KATMANDU, Nepal – A power battle that has left Nepal’s political system in limbo for months has also frozen efforts to solidify peace, write a constitution and push ahead with development in this desperately poor nation.

With no one in charge, plans to build badly needed rural roads, increase electricity generation in power-starved cities and move ahead on constructing Nepal’s first rail line have all sat untouched.

Demands for new police officers to help fight rising crime have also gone unfilled.

“People are suffering. The monsoon rain has washed away roads, but repairs are not being done,” said Sita Sharma, a government office worker in Katmandu, the capital.

Since resigning in June, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and his cabinet have been running a caretaker administration, attending to little more than the most urgent functions of government.

None of the political parties has a majority in parliament. The former insurgents in the Maoist party say they should form the government since they have the most seats, but they have been unable to forge a coalition with the Marxist party or the Nepali Congress Party.

On Monday, parliament failed in its fifth attempt to elect a new prime minister.

The political standoff has led many to lose faith with the leaders they backed during 2006 street protests that ousted a centuries-old monarchy and turned this Himalayan nation into a republic.

“They were supposed to bring the nation out of misery, instead they are so busy trying to grab power while the nation slides toward more chaos,” said Ram Shrestha, an engineer.

The government is unable to do much more than pay government workers and continue work on established projects, because the annual budget has been delayed by the political paralysis, said Bal Krishna Khad, a minister in the caretaker government.

“Development work has come to a complete halt,” said Shreekant Regmi, an independent analyst, who fears the deadlock could turn the country into a failed state.

Nepal is in desperate need of new infrastructure. Katmandu endures hours of electricity cuts every day, because the hydroelectric power plants cannot meet demand. Residents get drinking water for only two hours every three days from a government-run utility.

Tulsi Sitaula, a top official at the transport ministry, says a program to repair hundreds of roads and highways and to build new ones has fallen victim to the dispute.

The peace process, which brought the Maoist insurgents into mainstream politics in 2006, has also stalled. Thousands of former rebels are still living in U.N.-run camps, awaiting a government decision to integrate them into the national army or try to return them to civilian life.

Lawmakers also failed to meet a May 2010 dateline to write a new constitution aimed at cementing the peace. After giving themselves a one-year extension, they have made little progress.

Businesses are hesitant to invest, because they have no indication what the future government’s financial policies will be, said Kebal Raymajhi, a business executive. — AP

The remains, flown to Katmandu by rescue helicopters, were being examined at the Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital.

Dr. Pramod Shrestha at the hospital said the task of identifying the bodies was difficult because none of the remains was intact.

Shrestha said they were using information provided by family members such as the clothes the victims were wearing, jewelry and body marks.

He said Nepal did not have the technology to identify remains through DNA testing and would have to send samples abroad for any such tests.

The private Agni Air plane heading to the Mount Everest region crashed in heavy rain outside Nepal’s capital on Tuesday, killing all 14 people aboard, including four Americans, a Briton and a Japanese.

The German-built Dornier turboprop plane was headed to Lukla, a popular stop for trekkers and mountaineers, when cloud cover there forced it to turn back to the capital. It went down near Shikharpur village, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Katmandu.

Video footage and photos of the crash site released by the army showed a wide ditch made by the impact and the plane broken into small pieces.

Agni Air said all the foreigners were tourists.

The Americans were identified as Irina Shekhets, 30, Leuzi Cardoso, 49, Heather Finch, 40, and Kendra Fallon, 18. The Japanese passenger was Yuki Hayashi, 19, and the Briton was Jeremy Taylor, 30.

The rescue coordination office at Katmandu’s Tribhuwan International Airport said soldiers first reached the crash site on foot. The route from the nearest town was blocked by a river flooded by monsoon rains.

Lukla is the only air strip in the Everest region. Thousands of trekkers and mountaineers fly there every year to begin their journey to Everest and surrounding peaks and trekking trails. However, few travel there during the monsoon season. It is little more than a runway carved into the side of the Himalayas at an altitude of 9,200 feet (2,800 meters).

The Dornier 228 twin-turboprop had its first flight in 1981. A total of 270 were built by German planemaker Dornier and India’s HAL. About 120 remain in service worldwide.

According to the U.S.-based Aviation Safety Network, 29 have been lost in various accidents, with a total of 122 fatalities. — AP

KATHMANDU (AFP) – Nepal’s parliament failed on Friday in its latest effort to elect a new prime minister, fuelling concern that political deadlock will derail the country’s peace process and trigger fresh instability.

For the second time in three days, a vote by 599 MPs fell short of providing a majority to either of two candidates: Maoist supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal and centrist Nepali Congress chief Ram Chandra Poudel.

The Maoist leader garnered 241 votes against 123 for Poudel, with the remainder either voting against either candidate or abstaining.

