Kathmandu, July 22, 2005

Waiting for a whole night and one whole day at an airport for an aircraft to take off could be quite taxing, to put it mildly. Passengers of Cosmic Air who were stranded at the airport yesterday at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) say taxing is an under statement, that what they went through was “outrageous.” The aircraft which was already speeding on the runaway could not take off owing to a technical hitch around 9.30 p.m. The cabin crew apologised for the “inconvenience” and announced that the passengers would be provided accommodation. But that remained an assurance; around 85 passengers were forced to spend the night at the immigration without any food. Worse, Cosmic Air people remained incommunicado. Passengers on their arrival at the Tribhuwan International Airport on Thursday night after their ordeal said it was recklessness on the part of Cosmic Air to have totally disregarded their comfort. “We had no choice but to stay at the immigration until 4 a.m without anything to eat and drink. They finally arranged for a glass of coke each and some snacks at 4 p.m today after our request to the airline authorities in Kathmandu,” Ranjit Khadka, a passenger, told this daily. “We were not allowed out of the immigration by the security and airport staff until 4 a.m since they said they needed the airline’s consent.

Monarchy a destabilising factor, says Nepal

Kathmandu, July 22, 2005

Terming the monarchy a “destabilising factor” in the country, senior leaders of the agitating parties said at a programme today that the movement launched by the seven party alliance will decide its fate. They also vowed that they would not become “prime minsiter or minsiters” to be appointed by the King under Article 127 of the constitution. “Monarchy is the destabilising factor,” said the CPN-UML general secretary, Madhav Kumar Nepal, at a meeting organised by the party’s Valley Coordination Committee to mark the 27th death anniversary of Pushpa Lal Shrestha, the founding leader of the Nepal Communist Party. “History is witness to the fact that the monarchy has always stood against democracy,” Nepal said. Stating that he, too, was offered the premiership twice, Nepal said he rejected the offer, saying he didn’t want to be a scapegoat. Saying the “palace has threatened to ban the parties if they took any stance against the monarchy,” Nepal said, “Such warnings won’t scare us.”