By TON Nepal

In Nepali Congress, local commissions have been endorsing and candidates are showing their interest to run for general elections. There are three aspirants for the top post of Prime minister. The Congress party president and Prime Minister clearly wants to make a comeback, for the sixth time, and General Secretary is also aspiring for the post.

The country needs an executive role in order to deliver social justice, good governance, and socialism. CPN-UML projected the party chair as its prime ministerial candidate. However, the vice chairman of the Nepal Communist Party (UML) also wants to be the next PM.

In Nepal, a trend is being developed among parties to go to the polls by projecting a leader as the prime ministerial candidate. As the UML is being done. Nonetheless, the general assumption is that the top party leader is the one to take up the top position. In the corridors of the Nepali Congress, there are also talks about the spouse of the current Prime Minister becoming the next PM.

A Central Working Committee of the congress said that there’s no alternative to the current PM at least for now. The general and provincial elections are scheduled for November 20. The current Prime minister became prime minister, for the fifth time, in July last year as per the Supreme Court order, and he clearly wants to return as an elected prime minister.

However, the CPN (Maoist Centre) chair key coalition partner of the current prime minister has also made his desire public to lead the country at least one more time. The aspirations of two Congress leaders for the prime minister’s post come amid the struggle in the ruling coalition for seat-sharing.

Many believe as part of a power-sharing deal between the CPN (Maoist Centre) chair key coalition partner and the current prime minister may share prime minister ship on a rotational basis. However, it has to be decided who will be the first. In July the Maoist chairman said that the tenure of the prime minister can be split into two and a half years between him and the Nepali Congress.

If that happens, the likelihood of any other Congress leader than the current PM becoming the prime minister is low. Some Nepali Congress leaders say while having aspirations for the top post is not wrong, there is a need to take into consideration that there is the party charter that defines who becomes the prime ministerial candidate of the party.

As per the party charter, one should win the election to the Parliamentary Party leader to become the party’s prime ministerial candidate. And there’s nothing like declaring oneself as the prime ministerial candidate in the Congress system.

Anyone of them can become prime minister but the fact is first they need to win the party elections, as winning the constituency alone is not enough,” said Bhandari. “Aspirations are not enough; those who want to lead the country should have the vision, plan, and goals on how they want to strengthen the system and democracy, how they can improve health and education, and how they can address the people’s concerns.”

The incumbent prime minister managed to steer the party to victory in local elections and the congress emerged as the largest party after facing a spectacular defeat in the 2017 general elections. So, the incumbent Prime minister has given momentum to the party and has worked to keep the alliance intact. Therefore, it’s natural for him to lay claim to the prime minister’s post after ensuring a victory for Congress. As far as the power-sharing deal is Maoist chair.

During the 14th general convention of the Nepali Congress that concluded in December, a sizable number of youths made it to the Central Working Committee, the top decision-making body of the party. Many say Congress is finally seeing a power shift to the new generation. However, as far as the prime minister’s post is concerned, it is still a long way to go for the younger generation in Congress.

DHAKA, 05 September 2022, (TON): Iran is keen to enhance economic relations with Bangladesh as the western Asian country is set to cooperate in the medical, engineering and energy sectors for mutual benefit of people of both the nations.

A press release said “this came up when new Iranian Ambassador to Bangladesh Mansour Chavoshi paid a courtesy call on state minister for foreign affairs Md. Shahriar Alam at his office here.”

Alam requested Iran for exchanging of high level visits and more engagements in medical, food processing, ICT and energy sectors, as there are ample scopes to further strengthen economic and trade and investment relations between Iran and Bangladesh.

The state minister also expressed that there is a lot of opportunity for Iran to invest in the Special Economic Zones of Bangladesh.

DHAKA, 05 September 2022, (TON): Bangladesh reiterated deep concern over falling mortar shells inside its territory, indiscriminate aerial firing from Myanmar in the bordering areas, and air space violations from the neighboring country.

Foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told "we were told that the incident was not provocative at all it was totally unintentional and the shells fell inside the border by mistake.”

According to the latest report, on September 3, 2022 two mortar shells fell inside Bangladesh between BP 40 and BP 41.

After being summoned the Myanmar Ambassador was also told that such activities are of grave threat to the safety and security of the peace-loving people, violation of border agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar and contrary to the good neighbourly relationship, a foreign ministry's statement said later.

DHAKA, 05 September 2022, (TON): Dismissing concerns that Bangladesh could go the Sri Lanka way, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that despite the Covid-19 onslaught and the conflict in Ukraine, her country's economy continued to be in robust shape and that her regime exercised a high level of diligence when taking any loans.

In an interaction with South Asia’s leading multimedia news agency ANI, she said “currently the world as a whole was facing challenges which were not restricted only to Bangladesh."

She said "our economy, still it is very strong. Though, we faced this Covid-19 pandemic, now the Ukraine-Russia war. That has its effect here. But in debt rate, Bangladesh always pays timely all the debts. So our debt rate is very low.”

He added “in context of Sri Lanka, our economy trajectory and the development, it is (planned) very, very calculative.”

KABUL, 05 September 2022, (TON): Following the end of the travel exemption for some officials of the Islamic Emirate, Kabul is once again asking that the United Nations Security Council lift the sanctions imposed on the current government officials.

The Islamic Emirate's deputy spokesman, Bilal Karimi, warned that the sanctions will put Kabul further apart from the international community, and that this distance will have unfavorable effects.

Karimi said "it is good that they should come together and bring the Islamic Emirate to the international level as a responsible and prominent system in the world. There should be an emphasis on adopting diplomatic means.”

Since the travel exemption expired, Kabul officials have not visited any countries in the past two weeks, and it is unclear when the UN Security Council will make a decision on this issue.

