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Army chief meets President Yadav

At a time when Maoists are alleging that conspiracies are being hatched to impose presidential rule in the country with the Army backing, President Dr Ram Baran Yadav met Army chief Rookmangud Katawal at his office in Shital Niwas Monday.

During the meeting that went on for about 45 minutes, Army chief Katawal is learnt to have briefed President Yadav on the latest security situation of the country following the Maoist pull out from the government.

Maoist insistence to correct President Yadav's decision to reinstate sacked Army chief Katawal and the ensuing political turmoil thereafter was also discussed during the meeting, according to reports.

The meeting between the President and his army chief comes a day after the latter issued circulars to heads of all six regional headquarters to stay on high alert in the wake of a complicated situation ensued by the recent political changes.

The regional headquarters have also been directed to keep special vigil on activities of Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League (YCL) cadres and Maoist combatants staying in the cantonments, a leading daily reported Monday.

It has also been learnt that during the meeting the army chief proposed the promotion of controversial Major General Toran Bahadur Singh to the vacant post of Lieutenant General.

General Katawal had Sunday met Defense Minister Bidhya Devi Bhandari and urged her to take the proposals of promoting Major General Singh to the post of Lt General.

However, the defense minister said the promotion of General Singh has been put on hold for the time being, especially considering the allegations of gross human rights violations against him when he was the chief of Bharabnath battalion. nepalnews.com