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Nepalese MP from India shot dead

Nepalese politician and parliament member Mirza Dilshad Beg was gunned down by unidentified assailants near his home yesterday evening.

Beg and his driver were killed when gunmen fired shots into his car in the Nepalese capital. Police said they had no immediate clues to the identities of the assassins.

The assassination spawned broad speculation ranging from foreign intrigue to possible criminal links.

Beg was a wanted man in India and New Delhi had requested his extradition. Beg had held a fiery news conference recently at which he challenged Indian authorities to come forth with proof of his involvement in any illegal activity.

In addition, Beg had admitted publicly that he had been involved in criminal activities a long time ago but that he had reformed himself and had not been involved in such activities for more than two decades.

Beg, 47, was born in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and later acquired Nepalese citizenship. He was first elected to Parliament on the pro-India Nepal Sadbhabana Party ticket in the first multi-party democratic elections in 1991.

Beg belonged to the Thapa faction of the National Democratic Party and was a minister of state in the Surya Bahadur Thapa-led coalition government for about six months, first as the minister of state for commerce and then as the minister of state for housing and physical planning.

UNI

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