Record Everest climber bids goodbye to world‘s highest peak

Kathmandu (dpa) - Record Mount Everest climber Apa Sherpa said
will not climb the world‘s highest peak again, local media
reported Monday.

"I have declared that from now onward, I won‘t climb beyond the
base camp," the Republica daily quoted the 51-year-old mountaineer as
saying.

He made his first ascent of the 8,848-metre Mount Everest in 1990
and climbed the mountain for the 21st time earlier this month,
raising his own record.

"However, I will fully support the Eco Everest Expedition and its
initiatives for the protection of the mountain environment."

Apa Sherpa has been involved in the annual Everest clean-up
campaign for the past three years.

Mount Everest has been become increasingly polluted as people
leave behind empty cans, bottles, oxygen canisters and climbing
equipment.

Bodies of deceased climbers have also been left on the
summit. Since 1953, 250 deaths of climbers have been reported from
the mountain and more than 5,000 people have ascended it.

Apa Sherpa, born in the Everest region, moved to the United States
in 2006.

Nepal assembly gets more time to write a constitution

Kathmandu(dpa)- Nepalese politicians agreed to extend the term of the Constituent Assembly by three months to write a new constitution early Sunday.

The extension was granted after an all-night session of the interim legislature as the mandate was about to expire.

The assembly's term was also extended last year when political wrangling stalled efforts to write the charter.

A new constitution is required by the 2006 peace agreement that ended a decade-long civil war. Rival political camps are still deeply divided over key issues such as the integration of former rebels into the army. dpa pt tl

Constitution deadline expires; Nepal crisis deepens

Kathmandu - Nepal's political crisis reached new heights Saturday as it became clear that the day's deadline to write a new constitution would go unmet.

A new charter was part of a 2006 peace agreement that ended a decade-long conflict between Maoist rebels and the government. An initial deadline was set for May 28, 2010, after a Constituent Assembly was elected in 2008.

The deadline was extended last year when power struggles delayed the process. Little progress has been made since, and there is no consensus on key questions, such as a system of governance, elections and whether to organize the country under a federal system based on ethnic groups or by geography.

Last week, the government decided to seek an extension of the Constituent Assembly term by another year. However, the bill was held up in the assembly as the opposition Nepali Congress and fringe parties obstructed the proceedings.

As the deadline to write the charter neared, integration of former Maoist rebels into the army and society figured as a key barrier to the extension. The parties have been at loggerheads over the 19,000 former combatants, confined to UN-supervised camps after the civil war.

'We are demanding dependable basis for the term extension of the Constituent Assembly,' said Mahanta Thakur, chairman of Terai Madhes Lokatantrik Party, a party based in Nepal's plains. It said the Maoists must first give up their weapons.

'We cannot accept an extension in the present circumstances,' Thakur said.

As political squabbling delayed integration, the UN Mission in Nepal withdrew in January, saying it had been made a 'scapegoat' by politicians for Nepal's political problems and expressing frustration with the pace of the peace process.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon voiced concern Monday.

'It is now more than ever incumbent upon the key political actors to show leadership and carry out necessary compromises to preserve the peace process and complete the drafting of the new constitution,' Ban said.
But the call for compromise failed to break the impasse.

'We have made no progress after talking all day,' Nepali Congress leader Ram Saran Mahat said as he emerged from talks late Friday. 'The other side has backed out, and the meeting was a disappointment.'
The two main parties in the parliament, the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist, were demanding that the Maoists hand over the arms in their camps to the government as a condition to extend the constitutional deadline.

The Maoists said such a move would be tantamount to surrender and insisted they would only hand over arms when the army integration happens.

'If you are thinking we will part with arms, it won't be easy,' Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said in Kathmandu Friday. 'We will become martyrs but will not abandon the battleground.'

If the deadline expires Saturday without an agreement, the Himalayan country would be left without a parliament and would descend further into political turmoil.

'If the Constituent Assembly is dissolved, we have extremely volatile politics ahead as we'll have no legitimate elected body,' said Akhilesh Upadhyaya, editor of The Kathmandu Post.

Fighting among political parties already had caused a delay in last year's budget and the selection of a prime minister, leaving the country without a premier for seven months.

Protracted political crises have worsened the lives of citizens as they face energy shortfalls and a faltering economy. Nepal has seen a series of protests in the past few weeks as people grow increasingly dissatisfied with their leaders.

