WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 62 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 31.4 C 5.5 C Monday, April 27, 2020 | 15-01-2077 Dhangadi Jomsom Oli faces tough time amid pressure to choose between heading party and leading the country A majority of Secretariat and Standing Committee members have demanded a Standing Committee meeting where they plan to ask Oli to step down as prime minister. ANIL GIRI KATHMANDU, APRIL 26 Under pressure from his Secretariat and Standing Committee members, ruling Nepal Communist Party chair and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has intensified discussions with his close confidantes, even as rival fac- tions continue to devise their own strategies. A majority of Secretariat and Standing Committee members have been demanding a Standing Committee meeting, where they plan to ask Oli to step down as prime minis- ter or choose between leading the country and leading the party. Given that Oli is in the minority in the 44-member Standing Committee, with just 11 POST PHOTO: SANJOG MANANDHAR members on his side, he is likely to be com- A mother returns with food aid given by Kathmandu Ward 13 office in Kalimati on Sunday. The government has extended the lockdown to contain spread of Covid-19 by 10 days. pelled to give in, say party insiders. Oli on Sunday held a meeting with his close aides, including Province 5 Chief Minister Shanker Pokhrel, to discuss ways to face the Secretariat and Standing Committee. POST FILE PHOTO A party leader who spoke on condition of KP Sharma Oli Nepal Police’s refusal to register Surendra Yadav anonymity told the Post that discussions revolved around how to avoid resigning as motion a series of events, including allega- prime minister. tions of abduction of a sitting lawmaker, abduction case raises questions about its neutrality Senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal also earning disrepute for the government and held separate meetings with some Standing the party. Committee members to chart out a future While as many as 20 Standing Committee Many believe police are acting on order from on high to not register the case, especially since strategy. members have been asking for a meeting, six Nepal’s role will be key as the factions led out of nine Secretariat members, who are it involves powerful political actors and a former chief of police. by Oli and the other party chair Pushpa considered the senior most leaders in the Kamal Dahal are in a tough power game, at party hierarchy, have warned Oli that he least two leaders told the Post. could be recalled any time soon. SHUVAM DHUNGANA & TIKA R PRADHAN Mahottari is Yadav’s home district. “It is our common understanding that the According to two leaders who spoke on KATHMANDU, APRIL 26 Yadav’s alleged abduction was government has desperately failed to deliver, condition of anonymity citing the fluid situ- one of the events triggered by so the Standing Committee meeting should ation in the party, Oli is left with very few The saga of the alleged kidnapping Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s be called immediately to review the overall options. of a Member of Parliament from controversial ordinances, issued scenario,” said Raghuji Panta, a Standing Either he has to take everyone along by Janakpur continues to unfold in a on Monday. One of the ordinances Committee member. “In the meeting, almost changing his ways and abiding by the party manner both bizarre but not unex- that the Oli Cabinet pushed all members were of the view that it was committees, or he will have to make way for pected. through sought to ease a party time the party explored alternatives to Oli.” others, said a leader. Police on Sunday refused to reg- split, specifically the party that Despite failures on the governance front, “The Standing Committee is set to vote on ister an abduction case against two Yadav belonged to then— corruption allegations and high-handedness recalling Oli,” the leader told the Post. Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Samajbadi Party. Yadav was alleg- in leadership, Oli’s situation had not become “Another option the members are mulling is leaders—Mahesh Basnet and edly brought to Kathmandu in so untenable in the last two years. asking Oli to prove his majority in the Kisan Shrestha—and former police order to facilitate the split. But leaders say that Oli’s move to push Parliamentary Party.” chief Sarbendra Khanal for their Though Basnet, Shrestha and through two ordinances last week set in >> Continued on page 5 roles in the alleged kidnapping of Khanal have denied that they had lawmaker Surendra Yadav on kidnapped Yadav, all of them have Wednesday. admitted in various interviews Leaders from the newly formed that they had been to Janakpur to Janata Samajbadi