| India-Pakistan |
| Pak procuring paper from London to make fake Indian notes |
| 2008-08-29 |
| With Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh proving to be active partners in probing fake Indian currency notes (FICN) related cases, India has recently traced Pakistan's London connection in printing and circulation of counterfeit notes. Although the role of Pakistani intelligence agency ISI in printing and circulation of FICN has never been a secret, sleuths recently found that the spy agency had, of late, impressed upon the government in Islamabad to import additional currency-standard printing paper from companies located in London to pursue its nefarious designs in India. Referring to recent probes done in coordination with sleuths of Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh, officials pointed out that Pakistan has been procuring currency-standard printing paper in huge quantities from London-based companies -- much higher than normal requirement of the country for printing its own currency -- for diverting it to print FICN. This is, however, only one aspect of Pakistan's direct involvement in the FICN racket which is being carried out by using the network of underworld kingpin Dawood Ibrahim not only in India but also in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal in close association with different terror outfits. The ISI has, in fact, been using state air-carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to tansport counterfeit currency to its conduits in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, sources in investigating agencies said. The modus operandi of the ISI was revealed by two Nepali counterfeit currency traffickers who were arrested by Thailand police in October last year. During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they were working for a prominent Nepali businessman who was the son of a former minister in King Gyanendra's regime. "The fact that Nepali territory is being used by Pakistanis to smuggle counterfeit currency is well known. The first such expose was made when Pakistani diplomats were caught distributing FICN in Nepal," an official said. Recent arrests made in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh also pointed to Pakistan's connection in the circulation of FICN. One Naushad Alam Khan, arrested in Dhaka on April 24 with FICN worth Rs 50 lakh, had admitted his direct link with HuJI (Bangladesh) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan. It was found that both Khan and Hannan had fought for Taliban in Afghanistan. |
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| India-Pakistan |
| Pak procuring paper from London to make fake Indian notes |
| 2008-08-28 |
| NEW DELHI: With Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh proving to be active partners in probing fake Indian currency notes (FICN) related cases, India has recently traced Pakistan's London connection in printing and circulation of counterfeit notes. Although the role of Pakistani intelligence agency ISI in printing and circulation of FICN has never been a secret, sleuths recently found that the spy agency had, of late, impressed upon the government in Islamabad to import additional currency-standard printing paper from companies located in London to pursue its nefarious designs in India. Referring to recent probes done in coordination with sleuths of Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh, officials pointed out that Pakistan has been procuring currency-standard printing paper in huge quantities from London-based companies much higher than normal requirement of the country for printing its own currency for diverting it to print FICN. This is, however, only one aspect of Pakistan's direct involvement in the FICN racket which is being carried out by using the network of underworld kingpin Dawood Ibrahim not only in India but also in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal in close association with different terror outfits. The ISI has, in fact, been using state air-carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to tansport counterfeit currency to its conduits in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, sources in investigating agencies said. The modus operandi of the ISI was revealed by two Nepali counterfeit currency traffickers who were arrested by Thailand police in October last year. During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they were working for a prominent Nepali businessman who was the son of a former minister in King Gyanendra's regime. The fact that Nepali territory is being used by Pakistanis to smuggle counterfeit currency is well known. The first such expose was made when Pakistani diplomats were caught distributing FICN in Nepal, an official said. Recent arrests made in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh also pointed to Pakistan's connection in the circulation of FICN. One Naushad Alam Khan, arrested in Dhaka on April 24 with FICN worth Rs 50 lakh, had admitted his direct link with HuJI (Bangladesh) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan. It was found that both Khan and Hannan had fought for Taliban in Afghanistan Sri Lankan police had arrested two Pakistani nationals and a local in Colombo and seized a large amount of counterfeit Indian currency from them on July 8. It was found during the probe that both of them had arrived from Karachi. All those arrested in neighbouring countries had also disclosed that the ISI had been using its printing facilities in Quetta, Baluchistan, to print FICN before transporting it to different countries for its onward push into India. Besides Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, counterfeit currency is also sent to Thailand before it finally makes its way to India using the south-east Asian network of Dawood. |
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| India-Pakistan | |||
| Maoist leader becomes Nepalese PM | |||
| 2008-08-15 | |||
| Members of Nepal's parliament have overwhelmingly elected the Maoist leader Prachanda as the country's new prime minister Maoists won a surprise victory in April elections, and two other key parties supported Prachanda in the vote.
It is only two years since Prachanda emerged from more than two decades underground as a militant communist leader. "I am very happy and very emotional," he said as he left the constituent assembly after the vote, reported AFP news agency. What the Maoists called their "people's war" had left 13,000 people dead, tens of thousands displaced and much of the country's infrastructure destroyed. The BBC's Charles Haviland in Kathmandu says that now the former guerrilla will be the most powerful politician in the Himalayan country, after 464 lawmakers gave him their vote and only 113 rejected him. The Maoists' deputy leader, Baburam Bhattarai, said: "Today is a day of pride and it will be written with golden letters in the history of the nation." He predicted earlier that Prachanda would be a leader "for a new era", comparable to Lenin or Napoleon.
