An armed group killed a 10-year-old schoolboy in an indiscriminate firing incident in Kavre on Wednesday. Santosh Karki, a quite second grader, was on his way home from school when he was shot dead. Kantipur reports that the armed group was called by a local Maoist party worker who was facing minor disputes with his neighbours:
Maoist’s Kavre district advisor Ratna Lama called in 10 armed men after locals complained about the building materials he had left on the road meant for the construction of his house.
According to eyewitnesses, locals complained that the building materials piled near a tempo stop had obstructed transport. There had been a minor dispute when locals had gone to the Lama family with a request to remove the materials.
Kavre district in-charge of Kavre district, Dinanath Gautam, admitted that Lama was a close advisor of the party. “If found of wrongdoing, we will hand him to the authorities,” he said.
In Kathmandu, Maoists are challenging the government to fire Defence Minister Bidya Bhandari after she said that her ministry and Nepal Army would not accept decisions made by the Special Committee on Integration and Rehabilitation of Maoist combatants. Kantipur writes:
Saying the ministers have adopted the Indian Army Chief Deepak Kapoor's language, Maoist Chairman asked Nepal Army soldiers to rise in protest against 'foreign agents'.Dahal claimed that Delhi has replaced Narayanhiti's role in the army command. “I have asked the army whether they want to be slaves to foreigners or sons of a free Nepal.”
Meanwhile, the cabinet has detached itself from Bhandari saying her views are personal and does not reflect the views of the government. Information Minister Shankar Pokharel released a statement on Wednesday saying:
“We are fully committed to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and fully support the implementation of all decisions made by the Special Committee.”
More disagreements are likely to flare up now that the Constituent Assembly Committee on State Restructuring and Distribution of State Powers (yes that’s the name of the committee) approved a 14-state federal model with special political preference to ethnic groups with large population. From Republica:
This provision means that only members of the largest community in the province will be given special preference for important posts like chief minister, for two terms. The other communities will be deprived of this right and they will not be allowed to get such posts even by free competition.
Twenty-one members of the 43-member committee voted in favor of the provision. Nepali Congress (NC) and other lawmakers objected to the decision saying that 21 votes were not sufficient to constitute a majority of the committee as 42 members -- other than Narayan Man Bijukchhe of Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) -- were present at the meeting. But committee Chairman Lokendra Bista Magar claimed the number was a majority as Pratibha Rana of Rastriya Prajatantra Party left the meeting just before the voting on the issue. According to CA regulations, provisions need to be endorsed by a two-thirds majority of CA members present during voting.
Yeah. We said so.