GIRIJA PRASAD KOIRALA PASSES AWAY

Last rites with state honor; Govt declares Sunday public holiday; National flag at half mast for three days KATHMANDU, March 20: Nepali Congress President and former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala passed away at his daughter’s home in Mandikhatar, Kathmandu at 12:10 p.m. on Saturday. Minister for Irrigation Bal Krishna Khand confirmed the passing away the 86-year-old leader after a NC CWC meeting. His body will be kept at the Dasharath Stadium, Tripureshwor between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday, NC leader Sher Bahadur Deuba said. His body will be covered by the national flag. Until then, the body will be kept at his daughter and Deputy Prime Minister Sujata Koirala´s residence at Mandikhatar where people can pay their last homage on Saturday. The last rites would be performed on Sunday with state honors as he was the former head of states, an emergency meeting of the cabinet decided on Saturday afternoon. The government also declared Sunday a public holiday and decided to keep the national flag at half mast for three days. Condolence books will be kept open in Nepali diplomatic missions and consulate throughout the world for two days. Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal reached Mandikhatar to pay last homage to Koirala, who was appointed Prime Minister four times and acting head of the state after monarch was abolished. Add your condolence message at the end of this news. Koirala, born in 1925 in India when his father was on exile for showing dissent to the-then autocratic Rana regime, rose to the iconic politician in his political career. The highest point of his career was the inking of the peace accord with the Maoists, who left 10-year-long bloody conflict to join the mainstream politics. He led the 2006 April Uprising that led to the re-establishment the democracy, end the Maoist conflict and abolishment of the monarchy. Koirala and Maoist rebels signed the historic peace accord in November 2006. Koirala was a fighter throughout his life - his leadership in 2006 was only the iceberg of his life full of leading movements. In 1947, he began his political career as a trade union leader in a jute mill in Biratnagar. In the shadow of elder brother B P Koirala, who was the first people-elected PM of Nepal, he took time to rise high in politics. In 1960, the then King Mahendra ended democracy and established partyless Panchayat system imprisoning the-then PM B P Koirala along with many others including Girija Prasad Koirala. He spent seven years in prison and after release, he masterminded the 1973 hijacking of a Royal Nepal Airlines plane on domestic flight with money to fund party activities. He led four of 18 governments since the establishment of democracy in 1990 through a popular movement. He was one of the leading forces during the movement. When he became the prime minister for the first time in 1991, he continued a family legacy which saw two of his brothers led the nation. He dissolved the parliament after three years. The general election that followed failed to give any party the majority. He led the minority government in 1998 and again Nepali Congress government in 2000 after ´forcing´ party’s own PM Krishna Prasad Bhattarai to resign. During his third tenure, the Royal Massacre in which 10 of the Royal family members including the King, Queen and Crown Prince were killed happened. Following the April Uprising in 2006, he sworn in for the fourth term and sign one of the most important documents in Nepal’s political history – the peace accord with the Maoists. After abolishment of monarchy and establishment of republic Nepal, he became the acting head of the state until the election of Dr Ram Baran Yadav as the first president. The grand old man of Nepali politics was dogged by illnesses in the eve of his life but continued to be the axis of politics playing crucial role in times of political impasses. He was the co-ordinator of much-hyped High Level Political Mechanism (HLPM) when he passed away. India pays tribute India paid tribute to former Nepal prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala after his death on Saturday, describing him as a wise leader who guided the Himalayan nation in the right direction. "Koirala was a mass leader and a statesman, whose knowledge and wisdom guided the polity of Nepal in the right direction at critical junctures in the country´s history," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. His death "marks the end of an era in Nepalese politics" Singh said in a statement in New Delhi.