KATHMANDU, May 29: Republic Day is being celebrated at the Nepal Army pavilion, Tundikhel in Kathmandu this morning under the aegis of the Republic Main Function Committee. President Ram Chandra Paudel is the chief guest of the function.

On the same occasion, President Paudel, Vice-President Ram Sahaya Prasad Yadav, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Speaker Devraj Ghimire, National Assembly Chairperson Ganesh Prasad Timilsina and chiefs of different political parties have already extended their best wishes and congratulations to all Nepali sisters and brothers at home and abroad. They have offered heartfelt tribute to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives in the struggle for the establishment of republic in the country.

In addition to Kathmandu, the 16th Republic Day is being marked in other parts of the country today with fanfare by organizing several programs. The day is being marked for the past one-and-a-half decade as an epochal achievement of the arduous struggle and devotion of the Nepali people.

The country had witnessed the establishment of a republican system usurping the monarchy on the backing of the 2006 April Uprising. The epoch-making Constituent Assembly (CA) election was held in the country on April 10, 2008 as per the agreement between the then Seven Party Alliance and CPN (Maoist).

The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly on 28 May 2008 abolished the monarchy that lasted for 240 years in the country and proclaimed the adoption of a republican governance system.

The Republic is not limited to a governance system but is considered a civilization, culture and a way of life. The head of the government and leaders of the political parties have called for the people to orient towards winning the fight against poverty and backwardness by strengthening the beautiful system of democratic republic.