“Both the candidates are unable to secure a majority,” speaker Subash Chandra Nembang said, before announcing a third ballot to be held August 2.

The Maoists, who fought a 10-year battle against the state before entering politics and winning elections in 2008, say that as the largest single party in parliament they should lead the government.

Dahal, better known by his nom de guerre Prachanda, or “the fierce one,” had served as prime minister after the 2008 vote but quit in May 2009 over a row with army.

Nepal’s parliament, or Constituent Assembly, was elected with a two-year mandate to complete the country’s post-war peace process and draft a new national constitution.

But it has failed to complete either task, hampered by fierce disagreements between the Maoists and their rivals that have resulted in the current deadlock and left the country effectively rudderless at a critical moment of transition.

“Nepal desperately needs a functioning government right now,” Prashant Jha, a political commentator and columnist, told AFP. “There are millions of things to tackle, from economic growth to peace process and law-and-order situation.

“In recent days, what we have seen is a steep increase in public cynicism and apathy towards politics, which is a dangerous sign for a fledgling democracy like Nepal.”

Before Friday’s ballot, the United States had appealed for a compromise that would allow the country to tackle a host of pressing concerns, including the drafting of the new constitution.

“We urge Nepal’s political leaders to reach agreement on a government that will move forward quickly on the issues that are essential for Nepal’s stability and economic development,” US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in Washington. — AFP

The move is likely to prolong political paralysis in Nepal as the last ruling coalition fell due to pressure from the opposition Maoists, who are the largest single party but do not have enough seats to rule alone.

The Maoists fought a bloody 10-year civil war with the state before winning elections in 2008 and holding power until last year. Other key parties have refused to ally with them.

“Since the endeavour for a consensus prime minister failed, President Ram Baran Yadav asked parties to proceed with the formation of a majority government,” Rajendra Dahal, press adviser to the president, told AFP.

“As per the interim constitution, the prime minister will now be elected by a simple majority by legislators in the parliament.”

Madhav Kumar Nepal stepped down as prime minister on June 30 in a deal to try to seek a unity government, but disagreements among the major parties thwarted the plan.

“We tried our best. We were very serious, but other parties were reluctant to see things our way,” Maoists’ vice-chairman Mohan Vaidya told AFP on Monday.

The political rifts in Nepal have threatened the fragile peace process and halted the writing of a new constitution.

The parliament, or Constituent Assembly, was elected in 2008 with a two-year mandate to draft a new national constitution and complete the peace process that began when the country’s civil war ended in 2006.

But it failed to complete either task, hampered by fierce arguments between the Maoists and their rivals. — AFP

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said in a televised speech that he decided to resign to end a political deadlock and shore up the peace process that ended years of Maoist insurgency in the Himalayan nation.

The Maoists, the former communist rebels who won the most seats in 2008 elections, have been protesting for months demanding his resignation and a new national government headed by them.

“I had frequently urged the political parties including the Maoists to find an appropriate way out of the present deadlock and forge a consensus. But no agreement has been reached so far,” Nepal said. “As it would be inappropriate to further prolong the situation of confusion and indecision, I decided to resign from the post of prime minister to help accomplish the tasks of constitution drafting and the peace process.”

Nepal met President Rambaran Yadav immediately after the speech and presented his official resignation letter, the president’s office said.

The Maoists welcomed the announcement.

“The prime minister should have resigned a lot earlier. However, we welcome the resignation,” Maoist spokesman Dinanath Sharma said, adding the party has called a meeting of its top leaders on Thursday to decide its next move.

The prime minister took over the post in May 2009 after the previous government led by the Maoists resigned following differences with the president over the firing of the army chief.

The prime minister had the support of 22 political parties in parliament and more than half of the 601 members in the assembly. However the Maoists, who have the largest number of seats in the assembly, refused to support his government and instead staged protests demanding the disbanding of the government.

In May, the Maoists called a general strike which shut down the nation for more than a week. The protests also delayed the writing of a new constitution, which was supposed to be completed by May 2010. The deadline was extended by a year.

It is not clear who will succeed the prime minister, but the main political parties are likely to hold negotiations to form a government that includes most parties in parliament.

The Maoists ended their decade-old rebellion in 2006 and joined a peace process. Since then they have confined their fighters to U.N.-monitored camps and joined mainstream politics. — AP

Madhav Kumar Nepal has been under intense pressure from the opposition Maoist party to quit ever since he agreed on May 28 to make way for a power-sharing government in a deal with the former rebels.

The Maoists were threatening to block the passage of the annual budget through parliament unless he resigned, a move that would have plunged the impoverished country into a fresh political crisis.

“The prime minister has taken this decision for the sake of national consensus, peace and the timely drafting of a new constitution,” Bishnu Rijal told AFP.

