of Patan Hospital Dr Arjun Karki, and former executive director of Ganga Lal Hospital Dr Bhagawan Koirala were the other members in the task force.

Dr KC has already staged seven fasts after that mainly for implementation of the task force’s report. Dr KC, therefore, has not arbitrarily said who should be given affiliation and who should not be as PM Oli claims. Nor is he determined to make decisions in a way to benefit businessmen close to him and big donors like the politicians are.

Why is the PM trying to bend such a simple fact? Why is the government so narrow-minded?

The government has displayed utter disregard to system and narrow-mindedness in many latest deeds and not just the cases of VC Koirala and Dr KC.

Voluntary retirement of civil servants is another similar example. The last parliament including even those parties currently in the government had passed a law about voluntary retirement of staffers.

But General Administration Minister Lal Babu Pandit started to publicly malign civil servants once the communist parties formed the government, and threatened the staffers who ‘do not want to work’ to resign. He has vilified the staffers who opted for voluntary retirement complying with the law and procedure formulated by the state. He did not even respect the rights of the staffers for voluntary retirement as specified by the law until that law is amended.

There are many more examples of the current government interpreting issues clearly stated in the constitution and laws as it pleases and violating them.

The two big communist parties took an unconstitutional stand immediately after the election. They demanded they be allowed to form the government even before the Election Commission (EC) published the final results of the National Assembly and the House of Representatives. They stated that their provincial assembly members will not take oath of office from provincial chiefs recommended by the Sher Bahadur Deuba government despite the constitution clearly stating that swearing-in of provincial assembly members cannot happen without appointment of provincial chiefs.

National Assembly cannot be elected without provincial assembly members casting vote and final results of HoR cannot be announced before National Assembly results to pave the way for formation of the new government.

The left parties relented after refusing to budge for a long time, and the new government was ultimately formed.

But arbitrary interpretation of the constitution has not stopped.

The act related to political parties clearly states that any new party must have one-third female representation in the central committee for registration with the EC. But the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN), formed after unification of the then UML and CPN (Maoist Center), was registered violating that provision. Chairman Oli instructed those speaking against that inside his party to stop talking annoyingly, and they complied.

The constitution, similarly, clearly states that speaker and deputy speaker should be from different parties. But both the speaker and deputy speaker are not ready to quit even after unification of the two left parties.

Former Constituent Assembly (CA) chairman and CPN leader Subas Chandra Nembang has comically argued that they need not resign as both of them have already quit the party despite the act related to political parties clearly stating that resignation by speaker and deputy speaker from the party in decorum does not count as quitting the party. There would be no need to put the provision requiring speaker and deputy speaker from different parties if they were to be considered not affiliated to any party.

It is not that Nembang and other CPN leaders do not know that. But Nembang is ready to sacrifice his commitment toward the constitution and his legal understanding to keep both the positions with his party. The whole party is ready for that.

The government that is ready to knowingly cross constitutional and legal limits for its petty interest becomes ungenerous and arbitrary, and starts to take ungenerous and arbitrary decisions.

The government’s insistence to stop demonstrations at Maitighar Mandala and allow demonstrations at only the places it has specified is another arbitrary and ungenerous decision.

It is fundamental right of the citizens to peacefully assemble and demonstrate guaranteed by the constitution. Allowing demonstrations only at the places specified by the government is definitely not the spirit of constitution.

The government argues that one cannot protest at any place one pleases, and claims that such freedom is not allowed in any other country. But it has prohibited demonstrations at the very places in Kathmandu where the citizens were protesting and expressing displeasure with the government in the past few years in a planned manner.

Demonstrations are staged in front of the government’s nose the world over. That is accepted in a democracy. One can, therefore, stage demonstrations in front of the president’s office in the United States and the parliament in the United Kingdom.

Demonstrations are prohibited at both these places in Nepal. The government has made an unreasonable decision to prohibit demonstrations even at Maitighar now.

The government’s standing is deteriorating by the day due to its propagandist attitude in development, compromises in governance, disregard to rule of law, negligence toward the issues of public interest and encroachment of civil rights.

But it is not too late yet. The government had better mend its ways and focus on its duties.

