By IANS,
Kathmandu : Nepal’s embattled Vice-President Paramananda Jha, who had survived unscathed a bomb attack near his residence Friday, had a second narrow escape Saturday after police unearthed another bomb and defused it.
Kathmandu police said the second bomb had been found hidden in shrubs near the vice-president’s residence in Gaurighat here and was defused without any casualty.
The second foiled attack came after police launched a massive hunt for a little-known armed group, the Kirat Janabadi Workers’ Party (KJWP), which claimed responsibility for the blast and warned tougher action would follow if Jha, caught in a growing row about the use of Hindi for official work, refused to take his oath of office in Nepali.
The armed outfit is among the over 100 underground organisations that began mushrooming in Nepal’s restive Terai plains since the fall of the royal government of King Gyanendra in 2006.
Seeking to establish a state for the ethnic Kirat community in eastern Nepal, the KJWP hit the headlines for its extortion attempts.
In the past, it had entered into dialogue with the then Maoist-led government and signed an agreement.
The outfit created a sensation this week when its leaders, masked and armed, held a press conference in the heart of the capital, accusing the government of reneging on its promise.
The turmoil escalated after Jha was ordered by Nepal’s Supreme Court to forego the oath he took a year ago in Hindi and be sworn in again in Nepali by Sunday or face dismissal.
The 65-year-old former judge, who has refused to take oath in Nepali “under duress”, Friday filed two petitions against the verdict, seeking a review.
Hours after that, a bomb went off close to his three-storey residence, injuring a woman and causing damage to a shop.
But Jha, who was at home during the blast, was unharmed.
Last year too, after the Hindi row erupted, a bomb was thrown near his residence by another underground organisation, injuring a security personnel.
The language controversy has stoked fresh animosity between the Terai community, who speak Hindi, and the elite hill community, who espouse the use of Nepali for official purposes.
On Saturday, the Terai party that had last year helped Jha become Nepal’s first vice-president, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, called a shutdown in the Terai belt to protest against the Supreme Court verdict.
Meanwhile, as the deadline fixed by the court loomed close, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Saturday began frantic consultations with constitutional experts to determine what the government should do in case Jha declined to take the oath in Nepali by Sunday.
Jha has challenged the apex court to remove him, saying it had no power to sack him.
According to Nepal’s constitution, the vice-president can be removed only if two-third lawmakers in the 601-member parliament agree to impeach him.