Nepali Army refutes Prachanda’s allegations

A week after chairman of the CPN (Maoist), Prachanda, alleged Nepali Army of doing nothing in the history than killing Nepali people, Nepali Army has expressed ‘serious reservations’ towards the remarks made by the Maoist supreM.
In a statement issued on Thursday, spokesman of the Nepali Army, Brigadier General Nepal Bhusan Chand, said Nepali Army is seriously concerned over what it called objectionable comments and remarks made by the rebel leader “during the recent special government programme at an important venue which was telecast live all over the country and attended by top political leaders.”
“Nepali Army has—behind it—a history of over 225 years old culture of glorious nationalism, protection of territorial integrity and selfless sacrifice for people’s security. Nepal’s history is testimony to the fact that from the past to the present, the NA has always remained committed to protect the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and dignity of the people under the direct command of the prevailing constitutional government,” the statement added.
Addressing a press meet after entering into an eight-point agreement with the top leaders of the ruling Seven Party Alliance in Kathmandu last Friday, Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda had alleged that Nepali Army had done nothing good except “murdering people and raping Nepali women.” The top rebel leader further said since the Nepali Army could not fight with India, China or the US, its strength should be reduced to 10 to 20,000 soldiers.
Sources say the NA top brass were unhappy to note that none of the senior leaders of the SPA refuted serious allegations leveled by the Maoist leader during the press meet.

Yeti Airlines Twin Otter crashes in Jumla; 9 killed

Yeti Airlines Twin Otter crashed on Wednesday morning while trying to land at Jumla airport after a flight from Nepalganj via Surkhet, killing all three crew members and six passengers on board, airline sources said.
The pilot was identified as Captain Kiran Malla, co-pilot Dipak Pokhrel and flight attendant Dipak Sherchan.
The deceased passengers have been identified as Bishnu Kumar Thapa, Jagdish Neupane, Kali Bahadur Shahi, Karma Raj Malla, Mahesh Khatri and Singh Thapa.
The plane, with serial number 9N-AEQ aborted landing on runway 09 and was going around when the pilot appeared to lose control and the plane slammed into a mountainside on the eastern edge of the airfield.
Jumla is situated at 9,400 ft and has tricky wind conditions after mid-morning.

This is the second major crash in Jumla in recent years. A Necon Air Cessna Caravan crashed on takeoff there in 2001 killing all six on board.
A team of police and officials of the civil aviation authority of Nepal had already left for the incident .

Interim government only after arms management.

Home Minister and coordinator of the government’s talks team Krishna Prasad Sitaula has said that the interim government will only be formed after arms management of both sides.
Speaking at a function in Pokhara Tuesday, Sitaula said that the arms management and formation of an interim government should be simultaneously accomplished.
The chief government negotiator further said that the Maoists have also agreed on managing the arms before forming the interim government.
Sitaula further said though an agreement had been reached with the Maoists to send a letter to the United Nations regarding arms management, it was being delayed due to technical reasons.
Regarding Sunday's informal meeting of the NC central committee condemning Girija Prasad Koirala for not taking the party into confidence before signing an eight-point agreement with the Maoists, Sitaula urged everyone to be flexible and respect others’ views.
Claiming that government is sincere towards 25-point code of conduct, Sitaula urged the Maoists to do the same.
However, Sitaula expressed strong reservation over the Maoist move in district development committee of Parbat and asked them not to repeat such acts.
“It was wrong on the part of the Maoists to announce chairman for Parbat DDC going against the code of conduct,” Sitaula said.
He urged the Maoist leadership to immediately instruct their cadres to stop such activities, adding, "Otherwise such behaviour would create hindrance to the peace process."
The Maoists have 'appointed' the vice-chairman of their people's government as acting DDC president and seated him in the DDC office