Our correspondent says that Prachanda's elevation had long seemed inevitable after his party scored its convincing win in April. Prachanda was almost guaranteed victory because he had the support of three parties - his own, the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) and the MJF (Madheshi Janadhikar Forum). The Maoists' Congress Party rivals accused them before the vote of plotting to set up a totalitarian communist regime, a suggestion they strongly denied.
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| India-Pakistan |
| Deposed Nepal king quits palace |
| 2008-06-12 |
| KATHMANDU - Resigned to his fate, Nepal's deposed King Gyanendra left his pink pagoda-roofed palace for the last time on Wednesday, but vowed to stay in the country and work for its people. He swept out of the sprawling Narayanhiti complex in the heart of the capital in a black limousine, driving behind an armed police pick-up, past thousands of onlookers and hundreds of riot police. Three hours earlier, the former monarch had calmly addressed his first-ever press conference, expressing his desire not to go into exile. "I would like to live in my Motherland and contribute in whatever way possible to the greater good of the country and peace in this land," he said. Gyanendra will be allowed to continue his business interests, and is believed to have a substantial fortune in tea, tobacco and casinos. At the press conference, he had seemed composed and often smiled. With the tips of his fingers pressed together, he said he accepted the assembly's verdict and had already handed over the diamond- and ruby-studded crown and a ceremonial sceptre. |
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| India-Pakistan |
| All eyes on palace for Nepal king's eviction |
| 2008-05-31 |
| KATHMANDU - Nepal's government said Friday it has started an audit of palace property and sent an official letter telling King Gyanendra to leave after an historic assembly abolished the monarchy. The ousted Hindu "god-king', given a two-week eviction order, has kept a studied silence behind the high walls of his pink-hued Narayanhiti palace, although the royal flag has come down from over the heavily guarded complex. "An official letter has been dispatched from the government asking Gyanendra Shah to vacate the palace," Information Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara told AFP. "A high-level committee has been formed to prepare the details of the property inside the palace. All the property will be transferred to national property," he added. An estimated 1,500 soldiers guard the king, but Nepal's army -- seen as a bastion of royalists -- said they will comply with the decision, which also involves turning the royal palace in Kathmandu into a museum. |
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| India-Pakistan |
| Nepal abolishes monarchy |
| 2008-05-29 |
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| India-Pakistan |
| Nepal assembly sworn in, to abolish monarchy |
| 2008-05-28 |
| KATHMANDU - A newly elected assembly that will rewrite Nepal's constitution was sworn in on Tuesday, one day before the Maoist-dominated body is expected to abolish the monarchy. "This is an epoch-making day,' Maoist leader Prachanda, who is slated to head the country's next government, told reporters before entering the conference centre to be sworn in. 'For the past 50 years people have been fighting for this,' said Prachanda. 'From tomorrow, the institution of the monarchy will formally come to an end.' Political leaders said the assembly will dissolve the impoverished country's 240-year-old monarchy and sack the unpopular King Gyanendra when it holds its first session on Wednesday. Minutes after the swearing-in ceremony, the king was seen leaving the palace in a small convoy of three vehicles. The king was driving himself and Queen Komal in a black Mercedes sedan, an AFP reporter at the palace gates said. The palace press secretariat said it did not know where the king was going, or if he was leaving for good -- in line with Maoist demands he vacate the palace. 'The only people who would know where he is going are his security detail,' a palace official said. |
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| India-Pakistan |
| Nepal government warns king he must leave palace |
| 2008-05-27 |
| KATHMANDU (Rooters) - The Nepali government warned on Tuesday that it could use force to throw unpopular King Gyanendra out of the royal palace if he refuses to leave voluntarily after the 239-year-old monarchy is abolished. A special assembly elected in April is scheduled to hold its first meeting on Wednesday and formally declare an end to the monarchy, a key part of a 2006 peace deal with Maoist former rebels that ended a decade-long civil war. "The king must leave the palace immediately and move to the Nirmal Niwas," Peace and Reconstruction Minister Ram Chandra Poudel said, referring to Gyanendra's private home. "If he does not leave the palace then the government might have to use force to vacate the palace," he said. "This will not be good for him." There was no immediate comment from the palace. Many Nepalis think that the king will quietly go after the assembly vote. Gyanendra has been living in the Narayanhity royal palace in the heart of Kathmandu since ascending the throne in 2001, but he has made no public statement over his plans. The government has banned demonstrations around major royal sites and the assembly. But Maoists and other main political parties say they are going to take to the streets on Wednesday to celebrate the monarchy's end. The government that includes the Maoists took over control of the royal palace after Gyanendra was forced to end his absolute rule following weeks of street protests in 2006. Anti-monarchy Maoists emerged as the largest party in elections to the 601-member assembly in April. Authorities posted more police outside the International Convention Centre, the venue of Wednesday's assembly meeting, after a pro-Hindu militant group set off two small bombs outside the building, officials said. Monday's blasts did not cause any injuries but raised security concerns ahead of the historic meet. |
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| India-Pakistan |
| Nepal sets date to abolish monarchy |
| 2008-05-13 |
| Nepal's Government says its new constitution-drafting body will meet for the first time on May 28, when it is due to formally abolish the monarchy and declare the country a republic. The Maoists, who scored a surprise victory in landmark elections last month, have vowed that the monarchy would be scrapped during the first sitting of the assembly. The ex-rebels overturned all predictions in the April polls, winning 220 of the 601 seats in the constitutional assembly - more than twice the number of their nearest rivals and pre-election favourites, the Nepali Congress. "The prime minister has sent letters to all the participating political parties calling for the first meeting of the constituent assembly on May 28," Aditya Baral, adviser to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, told AFP. King Gyanendra's fall from power will mark the end of the world's only Hindu monarchy, which has been on the throne for 240 years. |
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| India-Pakistan |
| Two die in Nepal mosque bombing |
| 2008-03-31 |
| Two people have been killed and at least one more injured after a mosque was bombed in Nepal's second biggest city, Biratnagar. Reports say two men on a motorcycle hurled four bombs at the Choti mosque during evening prayers on Saturday. Three of the devices exploded, and two of the people who were seriously injured died on their way to hospital. A shadowy Hindu extremist group - the Nepal Defence Army - said in a statement it carried out the attack. The group first emerged more than a year ago, saying it was fighting to preserve Nepal's old status as a Hindu state. An indefinite curfew has been imposed in the district. Most of Nepal's small Muslim minority live in the southern plains, where Biratnagar is situated. For many months the region has seen ethnic tensions, with numerous antagonistic factions emerging. Violence grounded in religion is rare, but some Hindu nationalists have threatened that it will increase because, they say, there is widespread resentment over Nepal being declared a secular state. Nepal's monarchy is closely bound-up with Hinduism. But after King Gyanendra's royal government fell in 2006 the restored parliament declared the country secular. |
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| India-Pakistan |
| Nepal parliament votes to end monarchy |
| 2007-12-29 |
| Nepal lawmakers Friday formally approved a decision to abolish the monarchy and declare the country a republic as part of a deal with former Maoist rebels. However, King Gyanendra will remain on the throne for the time being as the agreement between the Maoists and the government last weekend to make Nepal a republic can only be put into effect at the first meeting of a new constituent assembly. Polls for that assembly are due to be held by mid-April. |
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| India-Pakistan |
| Koirala to end monarchy, proclaim Nepal a republic |
| 2007-12-23 |
| KATHMANDU: The nearly three-month long paralysis gripping Nepal's peace process could now be coming to an end with PM Girija Prasad Koirala on Saturday giving in to the Maoists demand to axe the monarchy and proclaim the Himalayan kingdom a republic. After interminable negotiations between the ruling parties and the guerrillas, a tripartite meeting on Saturday resulted in an agreement, a senior politician said. Koirala, who also heads the Nepali Congress, the biggest party in parliament, on Saturday held prolonged parleys with Maoist supremo Prachanda and Madhav Kumar Nepal, chief of the second largest ruling party, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (UML). The three have reached an agreement to amend Nepal's interim constitution - which has left the kingdom's two-century-old monarchy in suspension - so that the country becomes a federal republic, UML leader Jhalanath Khanal told the media at the end of the meeting. However, the Maoists, who began waging a war on the Shah dynasty of kings from 1996 and working for a communist republic, would still have to wait for the actual end of monarchy. According to the tripartite agreement, the implementation will start after the twice-deferred constituent assembly election is held. If the elected assembly endorses a republic by a simple majority, only then will the king be stripped of his crown and become a commoner. Koirala, who had also been opposing the Maoist demand for a fully proportional electoral system, has now reached a compromise with the rebels to hold the polls employing a mixed system in which 60% of the seats will be chosen proportionally and the remaining 40 through straight contests. Saturday's agreement will be tabled before a meeting of the six ruling parties and the Maoists Sunday. If endorsed by them, the government will finally make a move in parliament to amend the constitution. It has already started taking over some of the properties King Gyanendra inherited from his slain brother Birendra to put them to public use. These properties are mainly 16 royal palaces, including the one in Kathmandu where the king and Queen Komal stay, as well as their winter resort. Everything now hinges on the critical election. |
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