Kathmandu, 18 Jan: There was a bomb blast in Biratnagar, the hometown of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, ahead of Saturday’s second joint meeting of ruling seven parties to face the doubtful assembly polls.Nobody was injured in the socket bomb blast at Pohkhariya road.The house of a CPN-UML leader was also bombed in the town h ours before the scheduled meeting Saturday.More than 1,500 security personnel have been deployed along with sniffing dogs amid heightened security.CPN-UML is the meet sponsor; Nepali Congress was the sponsor of the first meeting in the capital.People’s response to the capital’s meeting was lukewarm and was greeted with a bomb blast that injured eight persons.Bags have been banned at the Biratnagar meeting.Seven persons were killed and 27 bus passengers were injured in a petrol bomb attack on a bus in Bara Friday one day before the meeting.A petrol bomb was hurled at the passenger bus.The seven ruling parties are attempting to present a joint front against the rebel groups in the terai ahead of the 10 April first assembly vote postponed twice.
Maoists first opposed the vote but they are now fully behind it after the Koirala government met their demands in a 23-point agreement.Maoists are complaining the agreement has not been fully implemented.Now the turn has come for the Madesh groups to oppose elections which they say can’t be held with meeting their demands.The vote wasn’t held in the first round when th divided Congress was still not united.Foreigners, including the USA, are fully behind the Iraq-style vote; Nepal is moving towards that direction with daily violence after the announcement of poll date.
Five more joint public meetings are planned –all in the terai- after Biratnagar.The ruling parties resorted to violence to prevent local elections ordered by the King before February 2005; Prachanda even revealed Premier Koirala criminally ordered killings during and before the election campaign.
The national scene now is worse than in 2004; the present government overturned results of the local elections after assuming office. More than 30 percent participate din the vote.The government is preparing for the poll which has no meaning as they have already imposed a republic on the people.The vote is being held just of satisfy foreign governments like the USA that has stopped aid because a vote hasn’t been conducted.Foreign governments are embarrassed with the increasing autocracy of the ruling parties and their inability to hold elections so far after being pushed to national power with foreign help.
Maoists first opposed the vote but they are now fully behind it after the Koirala government met their demands in a 23-point agreement.Maoists are complaining the agreement has not been fully implemented.Now the turn has come for the Madesh groups to oppose elections which they say can’t be held with meeting their demands.The vote wasn’t held in the first round when th divided Congress was still not united.Foreigners, including the USA, are fully behind the Iraq-style vote; Nepal is moving towards that direction with daily violence after the announcement of poll date.
Five more joint public meetings are planned –all in the terai- after Biratnagar.The ruling parties resorted to violence to prevent local elections ordered by the King before February 2005; Prachanda even revealed Premier Koirala criminally ordered killings during and before the election campaign.
The national scene now is worse than in 2004; the present government overturned results of the local elections after assuming office. More than 30 percent participate din the vote.The government is preparing for the poll which has no meaning as they have already imposed a republic on the people.The vote is being held just of satisfy foreign governments like the USA that has stopped aid because a vote hasn’t been conducted.Foreign governments are embarrassed with the increasing autocracy of the ruling parties and their inability to hold elections so far after being pushed to national power with foreign help.
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