Nepal

Kathmandu, July 13

A meeting of the establishment faction of the Nepali Congress party today decided to follow the provisions of the party statute for holding its next general convention.

This means that the party will have to extend the tenure of the current leadership by one year.

The NC statute stipulates that the partyleadership will have a four-year tenure which can be extended by one year under special circumstances. Leaders close to Deuba said the party needed to form interim mechanisms to start the process of the 14th General Convention and hence it would be impossible to hold the next GC within the stipulated time.

Vice-president of NC Bimalendra Nidhi told THT that if the party had to follow the statute, then the next GC could not be held by mid-March, 2020, when the tenure of the current leadership ends.

As per the partystatute, working committees will have to be formed at lower levels, including provincial level, and that process could take at least six months to complete. &We do not want to prolong the tenure of the leadership beyond the regular tenure and we are ready to declare the date for the GC if other leaders want us to do that, but if we do so, we will have to ignore the party statute which was ratified by the Central Working Committee,& Nidhi argued.

Another NC leader Ramesh Lekhak, who is close to Deuba, said it was understood that the party could not hold its next GC within four years. &Almost all past presidents, including Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Girija Prasad Koirala and Sushil Koirala held the partyGC in the fifth year. So there is nothing unusual about holding the GC in the fifth year,& he said and added that the party leaders, who were opposing the proposed extension, should not have okayed provisions in the party statute related to formation of interim mechanisms.

&Before we hold the next GC, we need to ratify new regulations, distribute active cadre membership cards, update the data of active members and then declare the date for the GC,& Lekhak said and added that this process would definitely delay the the next GC. &This means we will have to hold the next GC in in the fifth year, but I am not in favour of extending another six months as per the constitutional provisions,& he added.

Senior leader Ramchandra Paudel, who leads one of the factions in the NC, said that establishment factiondecision to extend the general convention deadline would cause great political loss to the party. &We need to hold the GC on time and make preparations for the next elections,& he said, adding, &The party needed to follow a clear timeline for holding the next GC.&

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Kathmandu, July 13

Chief of Army Staff Purna Chandra Thapa has highlighted the leading role of Nepali peacekeepers in the United Nations mandated peace missions for maintaining peace and security in conflict affected areas.

General Thapa, who is in New York to participate in the third biennial Chiefs of Defence Staff Conference organised at the UN Headquarters, also expressed Nepali Armyreadiness to deploy more troops upon the request of the UN.

The conference was organised on the theme ‘Generating Capabilities to Meet High-Performance Requirements& in UN peacekeeping operations with the objective of generating solutions to issues related to specialised capabilities and gaps, performance, training and increasing the participation of uniformed women in peace operations.

Defence chiefs and senior military officials from more than 108 member states and regional organisations participated in the conference, according to a press release issued by the New York-based Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations, yesterday.

Earlier, General Thapa participated in a seminar on ‘Women, Peace and Security.& While sharing his experience as the Head of Mission and Force Commander of United Nations Disengagement Observer Force in Syria in 2016, he highlighted the critical role of women in restoring peace and order in conflict affected areas.

He expressed his commitment to gradually increase the number of female observers, staff officers and contingents in the peacekeeping missions.

General Thapa also held a bilateral meeting with Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Amina J Mohammed. During the meeting, General Thapa thanked the United Nations for the trust and goodwill accorded to the professionalism of Nepali peacekeepers. He also informed the DSG that the performance of Nepali peacekeepers would be further enhanced to fulfil the mandates in an effective manner.

DSG Mohammed expressed gratitude to Nepal for its contribution to world peace and commended the professionalism of Nepali peacekeepers.

Likewise, General Thapa held bilateral meetings with other high-ranking officials of the United Nations.

More than108 member states and regional organisations participated in the conference

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Kathmandu, July 13

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is least likely to reshuffle his Cabinet anytime soon as the top leaders of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) are busy working on concluding the unification process of the two communist parties — the then CPN- UML and CPN-Maoist Centre, according to senior leaders.

The then CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre were merged to form the NCP in May 2018, but the work division and appointments of chiefs of the different departments as well as the powerful 147 politburo in the NCP have not been finalised yet.

Central Committee member of NCP Devendra Paudel said Cabinet reshuffle would not take place until the remaining tasks of the unification process were completed.

&The partysenior leaders, including co-chairs of the party Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal have prioritised concluding the unification process over Cabinet reshuffle,& Paudel , who is close to Dahal, told THT.

Amid criticism of the governmentdismal performance, NCPCo-chair Dahal had publicly said the Oliled Cabinet would be reshuffled soon.

&Oli has deferred his plan to reshuffle the Cabinet for sometime following discussions with senior leaders, including Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal,& a standing committee member close to Oli told THT.

According to him, the two co-chairs and General Secretary Bishnu Paudel have been working on finalising the merger process internally.

The party has already prepared a framework to appoint in-charges and co-incharges in all 77 districts.

&The party will delegate the responsibilities of in-charges and co-in-charges to the chairpersons and secretaries of the then CPN-UML and the then CPN-Maoist Centre,& he added.

In-charges and co-incharges of the party will be office bearers of the old parties.

The then CPN-UML will hold the post of in-charges in 45 districts and the then Maoist Centre will get the post of co-in-charges in 32 districts.

In districts where CPN- UML gets the post of in-charges, Maoist Centre will get the post of co-incharges, and vice-versa.

&Announcement of district in-charges and co-in-charges will take place once senior leader of the party Madhav Nepal arrives from Sir Lanka.

Nepal is scheduled to arrive tomorrow and he will hold a meeting with two co-chairs of the party,& said Bishnu Rijal, a central committee member and a leader close to Nepal, adding that ‘one person, one post& policy wouldn&t be implemented this time.

Earlier this week, the conflict between the leaders from the erstwhile Maoist Centre and CPN-UML regarding the new partyideology was settled after the two co-chairs agreed to publish a political document prepared by the Nepal-led committee.

The temporary political ideology of NCP will now be ‘peopledemocracy& until the first general convention of the party.

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Kathmandu, July 12

A new building each at Paropakar Maternity and WomenHospital and Bir Hospital were inaugurated today.

The new building of the maternity hospital consists of 24- bed emergency room, a delivery room, a birthing centre, two rooms for surgery, a post operative ward, 12-bed Intensive Care Unit for new mothers, and 40-bed ICU for neonates. The new three-storey building of Bir Hospital has ICU and cardiology department.

The new buildings of both the hospitals are equipped with back-up systems to continue surgical operations without disruption during post-disaster emergencies.

Inaugurating the new building of the maternity hospital, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli assured that the government would help the hospital for construction of parking space, and solve its land scarcity problem.

On the occasion, Ambassador of Japan to Nepal, Masamichi Saigo expressed hope that facilities in the new building of Paropakar Maternity and WomenHospital would provide quality reproductive health services to women and essential care for mother and new born babies.

Director at Paropakar Maternity and WomenHospital Jageshwor Gautam said, &We can now provide quality, effective and efficient services to more women and children.&

The Government of Japan had assisted for the construction of new hospital buildings.

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