'There could be a multidimensional conflict in the country as the ethnic groups are likely to become more strident in their demand for autonomous states,' Upadhyaya said.
'If the centre is delegitimized,' the editor said, 'anarchy booms, and it would impact Nepal's national security.'

Strikes halt transport, shut businesses amid Nepal political limbo

Kathmandu - Transportation services came to a halt and offices and businesses closed Friday as political, ethnic and religious groups across Nepal called strikes to demand a constitution, a day ahead of a charter-writing deadline that is to go unmet.

Political bickering has prevented the Constituent Assembly from drawing up a new constitution after three years of work, and the crisis was likely to force the Himalayan country into further political turmoil.

Thousands of travellers were stranded on highways Friday, and press and public vehicles were set afire in Kathmandu.

The striking groups had various demands, many of which were related to ensuring their rights in a new constitution.

Writing a new charter was part of a 2006 peace agreement that ended a decade of conflict between Maoist rebels and the government. An initial deadline was set for May 28, 2010, and a Constituent Assembly was elected in 2008.

Last year, the deadline was extended a year after political power struggles prevented it from being met. Little progress has been seen since then.

Talks between politicians early Friday to iron out their differences have failed to produce a result.

The failed deadline would be the latest in long-standing political turbulence in Nepal. Fighting among political parties caused a delay in last year's budget and the selection of a prime minister, leaving the country without a premier for seven months of the past year.

Another long-standing, seemingly intractable issue is what to do with former Maoist rebels confined to camps since the civil war ended.

Nepal has seen a series of protests in the past few weeks as its people grow increasingly dissatisfied with their leaders.

UN: Nepal may miss Saturday deadline for constitutional reform

New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon voiced concern on Monday that Nepal may miss a Saturday deadline to adopt a new constitution with provisions clarifying the status of former Maoist combatants in that country.

Nepal's Constituent Assembly had been urged to complete work on the new constitution and resolve the thorny issues of integration and rehabilitation of thousands of former Maoist soldiers that fought the government before.

Ban said in a statement that there was still no agreement on the document five days before the deadline as both Maoists and the government remained divided on ways to reintegrate the combatants into society.

'It is now more than ever incumbent upon the key political actors to how leadership and carry out the necessary compromises to preserve the peace process and complete the drafting of the new constitution,' Ban said.

He said he recently discussed the political stalemate with Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal while his political affairs chief, B Lynn Pascoe, spoke by telephone with the leaders of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) and the Nepali Congress (NC) urging both sides to 'act effectively at this critical juncture.'

May 23, 2011, 18:12 GMT

Hundreds of demonstrators arrested in Nepalese capital

Kathmandu (dpa)- Police arrested hundreds of demonstrators in the Nepalese capital early Sunday for enforcing a strike to pressure the government.

An indigenous group said two hundred of its members had been arrested in different parts of the capital.

They were demanding to be given broader rights under a new constitution.

Nepal faces a deadline to complete the peace process and drafting of the constitution by May 28th. The deadline was extended by one year last May, as the Constituent Assembly elected in 2008 failed to complete its duty to write the charter.

Transport, schools and markets were shut in the capital Sunday. Protesters vandalized vehicles for defying the strike, including a bus carrying health professionals, injuring five.

Nepal is set to face a series of closures, as various groups announced strikes on Monday and Sunday, demanding a timely constitution.

On Sunday, the government was set to propose a bill in the parliament to extend the Constituent Assembly by another year.
dpa pt tl

Facebook users in Nepal unite for new constitution

Kathmandu - Hundreds of Facebook users in Nepal gathered in Kathmandu on Saturday calling for a new constitution, a week ahead of a deadline set for May 28.

The Nepal Unites campaign saw youngsters from different professional backgrounds unite to put pressure on the country's politicians.

Nepal elected a Constituent Assembly in 2008, tasked with writing a new constitution within two years. The term of the assembly was extended last year after the 601-member body failed to complete its job in time.

Nepal's politicians have continued to wrangle over whether to extend the deadline further amid problems in settling some of the text's most contentious issues.

'It is important that we organize such campaigns because there is a big gap between leadership and the voice of the youth,' said Ashish Subedi, a medical student.

The new constitution is expected to ensure rights of ethnic minorities, a major cause for the decade-long Maoist conflict that ended in 2006.