The cabinet held an emergency session on Monday to launch a special committee that will investigate the murder of Jamim Shah. It will include officials from Nepal Police, National Investigation Department and Office of Attorney General.

While we wait for the committee’s findings, Nagarik has a pretty good background on Jamim Shah and his business interests.

The discharge process of unqualified combatants ended today with the discharge of 283 disqualified combatants from the fifth division of the People’s Liberation Army in Rolpa. UNMIN Chief Karen Landgren spoke at the discharge ceremony, reports Republica:

“The constructive discussions and the efforts to rebuild trust over the last several weeks have introduced fresh hopes and optimism that a good end to the peace process is within reach,” Landgren said while addressing a ceremony to mark the discharge of the last lot of disqualified combatants in Rolpa.

The discharge of the disqualified, which is a part of the three-year old peace process, had begun on January 7 after two attempts to release them failed following non-cooperation by the Maoists. But a December 16 tripartite agreement between the government, Maoists and the UN Country Team brought the process onto the track.

Meanwhile, Nepal Stock Exchange index plunged to a three-year low on Monday. Republica writes:

After dropping to a three-year low on Sunday, Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index continued its journey in the red zone dropping by 1.6 percent of 7.94 points to close at 489.4 points on Monday´s trading.

Share analysts said mounting selling pressure on the back of lower returns in stock market, less chances of getting rights shares with most of the banks increasing their capital base to Rs 2 billion and frequent margin call by banks are among the key reasons behind the downfall in Nepse index in recent days.