Parsa has seen a spate of violence in recent days. Unidentified gunmen killed Rajesh Mandal, deputy-regional secretary of the Maoist party in Parsa, on Tuesday, just one day after a bodyguard was killed amid gunfire targetted at Parsa’s assistant CDO Bal Bahadur Malla. The violence comes after talks between the Joint Tarai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) and the government broke down. The Himalayan Times reports:

People in Parsa, Bara and Rautahat of the central Tarai region are a terrified lot after incidents of violence and crime have gone up. Locals said the security situation in the area has worsened, while security personnel have been demoralised. Underground armed groups in the area have killed four persons in the last one week.

The back-and-forth on whether the prime minister should participate in the High Level Political Mechanism, which was established last week, continues. Pushpa Kamal Dahal told reporters in Dhangadi, “There will be no way out of the present political deadlock if we include the main of the political impasse.” He added, “Why is the government terrorized? This mechanism is not to change the government but has been formed with a clear aim of ending the current deadlock, constitution, and concluding the peace process.”

Senior UML leader, KP Oli, isn’t so happy with the HLPM either. Republica reports:

Oli claimed that the political mechanism lacked constitutional recognition as it had been formed by the three political leaders individually.

Oli claimed that the one-time rebels aimed to seize state power with the help of weapons. “Their endeavor to seize state power will be not be fulfilled by any means,” Oli asserted.

The CA Committee on Forms of Governance will submit three different concept papers to the CA due to persisting disagreements between the Maoists, an NC-UML alliance, and the Tarai Madhesh Democratic Party. The differences first emerged during committee elections on 1 December, when neither of the models put forth by the parties won a majority, although the Maoists’ model got the most votes. The Himalayan Times reports:

“Since no report could garner a simple majority of the present committee members during the elections held on 1 December, we today decided to submit the copilation of three reports to the CA chairman,” said committee chairman Shambhu Hajara Dusadh.

A fire in the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) has destroyed millions of rupees worth of rhodendron and bamboo. The fire was sparked by marijuana-cigarette stubs left by two hotel porters in the tourist village of Chhomarong, and has since spread to neighboring hills. Nagarik reports:

“Until now, there have been no human casualties but the fire has destroyed rhodendron and bamboo forests” said ACAP official, Sudip Adhikari.

Half-way around the world in Haiti, at least one Nepal Army soldier serving on the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti has reportedly injured following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake.