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Nepal
Strike DAY 4
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Financial crisis as banks fail to function
Harvard gets first Indian-origin Dean
Pak SC seeks Kasab’s confessional statement
Qureshi: NY bomb plot Taliban payback
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Nepal
Strike DAY 4
Kathmandu, May 5 On the fourth day of their indefinite general strike aimed at toppling the government, Maoists cadres carrying sticks and red banners blocked all approach roads leading to the country's key administrative building complex and also enforced a complete shutdown throughout the country. With Maoists intensifying their agitation against his government, Premier Nepal met diplomatic heads including Indian Ambassador Rakesh Sood and US envoy Delisi Scott and told them that the Maoists wanted to use their combatants in cantonments as their political leverage. He said the drafting of the constitution under the threat of the armed Maoists combatants is unlikely to enjoy the people's genuine trust and confidence. The Prime Minister said that he would not pose any obstacle towards forming a national unity government if there is consensus among the major political parties. He said that any power sharing deal must follow a proper constitutional process. But the Maoists wanted to pursue their goal through extra-constitutional pressure tactics. He made it clear that there cannot be change of government through street protests, intimidation or unilateral declaration while all have accepted the existing constitutional system. During the meeting about 40 representatives of diplomatic missions and donor agencies were present. Meanwhile, talking tough, Maoists former guerrilla turned party chief Prachanda warned that they did not intend to relent and asked his cadres to further intensify the protest. Thousands of Maoist supporters surrounded the Singhdurbar building which houses the prime minister's office as well as the parliament building from 5 am in the morning to prevent ministers from attending office as hundreds of tourists including foreign nationals remained stranded in the city-centre and food stocks and medicines supplies ran low. However, officials said that 9-10 ministers upstaged the protesters by reaching the office before 5 am. The enforcement of complete shutdown by the Maoists raised the spectre of a political confrontation with reports coming in of the ruling coalition parties organising anti-Maoist rallies in southern and western Nepal. — PTI
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Financial crisis as banks fail to function
The Himalayan nation that has been passing through the volatile political situation has also started reeling under financial crisis due to the indefinite nationwide strike. As result not only government officials and business tycoons, but also the common man is also suffering under the crisis.
Indra Bahadur Thapa (56), who arrived Kathmadu from Pokhara last for his wife’s treatment, has become one of the victims. He visited couple of ATM booths, but in vain. He failed to collect the money from the banks also as they were close due to the ongoing strike. "I had to borrow money from a relative to clear the debt,” he said, adding: “But I don't know how to return home since there is no transportation service either.” Citing the deepening financial crisis senior officials of Nepal Bankers’ Association had requested the Maoists to allow them to conduct limited-hour banking transactions during the strike. Meanwhile, Home Minister Bhim Rawal on Wednesday said the government was ready to provide security for banks and financial institutions, if required.
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Harvard gets first Indian-origin Dean
Chicago, May 5 An IIT Mumbai alumnus, Nohria is the Richard P Chapman Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School (HBS). He will take up his new role on July 1, President Drew Faust said today. A scholar of leadership and organisational change, Nohria has previously been the School’s senior associate dean for faculty development and chair of its organisational behaviour unit. A current co-chair of the HBS Leadership Initiative and member of the HBS faculty since 1988, Nohria succeeds Jay Light, who in December announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2009-10 academic year after five years as dean and four decades of service on the HBS faculty. “At a pivotal moment for Harvard Business School and for business education more generally, I’m delighted that Nitin Nohria has agreed to lead HBS forward. He is an outstanding scholar, teacher and mentor, with a global outlook and an instinct for collaboration across traditional boundaries,” Faust said. On his appointment as dean, Nohria said, “I feel a profound sense of responsibility for continuing Harvard Business School’s proud legacy of groundbreaking ideas and transformational educational experiences. “With business education at an inflection point, we must strive to equip future leaders with the competence and character to address emerging global business and social challenges”. He said as the school enters its second century, he is looking forward to working with the faculty and students “to forge a vision for Harvard Business School that will enable it to remain a beacon for business education for the next 100 years”. Nohria received his bachelor of technology degree in chemical engineering in 1984 from the IIT Mumbai, which awarded him its distinguished alumnus medal in 2007. He received his Ph.D. In management in 1988 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, where he earned the outstanding doctoral thesis award in behavioural and policy sciences. He joined the HBS faculty as an assistant professor in 1988, was appointed associate professor in 1993, was promoted to tenure in 1997, and became the Richard P Chapman Professor of Business Administration in 1999. — PTI
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Pak SC seeks Kasab’s confessional statement
Islamabad, May 5 A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and Justices Ghulam Rabbani and Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday gave the directive after taking up the petition filed by Lakhvi, who is being tried with six others by the anti- terrorism court in Rawalpindi on charges of planning and facilitating the Mumbai attacks. The apex court bench also took up a separate petition filed by the prosecution to challenge the Lahore High Court’s verdict that Kasab’s statement cannot be used in Pakistani courts. Lakhvi’s counsel Khwaja Sultan told the bench that his client was declared an accused in the Mumbai attacks case in the anti-terrorism court in the light of Kasab’s statement recorded by an Indian magistrate. Sultan contended that Kasab’s statement was not before any Pakistani court and so Lakhvi cannot be named as an accused in the case. After hearing Sultan’s arguments, Chief Justice Chaudhry directed the prosecution to submit Kasab’s confessional statement in Hindi and English in the Supreme Court and adjourned the matter till May 11. Special Public Prosecutor Malik Rab Nawaz Noon, who is heading the prosecution team, told PTI that the apex court had sought Kasab’s statement with the signature of the Indian magistrate who had recorded it. — PTI
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Qureshi: NY bomb plot Taliban payback Washington, May 5 “This is retaliation. And you could expect that... let’s not be naive. They’re not going to sort of sit and welcome you (to) sort of eliminate them. They are going to fight back,” Qureshi told CBS television. Suspect Faisal Shahzad, 30, has been charged with five counts of terrorism after he allegedly parked a car primed with a bomb in Times Square, the heart of New York’s theater district late Saturday. He was arrested at JFK Airport on Monday night when his Emirates Airline flight was preparing to take off for Dubai. Although Shahzad has told US officials he was acting alone, according to the US criminal complaint he admitted “after his arrest that he had received bomb-making training in Waziristan, Pakistan.” — AFP
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Fonseka not allowed to attend Parliament Qureshi may visit India
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