Senior advocate Khagendra Prasad Adhikari has been elected chairman of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
Adhikari won with 303 votes and his nearest contender was Damodar Khadka who got 243 votes, according to election official Narayan Prasad Prasai. The election was held on Saturday.
Likewise, Raju Khadka was elected the vice-chairman, Shubhan Raj Acharya the secretary, Poornima Rimal Guragain the joint-secretary and Saroj Krishna Ghimire the treasurer.
Kiran Kumari Gupta was elected the woman member while the members of the new executive committee are Raju Acharya, Rajaram Upadhyaya, Pushpa Raj Paudel, Dipendra Kumar Rai, Ramesh Maharjan, Bhuvan Prasad Kafley, Kalyan Pokharel and Santosh Kumar Mahato.

The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) has sought the government’s answer on preventing Vice Chancellor (VC) of Nepal Sanskrit University Kul Prasad Koirala from going to Canada to attend a conference.

Member of National Assembly Badri Pandey has called stopping VC from attending the World Sanskrit Conference a display of autocratic character. Pandey claimed that the government’s action has made it difficult for Nepal to get mandate to host the global conference in Nepal in 2024.

He also took exception to the fact that six others were allowed to fly while VC Koirala was taken under control using the police. “He was brought to Baluwatar from the airport at 5:30 in the evening and released only after 7:30,” Pandey stated. “Koirala was told that PM wants to meet him. But he was later told to meet the PM another day citing lack of time. The plane was to take off at eight. This is autocratic.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has delivered a dose of harsh reality to Donald Trump, bashing hopes for a quick denuclearization deal in a pointed rebuke to the US president’s top envoy while accusing the US of making “gangster-like” demands.

After the historic US-North Korea summit in Singapore, Trump declared the North was no longer a threat and would hand over the remains of Americans killed during the Korean War. Now, three weeks later, the two sides were still at odds on all issues, including exactly what denuclearization means and how it might be verified, after a third visit to Pyongyang by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. And, the promised remains have yet to be delivered.

Pompeo wrapped up two days of talks in the North Korean capital on Saturday on an optimistic note even without meeting Kim Jong Un, as he had on his previous two trips. He said his discussions had been productive and conducted in good faith, but he allowed that much more work needed to be done. And, he and other U.S. officials said the two countries, still technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War, had set up working groups to deal with details of an agreement.

Pompeo said he had won commitments for new discussions on denuclearization and announced a Thursday meeting between US and North Korean military officials on the repatriation of the remains. But in a harsh response issued just hours after Pompeo arrived in Tokyo, the North blasted the discussions, saying the visit had been “regrettable” and that Washington’s “gangster-like” demands were aimed at forcing it to abandon nuclear weapons.

In a statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, the foreign ministry said the outcome of Pompeo’s talks with senior official Kim Yong Chol was “very concerning” because it has led to a “dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearization that had been firm.”

“We had expected that the U.S. side would offer constructive measures that would help build trust based on the spirit of the leaders’ summit … we were also thinking about providing reciprocal measures,” it said. “However, the attitude and stance the United States showed in the first high-level meeting (between the countries) was no doubt regrettable. Our expectations and hopes were so naive it could be called foolish.”

It said the North had raised the issue of formally ending the Korean War, which concluded with an armistice and not a peace treaty, but the U.S. came up with a variety of “conditions and excuses” to delay a declaration. It downplayed the significance of the United States suspending its military exercises with South Korea, something trumpeted by Trump after the summit as a success, by saying it made a larger concession by blowing up the tunnels at a nuclear test site.

In criticizing the talks with Pompeo, however, it carefully avoided attacking Trump personally, saying “we wholly maintain our trust toward President Trump,” but stressed that Washington must not allow “headwinds” against the “wills of the leaders.” That appeared to be a reference to Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton, a prominent North Korea hawk who has been vilified by Pyongyang in the past. Pompeo spoke with Trump, Bolton and White House chief of staff John Kelly on Saturday before his second round of meetings with Kim Yong Chol.

The North’s statement, coming so soon after Pompeo’s trip, was sure to fuel growing skepticism in the U.S. over how serious Kim Jong Un is about giving up his nuclear arsenal.

After his talks in Pyongyang, Pompeo stopped in Tokyo and met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and planned to brief him on his discussion with North Korean officials.

On North Korea talks just concluded, Pompeo said: “We raised a full range of issues with them, all the issues that are important to both the United States and Japan.” He said “there is much work for us to do together and I’m honored to be with you here today.”

