People cock a snook at bandh

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: In total defiance of the five day bandh called by the Maoists, people from all walks of life kept coming out of their houses to resume their business on the third day.A few scattered incidents of explosions occurred in the valley but no one was injured, said Valley Police Office. Security personnel have made some on-the-spot arrests, said the source.Two suspected terrorists posing as passengers, arrived in a Maruti taxi at Dhalko in the city centre around 6 pm and made a timer bomb explosion after dragging the driver out of the cab, said the police source. The vehicle was seriously damaged in the explosion.

Similarly, another explosion in a bus parked at the old bus park at Ratna Park spread panic among the people. One person was seriously injured in the blast, said eye witnesses. The bus had just arrived in the park from Thankot and most of the passengers had got down the vehicle, police said. Two suspects were arrested from the site.

Maoist terrorists also burnt a motorcycle near Makhan Tole, on the back of New Road around noon, while the business entrepreneurs’ procession was on condemning the Bandha at Bishal Bazzar shopping complex at Judha Sadak. A suspect believed to be involved in the incident has been arrested from Indra Chock lane in front of Suraj Arcade possessing some explosives.

Nepalis rot in Thai jails as Govt twiddles thumbs

KATHMANDU: Pushkar ( Nima) KC of Gongabu left Nepal for Europe 11 years ago. Not on a junket but to become a professional footballer. Instead of kicking footballs to the applause of the spectators, he is cooling his heels in a Thailand jail. Keeping him company are over 100 Nepalis.“There are over 100 young Nepalis imprisoned. I have personally met 19 of them . They are in pathetic situations,” Ben Park, an American citizen who has been trying to help detainees for the last two years, told The Himalayan Times.

He was surprised that the Government in Nepal is not doing anything to help those young people.

There are 107 Nepali prisoners in four Thailand jails. Among them, 35 are sentenced to death, 36 have been sentenced to 50 years and the rest are facing less than 50 years in the custody.“ All of them seem to be from good families, most of them between the ages of 25 to 34 and are well educated,” said Ben, who pleads that most of them were innocent persons who fell victim to “Bad element”.

“Only two of them have confessed their crimes. The others have been framed.” Many of them are facing life imprisonment. A majority of them have been charged with peddling of drugs.