Party, Nepal had fetch Yadav and that they came to approached the Metropolitan Kathmandu together. Police Range in Teku with a com- Basnet had told the Post that he plaint that Yadav, one of their law- had been called to Janakpur for a makers, had been kidnapped from discussion by some Samajbadi Janakpur by Basnet, Shrestha and POST PHOTO: DEEPAK KC Party leaders who wanted to split Khanal and forcefully brought to Leaders of the newly formed Janata Samajbadi Party, Nepal return after police refused the party. Last week, ruling party Kathmandu. to register a case of alleged abduction of one of their party members, in Kathmandu. insiders also admitted to the Post “But the police refused to regis- that Oli had deployed some leaders ter the complaint as per orders station on Sunday to file an abduc- plaint, as the area is not under our to hold talks with the Samajbadi from higher up,” said Rajendra tion complaint, according to jurisdiction,” Bogati told the Post. Party. Shrestha, a senior leader of the Superintendent Hobindra Bogati, “We requested them to file the com- As many as seven Samajbadi Janata Samajbadi party. spokesperson for the Kathmandu plaint with the police in the area of Party leaders were planning to Yadav himself, along with party Metropolitan Police Range. the incident.” split the party and register a new leaders Baburam Bhattarai, “Since the incident seems to However, the incident took place party as per Oli’s scheme, accord- Upendra Yadav, Rajendra Mahato have taken place in Mahottari, we in the city of Janakpur, which is in ing to leaders. and others, had reached the police were unable to register the com- the district of Dhanusha. >> Continued on page 5 Fears of a rise in cases of domestic violence due to the lockdown may have come to pass Although official data says otherwise, anecdotal evidence from helplines and rights organisations report a significant increase in cases of gender-based violence amidst the restrictions. ADITI ARYAL the perpetrators repeating the abuse. Usually, KATHMANDU, APRIL 26 survivors call us when their abusers are not around but now the abusers are around them all Ever since the lockdown was implemented, 1145, the time,” she said, reporting that the frequency the national helpline to report gender-based of calls had increased since the lockdown. violence, has been ringing off the hook, at a rate When the lockdown was first instituted on of around 20 calls every day. So far, in the 30-or- March 24, there were already fears that cases of so days since the lockdown began, the helpline domestic and gender-based violence would rise, has received 521 calls, of which 119 have been given similar experiences around the world. specifically about domestic violence. Now, more than a month into the lockdown, it “On some days, I take up to 15 calls about appears those fears have been realised. domestic violence,” one helpline operator told According to Renu Adhikari, founder of the CK the Post on condition of anonymity as she was TO Women’s Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC), the not authorised to speak to the media. “Just this frequency of gender-based violence has increased morning, I attended to a survivor who had to since the lockdown began, drawing on testimo- SHUTTERS nies from survivors and reports from local lock herself in the bathroom of her two-roomed organisations. WOREC, an organisation work- flat in Kathmandu to make the call. The hus- ing to combat violence against women and chil- band, after an unsuccessful attempt to rape her, dren, recorded 83 cases of violence against women had dragged her by the hair while verbally abus- in the last three weeks from 13 districts of Nepal. ing her.” While organisations working for women’s The helpline operator counselled both the rights like WOREC report an increase in cases woman and her husband but since the former of gender-based violence, police reports suggest did not wish to pursue legal recourse, the opera- otherwise. tor let the husband off with a warning. According to Nepal Police data, the number of On other days, she counsels women who are reported cases of gender-based violence has terrified making these calls because their perpe- decreased drastically nationwide since the lock- trators are in the vicinity. down was implemented. “After I hang up, I am still apprehensive about >> Continued on page 5 C M Y K MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2020 | 02 MEDLEY Inside the Post Quote of the day Nepal Police’s refusal to register Surendra Yadav abduction case National raises questions about its neutrality, Page 1 The District Attorney’s Office in Kathmandu filed a case at the District Court on Sunday against former government secretary Bhim Upadhyaya for cybercrime after he was accused of defaming the KP Sharma Oli government.