Nepal’s three main political parties agreed on May 28 to form a government of national unity, but they have so far been unable to agree who should lead it.

It remains unclear who will take over as prime minister and sources said the president would likely ask Nepal to stay on in a caretaker role until a successor could be chosen.

The 57-year-old former leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) was catapulted into the job in May 2009 after the Maoist-led government fell in a row over the integration of Maoist former fighters into the national army.

His government was seen as weak from the start, and his period in office was marred by a series of power struggles with the Maoists, the largest party in Nepal’s parliament.

The parliament, or Constituent Assembly, was elected in 2008 with a two-year mandate to complete the peace process launched after the 10-year civil war between Maoist rebels and the state, and to draft a new national constitution.

But it failed to complete either task on time, hampered by fierce disagreements between the Maoists and their political rivals.

Its term had been due to end on May 28, leaving the country without a functioning legislature, but lawmakers voted to extend it for another year. — AFP

KATHMANDU (AFP) – Pawan Acharya, a major in the Nepalese army, only became aware of the difficulties faced by blind people after he lost his own sight in an ambush by Maoist rebels during the country’s civil war.

Ten years later, he is waging a campaign to revolutionise perceptions of disability in this deeply traditional Hindu country and has organised a series of cricket tournaments for blind players — including women.

Blind people often face discrimination and even persecution in Nepal, where superstition is rife and disability is commonly seen as a punishment for misdeeds in a past life.

The problems faced by blind women can be particularly severe — already viewed as second-class citizens because of their sex, they often find themselves ostracised from their communities.

Now, thanks to Acharya’s efforts, some are being given the opportunity to shine by playing in what he says is the world’s only national blind women’s cricket tournament.

“Cricket has transformed these girls. The way they interact with people and the confidence they have now is remarkable,” Acharya told AFP on the sidelines of the second national women’s championships in Kathmandu this week.

“Before I lost my sight I didn’t even think about the problems faced by blind people. But then I became involved, and realised how strong the prejudices against disabled people were.”

Acharya, 32, still serves in the Nepal army, and he now mainly lectures on leadership and morale.

He launched blind cricket in Nepal in 2006 with the help of the Pakistan Blind Cricket Council, and said it was a form of rehabilitation for himself as well as others.

He organised the first blind cricket tournament that year, and introduced a separate tournament for blind women in 2009.

“I wanted to eliminate the social taboos surrounding blindness and help those affected to gain some independence,” he said. “Cricket gives them confidence, and is also a great way of developing mental skills.”

Nepal’s Blind Cricket Association now counts 300 male players and 65 women among its members, some of whom are partially-sighted and some completely blind.

Members are graded according to the strength of their eyesight, and each team contains a set number of fully blind and partially-sighted players.

Organisers have imported specially made cricket balls from Pakistan containing iron ball bearings that rattle when the ball is thrown, and bowling is underarm to give players a better chance of hitting the ball.

Sugam Bhattarai, general secretary of the association, said he became involved because he wanted to do something constructive after losing his sight in a road accident 13 years ago.

“We wanted to show we could achieve something — and we were tired of just attending rallies and meetings,” said the 33-year-old, who also teaches at a school for disabled children.

Blind cricket in Nepal received some government funding, with the rest coming from international donors, including the Australian government. Extra funding is being sought to enable the players to compete abroad.

Most of the players in this week’s tournament were teenagers, and Acharya said he wanted to give more young blind men and women the opportunity to participate.

Sita Pathak admitted she had initially been wary about playing.

“I was reluctant at first. But now I am so happy that I took up cricket,” said the 17-year-old, who represents the Chitwan district of southern Nepal and was born blind.

“It is such a liberating feeling to throw away my stick and run after the ball on the pitch. If I hadn’t joined the team, I would just have been sitting at home listening to the radio all day.” — AFP

The two-year term of the Constituent Assembly, which was elected in 2008, expires on Friday. The assembly was meant to draft a new constitution to help guide Nepal out of years of civil war and upheaval, but has achieved little due to political bickering.

When the assembly’s term expires, so does Nepal’s interim constitution. The main opposition party of former Maoist rebels say the current government would lose it legitimacy which could leave the country in chaos.

The government has proposed extending the assembly’s term by one year but the Maoists, who control the most seats in the assembly, have refused to support the proposal unless the government resigns and allows their party to lead a new coalition administration.

In a last-ditch effort to forge an agreement, top government party leaders, including Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, met in the capital, Katmandu, on Wednesday with opposition chiefs, including Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

They reached no agreement but would meet again later on Wednesday to try to resolve the deadlock, said Krishna Sitaula, a senior leader of the Nepali Congress, which is part of the ruling coalition. Sitaula was at the meeting.

