Nepal Prime Minister G.P. Koirala (right) with the special adviser to the UN under-secretary general for political affairs Samuel Tamrat in Kathmandu on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Kathmandu, May 9: The Girija Prasad Koirala government today annulled all ordinances, including the controversial media law, implemented by King Gyanendra’s regime and sacked the son of the former foreign minister from a government think tank.

According to sources, a cabinet meeting held at Prime Minister G.P. Koirala’s residence this evening decided to annul all 39 laws issued by Gyanendra during his stint as absolute monarch. “The cabinet concluded that all these ordinances were intended to consolidate the king’s illegal reign as an absolute monarch,” the sources said.

Among the controversial statutes which have been repealed are the media ordinance, code of conduct for NGOs and the local administration law.

The cabinet also decided to oust Nischalnath Pandey as the executive director of the Institute of Foreign Affairs. Nischalnath, who is the son of former foreign minister Rameshnath Pandey, was the head of the institute for three and a half years. The institute is funded by the foreign ministry.

Soon after the cabinet meeting, top leaders of the seven-party alliance, including Koirala, CPN(UML) leader Madhav Nepal and Nepali Congress Democratic chief Sher Bahadur Deuba, held talks on cabinet expansion which will take place later this week.

13 children killed

At least 13 children were killed in Nepal today when a bus carrying about 25 students plunged into an irrigation canal, police said.

The accident occurred in Sunsari, about 500 km east of Kathmandu. “We have recovered 13 bodies so far,” a police officer said from Inaruwa, a town near the crash site.