Columnists

Yubaraj Ghimire

Nepal ex-Speaker gets clean chit in attempt to rape case

Tue, Feb 18, 2020

K B Mahara, a senior leader of the ruling Nepal Communist Party, walked free from the Dillibazar jail soon after a judge at the Kathmandu district court read out his judgment declaring Mahara innocent in the case.

Nepal suspends licence of hotel where 8 Indians died

Wed, Feb 12, 2020

Eight people from two families from Kerala had inhaled carbon monoxide while using a kerosene heater in a single room with its windows shut on January 21, leading to their death in a Kathmandu hospital, 45 km away from Daman.

Nepal getaway for old classmates from Kerala ends in tragedy, 8 dead

Wed, Jan 22, 2020

According to police in Nepal, the two families were part of a group of 15 from Kerala who had stopped over at Daman while travelling from Pokhara to Kathmandu.

Nepal’s Prachanda says he can be blamed for ‘only’ 5,000 deaths during civil war

Thu, Jan 16, 2020

Prachanda’s statement comes amid demands by rival politicians that he should be tried for killing 17,000 people during the insurgency, which was led by Prachanda.

Nepal charges 122 Chinese nationals with ‘indecent behaviour’, seeks to deport them

Wed, Dec 25, 2019

Senior sources said the raids against the Chinese nationals were conducted based on information supplied by Chinese authorities. “A special plane will come to take them to China soon,” sources said.

Nepal Dy PM Upendra Yadav quits as his key Madhesi party withdraws Oli backing

Wed, Dec 25, 2019

Yadav said he resigned due to Oli’s reluctance to amend the Constitution, which was the condition for his joining the Cabinet.

Nepal arrests 97 Chinese nationals ‘preparing to commit major financial crimes’

Tue, Dec 24, 2019

Police raided three places in Kathmandu where the arrested persons had rented multi-storey houses, which they were purportedly using as offices and as residences.

Sonia Gandhi‘s anti-CAA post retweeted from Nepal PM handle, later deleted

Sun, Dec 22, 2019

Sonia’s 2.37-minute video message, criticising the Modi government over attempts to allegedly suppress protests against the new citizenship law with “brute force” and tweeted from the Congress party’s official handle, was retweeted a few minutes later from Oli’s Twitter handle on Friday.

Nepal PM Oli hospitalised, put on ventilator; condition ‘stable’

Wed, Nov 27, 2019

A bulletin issued by the hospital said Oli had a stomach pain on Monday night, and his appendix was removed the next morning. His condition was said to be stable.

Map row: Nepal’s PM claims Kalapani area, tells India to ‘withdraw’

Mon, Nov 18, 2019

Kalapani map row: It was Oli’s first public response to a controversy triggered by official India maps released recently that included Kalapani, an area located on the western edge of Nepal.

Explained: Kalapani, a small area on the India map that bothers Nepal

Tue, Nov 12, 2019

Mapped within Uttarakhand is a 372-sq km area called Kalapani, bordering far-west Nepal and Tibet. While the Nepal government and political parties have protested, India has said the new map does not revise the existing boundary with Nepal.

Nepal protests inclusion of Kalapani area in official India map

Thu, Nov 07, 2019

Nepal’s ministry of foreign affairs said the publication of the map when a joint ministerial commission had referred the matter to the foreign secretaries of the two sides for settlement was not proper and “absolutely not acceptable for Nepal”.

Nepal, China step closer to signing extradition treaty

Mon, Oct 14, 2019

Nepal shares a long border with Tibet and is home to around 20,000 Tibetan exiles — two cases of self-immolation by Tibetans have been reported in the last few years.

Nepal ex-Speaker KB Mahara held in sexual harassment case

Mon, Oct 07, 2019

Police arrested Mahara from the official residence of the Speaker, which he had not yet vacated after resigning from the post following allegations that he attempted to rape an employee of the parliamentary secretariat.

Nepal: Accused of rape, Speaker steps down

Wed, Oct 02, 2019

In a letter to the deputy speaker, printed by newspaper My Republica, Mahara said he was stepping down “on moral grounds to facilitate a fair probe into the allegations raising serious questions about my character”.

Modi, Oli to open India-Nepal petroleum pipeline today

Tue, Sep 10, 2019

The inauguration of the project, which will carry fuel from Barauni refinery via Motihari in Bihar to Amalekhgunj in Nepal, will mark the completion of a project that was agreed upon bilaterally 15 years ago.

Jaishankar calls on Nepal PM, takes part in bilateral meet

Thu, Aug 22, 2019

Jaishankar, who flew in from Dhaka after a two-day visit to Bangladesh on Wednesday morning, will call on Nepal’s President Bidya Bhandari on Thursday.

Nepal: Four former govt employees under probe commit suicide

Tue, Aug 13, 2019

The Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has expedited investigations into a major land deal that involved transfer of government property to private individuals in the neighbourhood of the Prime Minister’s official residence.

Nepal rain kills 14, paralyses normal life

Sat, Jul 13, 2019

As collapsing houses, landslides and other rain-related incidents caused death and destruction, the government alerted people across the country, especially low lying areas, that more rain was likely and that caution should be exercised.

Nepal govt says no to Dalai Lama birthday

Sun, Jul 07, 2019

Sources in Nepal’s Home Ministry said the government has denied permission to the office of the Dalai Lama in Kathmandu, asking them not to celebrate the spiritual leader’s birthday — he was born July 6, 1935.