National flag unfurls at Nepal king's former home

Mon, Jun 16 01:40 AM

Nepal's Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on Sunday afternoon hoisted the national flag at Narayanhity Palace and declared the majestic castle as a national museum. Nepal's last monarch Gyanendra vacated the ancestral palace of the Shah Dynasty on June 11 and shifted to Nagarjuna Palace, which was allocated to the deposed monarch by the government.

The Nepal government took less than a week to declare it as a national museum. The regal palace would soon be thrown open to the people of Nepal, said senior officials of the Ministry of Home.

The government is planning to hand over Narayanhity Palace to Ministry of Culture for developing and maintenance of the museum. Important artifacts of the 240-year-old Shah Dynasty will be displayed for the common people and tourists, the officials said.

After hoisting the flag, Koirala urged the people to concentrate on transforming the Himalayan nation as a federal state. In another development, leaders of two largest communist parties, Maoists and the Communist Party of Nepal (UML), on Sunday held serious discussions to resolve the ongoing political crisis and prepare grounds to form the new government.

To end the political deadlock over power sharing, Maoist chief Prachanda met CPN (UML) general secretary Jhalnath Khanal. The meeting was also attended by several other senior Maoist and CPN (UML) leaders.

Senior CPN (UML) leader Amrit Kumar Bohara said that they advised the Maoists to take serious initiatives to forge understanding among the major parties and form new government. "As Maoists is the largest political party, we asked them to take the initiative to end the political deadlock," Bohara said.

At present, the political parties are yet to resolve the issues of selecting a president and vice president. Moreover, the parties are also yet to formalise the procedure on as to how the Maoist combatants should be rehabilitated.

The other political parties are opposed to Maoist taking lead of the government without resolving the issue of rehabilitation of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers. There are 19,000 PLA soldiers housed in seven cantonments and 21 satellite camps.

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