A former top U.S. diplomat for Asia, Daniel Russel, said the setback with North Korea was to be expected and warned Trump he is engaged in a long negotiation that would not produce easy quick, made for television results that the president likely wants.

“Dealing with North Korea is hard because Kim Jong Un wants it to be hard,” said Russel, who was assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Obama administration. “If you make the Americans fight for every inch, the Americans will start measuring progress in inches — and will wind up paying by the inch. At this point, even to get the North Koreans to follow through with the return of Korean War-era MIA remains, would feel like a big win for Pompeo, even though it wouldn’t affect the nuclear threat.”

“Kim can afford to play hardball because it’s clear to him that Trump, who has already told Americans they can sleep soundly because the threat is now over, badly wants a deal,” Russel said. “And when you want it bad, you get it bad. Why should the North Koreans make concessions to one of Trump’s aides given the president’s record of undercutting them?”

In his comments to reporters before leaving Pyongyang, Pompeo said he and Kim Yong Chol had made “a great deal of progress” in some areas. He stressed that “there’s still more work to be done” in others, which will be handled by the working groups.

He said North Korea said it offered to discuss the closure of a missile engine test site, which would “physically affirm” a move to halt the production of intercontinental range ballistic missiles, that the two sides had agreed that a Pentagon team would meet North Korean officials on or about Thursday at the border between North and South Korea to discuss the repatriation of remains.

However, in the days following the June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, Trump had already announced the return of the remains and the destruction of the missile facility had been completed or were in progress.

Pompeo said more talks were needed on both.

Gandaki has been proposed as the name for Province 4.

Provincial assembly member Maya Nath Adhikari of Communist Part of Nepal (CPN) speaking during a meeting of the assembly on Thursday proposed the name for discussion.

Parliamentary party leader of Nepali Congress (NC) in the province Krishna Chandra Pokharel participating in the discussion stated that Gandaki is the name that depicts identity of all ethnicities. Stressing that Gandaki is the name for everybody, he pointed that NC has recommended the name right from the beginning.

Krishna Thapa of Rashtriya Janamorcha said it would be difficult to name the province after ethnicities. Pointing that there are just seven provinces and 105 ethnicities in Nepal, he added that nobody should demand any province to be named after an ethnicity. Hari Sharan Acharya of Naya Shakti Nepal, however, proposed that Tamuwan should also be included in the name along with Gandaki.

Sixteen provincial assembly members taking part in the discussion proposed Gandaki as the name. All the parties except Naya Shakti, that has two members in the 59-strong assembly, are in favor of Gandaki.

The assembly was scheduled to discuss the name of province since Tuesday but the assembly meeting could not be held for two days with differences within CPN on the name. Some in the party were in favor of Tamuwan Magrant while others supported Gandaki Tamuwan. But the party finally agreed on Gandaki.

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari has called upon all the stakeholders to work together for providing quality education from the primary to the 10+2 level.

He said this while inaugurating the six-room block of the Janapriya Secondary School at Simalchaur of Pokhara Lekhnath Metropolitan City here.

On the occasion, he stressed that the outcome of the investment made by the government in the physical infrastructure and teaching-learning activities at community schools should be ensured through improved quality of education.

The school building was constructed at a total cost of Rs 15.195 million, including Rs 8.49 million met through internal sources of the school, Rs 5.2 million provided by the then District Education Office and Rs 1.5 million made available from the MP’s Development Fund. The school has 1,800 students.

The police have arrested 12 persons for demonstrating at Maitighar Mandal in support of fasting Dr Govinda KC and Ganga Maya Adhikari.

Govinda KC Alliance organized the demonstrations to put pressure on the government to protect the lives of Dr KC who has been staging a fast-unto-death in Jumla for medical reforms, and Adhikari who has been staging one at the Bir Hospital demanding justice for her slain son.

The police intervened in the protest program and arrested Indra Prasad Aryal, Charan Prasai, Mahamanik Acharya, Lok Raj Awasthi, Bishwo Dulal, Jayaram Dahal, Sagar Adhikari, Manoj Adhikari, Dr Surendra Bhandari, Dr Uday Pyakurel, Mohan Gyawali and Lokendra Pokharel.

The protestors urged the government to save lives of Dr KC and Adhikari, and revoke the decision to declare Maitighar Mandala a restricted zone.