CINA

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A NEW STEP FOREWARD TO A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY..

IHT, AP reported this yesterday, 5.19..

Nepalese hail vote on secular status
 
Christian, Buddhist and Muslim leaders in Nepal on Friday hailed the Parliament's move to change the Hindu nation into a secular state.
 
A resolution passed by Parliament on Thursday included a clause that said Nepal would no longer be formally known as a Hindu country. More than 85 percent of Nepal's 27 million people are Hindus.
 
"We welcome the government decision. We have been fighting for secular and religious freedom in Nepal for a long time," said K.B. Rokaya of the Regional Council of Churches in Nepal.
 
Rokaya said the government should form a regulatory body "so that all sort of religious activities can be practiced freely and without any intimidation."
 
The Nepalese Constitution, written in 1990, declared the Himalayan country a Hindu kingdom.
 
Cheering Nepalese held rallies in several cities and towns Friday to celebrate Parliament's vote to dramatically cut King Gyanendra's powers and turn him into a figurehead leader.
 
Communist rebels who control much of the countryside also welcomed the resolution - passed unanimously by Parliament - but said the king's ceremonial role should also be eliminated.
 
The sweeping resolution called for King Gyanendra to be stripped of his command over the army, his legal immunity, and freedom from paying taxes. It also said the king should lose his official position as head of the Himalayan country, changing traditional references to "His Majesty's government" to simply the "Nepal government."
 
To be enacted, the resolution still must be voted on as a series of laws, officials said. That was expected in the next few days.
 
The measure's passage "has begun the process," the deputy prime minister, Khadga Prasad Oli, said Thursday. "The government will work with Parliament to execute the resolution and laws will be drafted to implement the resolution."
 
Top political leaders addressed a major rally in the capital, Katmandu, on Friday, which the government declared a public holiday to celebrate the passage of the resolution. All government offices and schools were closed for the day, the Home Ministry said in a notice.
 
The seven parties in the governing alliance called the resolution a historic achievement that had eliminated all of the king's powers.
 
"This ends the remains of the royal regime and establishes the king as only a figurehead," said Narayanman Bijuchche of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party.
 
The Communist rebels' leader, Prachanda, said he welcomed the resolution, but said it failed to address all the needs of the people.
 
"We want to make it clear that this declaration has not been able to fully address the needs and aspirations of Nepal and the Nepali people," the rebel leader, whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal, said in a statement.
 
He said a continuing ceremonial role for the king "is against the aspiration of the people to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic."
 
The rebels want to completely abolish the monarchy, but have said they will leave the decision to a special assembly which is to write a new constitution.
 
The vote in Parliament was the most significant move it has made since the new government assumed power last month.
 
 KATMANDU, Nepal Christian, Buddhist and Muslim leaders in Nepal on Friday hailed the Parliament's move to change the Hindu nation into a secular state.
 
A resolution passed by Parliament on Thursday included a clause that said Nepal would no longer be formally known as a Hindu country. More than 85 percent of Nepal's 27 million people are Hindus.
 
"We welcome the government decision. We have been fighting for secular and religious freedom in Nepal for a long time," said K.B. Rokaya of the Regional Council of Churches in Nepal.
 
Rokaya said the government should form a regulatory body "so that all sort of religious activities can be practiced freely and without any intimidation."
 
The Nepalese Constitution, written in 1990, declared the Himalayan country a Hindu kingdom.
 
Cheering Nepalese held rallies in several cities and towns Friday to celebrate Parliament's vote to dramatically cut King Gyanendra's powers and turn him into a figurehead leader.
 
Communist rebels who control much of the countryside also welcomed the resolution - passed unanimously by Parliament - but said the king's ceremonial role should also be eliminated.
 
The sweeping resolution called for King Gyanendra to be stripped of his command over the army, his legal immunity, and freedom from paying taxes. It also said the king should lose his official position as head of the Himalayan country, changing traditional references to "His Majesty's government" to simply the "Nepal government."
 
To be enacted, the resolution still must be voted on as a series of laws, officials said. That was expected in the next few days.
 
The measure's passage "has begun the process," the deputy prime minister, Khadga Prasad Oli, said Thursday. "The government will work with Parliament to execute the resolution and laws will be drafted to implement the resolution."
 
Top political leaders addressed a major rally in the capital, Katmandu, on Friday, which the government declared a public holiday to celebrate the passage of the resolution. All government offices and schools were closed for the day, the Home Ministry said in a notice.
 
The seven parties in the governing alliance called the resolution a historic achievement that had eliminated all of the king's powers.
 
"This ends the remains of the royal regime and establishes the king as only a figurehead," said Narayanman Bijuchche of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party.
 
The Communist rebels' leader, Prachanda, said he welcomed the resolution, but said it failed to address all the needs of the people.
 
"We want to make it clear that this declaration has not been able to fully address the needs and aspirations of Nepal and the Nepali people," the rebel leader, whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal, said in a statement.
 
He said a continuing ceremonial role for the king "is against the aspiration of the people to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic."
 
The rebels want to completely abolish the monarchy, but have said they will leave the decision to a special assembly which is to write a new constitution.
 
The vote in Parliament was the most significant move it has made since the new government assumed power last month.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/19/news/nepal.php

The Guardian, GB, wrote this..

Nepal strips back royal powers

The interim prime minister, Girija Prasad Koirala, told the 205 members of the lower house that the proposed change reflects "the aspirations of the people and respects the sacrifices of the people who were martyred during the [democracy] movement".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1778411,00.html

The Nepalese eKantipur..

Govt orders offices, public places to remove "Royal"

The government on Friday ordered all the state-run offices to change the names of the offices to Nepal Government from HM Government.

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The Israeli bourgeois newspaper Yedioth Achronoth wrote yesterday following story..

Exiles: Iran Jews to wear yellow ribbons

Iranian regime has completely lost its mind

Iranian expatriates reveal that ‘National Uniform Law’ authorized by Iranian parliament includes clause obligating Iranian Jews to wear yellow ribbon; Christians, other minority members to wear colored ribbons as well. ‘If law passes non-Muslims’ lives will become intolerable

Iranian expatriates Friday that the "National Uniform Law" authorized by the Iranian parliament a few days ago, which is aimed at getting “Western” style clothing off the streets and advancing more traditional “Islamic” attire, also includes a clause obligating Iranian Jews to wear a yellow ribbon. 
  
Members of the country’s Christian minority will be forces to wear a red ribbon, while those practicing the ancient Persian religion will be obligated to place a blue ribbon on their clothes.

The new law is expected to go into effect within the next few months after it receives is authorized by Iran's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Ali Behroozian, an Iranian currently residing in Toronto, said that if the law passes the lives of Iranians belonging to the non-Muslim minorities will become intolerable.

They have all been persecuted for a while, but these new dress rules are going to make things worse for them," he said.

'Iranian regime has completely lost its mind'

Rabbi Marvin Heir, who heads the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said that Iran is getting "closer and closer to the Nazi ideology," adding that only an international outcry can prevent the law from going into effect.

Heir demanded that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan address the matter at once.

"The world ignored Hitler for many years; he was dismissed as a demagogue, they said he'd never come to power - and we were all wrong," he said.
 
Efraim Zuroff, the director of the Wiesenthal Center in Israel, said in response, “This is simply a catastrophe; it automatically bring one back to the Holocaust, and we do not need to remind the Israeli public that the yellow badges came just before the expulsion and extermination.

“There is no consolation in the fact that Christians are being labeled as well. The Iranian regime has completely lost its mind. The world cannot stand idly by, and I’m sure this development will place the Iranian issue at the top of the agenda during Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s visit to Washington,” he said.

http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3252830,00.html

Jerusalem Post wrote this about the same issue..

New Iranian law to require Jews to wear yellow band

..and the so called left liberal Haaretz..