DHAKA, 05 September 2022, (TON): New Delhi is all set to roll out the red carpet for Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as she will visit India on a four-day state visit to open new windows of cooperation in trade, connectivity, and defence.

Analysts termed the visit highly significant amid the global economic crisis due to the Russia-Ukraine war and the ongoing pandemic.

The two South Asian neighbours will seek enhanced cooperation to overcome these challenges.

In an interview with news agency ANI ahead of the visit, Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina said “any differences that there may be between countries should be addressed through dialogue, and Bangladesh and India had precisely done that on several occasions.”

Referring to India as a tried and tested friend, she said India has always stood by Bangladesh in times of need from 1971 onwards.

DHAKA, 05 September 2022, (TON): State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam has urged the newly appointed Ambassador of the State of Kuwait to Bangladesh Faisal Mutlaq Al Adwani to visit Bangladesh's IT parks, economic zones and look for investment opportunities.

He then highlighted some recent transformations that have taken place in Bangladesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the socio-economic sectors including the construction of the Padma Bridge, the Karnaphuli tunnel, metro-rail and expressways.

The ambassador had a courtesy meeting with the state minister for the foreign minister at his office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The state minister expressed happiness at the excellent bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Kuwait in the political, economic, defence, manpower, and trade fields.

DWAIPAYAN REGMI, TON, NEPAL

Agnipath scheme is the scheme intending to the recruitment of soldiers who are below the rank of commissioned officers into three services of the armed forces. Here, all the recruits will be hired just for four years of period. Those youths who will be hired will be named Agniveers, meaning fire warriors who are stated to be new military rank. Defined as a Tour of Duty entry scheme, it is a proposal by the central government through which youngsters would be joining forces as soldiers for a certain period of four years. They will be serving the country formally and systematically through this scheme here.

The issue of the Agnipath Scheme was first heard in Nepal's parliament on July 26, which was just 46 days after it was announced in India. So, despite of huge chaos Indian Ministry of External Affairs stated that the recruitments will be taking place there. There was a belief about recruiting soldiers under this scheme too as these masses had been serving the Indian Army for a pretty long time. Arindham Bagchi, explained that they will give priority to Nepalese youths there. It was the Government of India that wrote a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal allowing the recruitment of Nepalese youths in the Indian Army following the tripartite agreement of 1947 between the Government of Nepal, India, and Britain. The Nepalese side has not yet decided about it because this is less than the job where they will be kicked out after four years.

Memorandum of Agreement on Recruitment of Gorkha Troops, which was signed on May 1, 1947, had three annexures: Bilateral Agreement between India and UK; Recommendations by Nepal on Employment of Gorkhas by the UK and India and Observations by Nepal on Bilateral Treaty. There was then the Treaty of Peace and Friendship which reinforced the right of Nepalese nationals to work in India for equal national treatment with no specific reference in any annexure regarding the treaty. After Nepal stopped the recruitment process in Butwal and Dharan, the Indian side has not received any approval for continuing the process there from Nepal Government keeping the issue in dilemma.

There had been frequent visits of high level for this scheme but there had remained the reason for which Nepal kept hold over Gorkhas recruitment scheme. It has been stated that Nepal's government felt that the scheme had to be approved by it with political consultation, but other parts can be assumed through this. It can be predicted that India is aiming to bring military coups to Nepal through various channels and gateways. The scheme does not exist just for the packages, as it is distinct from the Indian Army's scheme with just four years of service offered without any additional benefits there. Apart, there can be consequences that might not be predicted there.

Although not disclosed, there are suspicious activities that would be presented here. There are various provisions under the name of training through which the Indian army can enter Nepal – and that could be a major threat that Nepalese defense could face in various ways. Or, it might be unknown but there can be other deals beyond the curtain through which India can benefit over the supremacy power. No matter what, in any foreign diplomacy-based deal – nothing counts as high as social service, as there will be emerged practice of win-win situation which should be well understood.

Agnipath scheme on the other hand will create job opportunities for sure, it will help the nation's remittance inflow too. There are good sides because unemployment has been a major economic burden in the Nepalese context there. There are fewer facilities like regarding lack of pension anyways, political set of differences along with fear for spike where there would be gun violence looking after rule debate through any such scheme anyway.

Agnipath scheme does not just bring one way, but there can be other approaches too. Hence, Nepal is in the phase of discussing the scheme because which entire flow would be maintained at any moment. After all, such issues must go through wide range of discussions before any implementation there.

RIYADH, 04 September 2022, (TON): According to an official report “Saudi authorities arrested 14,750 people in one week for breaching residency, work and border security regulations.”

A total of 8,684 people were arrested for violations of residency rules, while 4,028 were held over illegal border crossing attempts, and a further 2,038 for labor-related issues.

The report showed that 225 people were arrested for trying to enter the Kingdom illegally.

A further 34 people were caught trying to cross into neighboring countries.

The Ministry of Interior said that anyone found to be aiding illegal entry to the Kingdom could face imprisonment for a maximum of 15 years, a fine of up to SR1 million ($260,000), or confiscation of vehicles and property.

MANAMA, 04 September 2022, (TON): Bahrain News Agency reported “Bahrain’s Undersecretary of the Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture Ministry Shaikh Mohammed bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa met with the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bahrain Khaled Elmekwad, and the Bahrain-based UN Habitat Head of Country Program Fernanda Lonardoni to discuss joint cooperation.”

The Undersecretary praised the UN’s efforts to work with local partners from both the public and private sectors, as well as civil society, to achieve the sustainable development goals.

He highlighted key ministry initiatives in place that include expanding afforestation projects, developing gardens, parks and coasts, and improving intersections and streets.