Earlier this month, the Maoists mounted a general strike that shut down Nepal for a week, and they have threatened to mount more protests. Analysts fear that failure to reach a political resolution could lead to violent conflict.

The Maoists ended their decade-old rebellion in 2006 and joined a peace process. Since then they have confined their fighters in U.N.-monitored camps and joined mainstream politics.

They won 2008 elections and formed a government but it later fell in a dispute with the nation’s president over Dahal’s attempt to replace the army chief who was resisting the recruitment of former rebel fighters into the military. — AP

“The rising temperature on the mountains has melted much ice and snow on the trail to the summit. It is difficult for climbers to use their crampons on the rocky surfaces,” Apa told reporters after flying to Katmandu on Tuesday.

Apa, who uses only one name, reached the 29,035-foot (8,850-meter) summit on Saturday for the 20th time, beating his own previous record.

The 49-year-old first climbed Everest in 1989 and has repeated the feat almost every year since. His closest rival is fellow Sherpa guide Chhewang Nima, who has made 16 trips to the summit.

Apa said when he first began climbing Everest, there was hardly any rocky surface on the trail to the summit. Now, he says, the trail is dotted with bare rocks.

The melting ice has also exposed deep crevasses, making it dangerous for climbers.

Apa has been campaigning on global warming’s negative effect on the Himalayan peaks for the past three years. In a separate environmental campaign to clean up the mountain, his Eco-Everest Expedition team has been collecting garbage from the slopes of Everest. This year the team collected 7,630 pounds (4,770 kilograms) of garbage.

Apa grew up in the foothills of Everest and began carrying equipment and supplies for trekkers and mountaineers at age 12. He moved to the United States in 2006 and lives in the Salt Lake City suburb of Draper.

Sherpas were mostly yak herders and traders living in the Himalayas until Nepal opened its borders to tourists in 1950. Their stamina and knowledge of the mountains makes them expert guides and porters.

A total of 233 climbers in 25 expedition teams from various nations have been permitted by the Nepalese government to climb Everest during the spring season from the southern face of the peak. — AP

KATMANDU, Nepal – Time is running out for Nepal.

More than two years after a Constituent Assembly was elected to help guide the Himalayan nation out of years of civil war and political upheaval, the constitution it was supposed to draft remains unwritten amid endless political bickering.

On May 28, the Assembly’s tenure — and the provisional constitution governing the nation — expires. Without a new constitution or an extension of that deadline, chaos is almost certain.

The former Maoist rebels who now control the largest party in parliament have repeatedly shut down the streets of Katmandu with protests, demanding they be given the reins of power. The government has resisted, but still needs Maoist votes to reach a resolution.

“The prime minister has been meeting leaders from various political parties and even the president to work out a solution,” Law Minister Prem Bahadur Singh said. “There is no alternative to extending the Constituent Assembly or the country will plunge into a crisis.”

The status of the government becomes unclear if there is no extension. However, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has insisted he will not step down, even without one.

Political crises are nothing new to Nepal, which faced 10 years of fighting between government forces and Maoist rebels. In 2006, the Maoists gave up their armed revolt and joined the peace process.

Then-King Gyanendra, who had seized absolute power in 2005, was forced to give up authoritarian rule in 2006 after weeks of street protests. He was soon stripped of all his powers. In 2008, Nepal was declared a republic, the Constituent Assembly was elected and the centuries-old monarchy was ended.

The Maoists won top billing in that vote, and led a coalition government that appeared on target to draft the new constitution and cement peace, stability and democracy to this Himalayan nation.

But nine months later, the Maoist prime minister resigned — though the Maoists kept their seats in the Assembly — amid a dispute with the president.

Since then, the Maoists have been protesting both inside the Assembly and in the streets, demanding that the new prime minister step down and that they be returned to power. Meanwhile, disputes over the shape of the constitution have stymied the drafting process.

To extend the provisional constitution would require a two-thirds vote of parliament, but with the Maoists in control of 40 percent of the seats, no deal can be sealed without them.

Lilamani Pokhrel, a top Maoist leader, said there will be no negotiations until the prime minister steps down.

“The base line for ending the stalemate is the prime minister’s resignation, everything else comes only after that,” Pokhrel said.

Once he quits, the Maoists say they’re ready to discuss anything — the peace process, the constitution and the formation of a new government.

But the squabbling between the top parties — the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist) — has nearly frozen the political process.

Negotiators from those three parties have been meeting this week in informal sessions, but Ram Sharan Mahat of the Nepali Congress said there had been little progress.

Constitutional expert Bhimarjun Acharya said it was the parties’ incompetence that brought the country to the point of political vacuum.

“These parties are the reason why the assembly failed to write the constitution. A new constitution cannot be made until these parties agree in theory what the new constitution will be and are genuinely sincere,” he said. — AP