Nepal Highlights

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has sought clarification from five financial institutions including a development bank for not following the NRB directives asking them to explain why their licenses should not be annulled, Nagarik daily reported.

The Supreme Court (SC) has issued an interim order in the name of the District Attorney's Office, Achham to file cases against all accused of raping Suntali Dhami at the District Police Office, Achham during Dashain festival last year.   The District Police Office, the District Administration Office and the District Attorney's Office had exempted three accused - Dan Singh Bhandari, Biradatta Badu, Nariman Mahatara – citing lack of evidence.   Hearing on a case filed at the SC by the victim, Suntali Dhami, a joint bench of SC Justices Balram KC and Bharatraj Uprety said on Wednesday, the complaint of the victim itself is evidence enough to file a case against the accused in incidents of such nature.   The SC bench further said, the exemption on the accused would be denial of justice to the victim.   Cases have already been filed against three other accused policemen.

Newly appointed coordinator of the secretariat formed by Army Integration Special Committee (AISC) to manage and monitor arms and former combatants staying in various cantonments across the country, Balananda Sharma, has prepared an action plan to take over the management and monitoring of the cantonments before United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) wraps up its operation in Nepal.   Sharma called a meeting of the secretariat Wednesday, one day after his appointment as coordinator, and presented his plan before the secretariat members and also apprised chief secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire and Acting Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar about the logistic and manpower requirements.     According to the plan presented by Sharma, a central Operation and Situation Centre and a security mechanism in each camp will monitor the former combatants and the arms, while a central Administration Section with representation in each camp will look after the monitoring.   At present, the Joi

The nominations for vital posts in Nepali Congress (NC) Central Working Committee (CWC) made by president Sushil Koirala are likely to be voted out by the elected CWC.   Koirala's nominations have been criticised by CWC members of the Sher Bahadur Deuba camp as well as by some leaders close to him.   Over four dozen leaders close to Deuba including CWC members and Constituent Assembly (CA) members gathered at Club International in Lalitpur Wednesday discussed the nominations, Nagarik daily reported.   They have decided to strive for consensus and opt for voting if Koirala does not withdraw the nominations. The leaders also agreed to vote against the proposals.   Koirala has nominated Ram Chandra Paudel as the vice president and Krishna Sitaula as the general secretary. Although, Paudel's nomination has been generally accepted, Sitaula's nomination has evoked criticism from leaders of the Koirala camp itself.   Party leader Arjun Narsingh KC, considered close to Koirala

The International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) has listed caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal as 'Former Prime Minister of Nepal' in its website.   The list of Standing Committee Members of the conference mentioned at http://www.theicapp.org/committee/mem.html identifies Nepal as Former Prime Minister Senior Leader of the Communist Party (UML).   The conference is taking place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from December 1 to 3.   PM Nepal left for Cambodia to attend the conference on Tuesday.