UML leader Sahana Pradhan passes away

Kathmandu, September 23. Senior CPN-UML leader Sahana Pradhan died on Monday night. She was 88. Pradhan, undergoing treatment at Sanepa-based Vayodha Hospital  for brain haemorrhage, was pronounced dead at 11:05 pm last night.

UML Secretary Yogesh Bhattarai informed that Pradhan’s body will be kept at UML party headquarters in Balkhu for final tributes and will be cremated later today at Pashupati Aryaghat.

Born in 1927, Pradhan was actively involved in country’s democratic movements . Married to another veteran communist leader Pushpa Lal Shrestha, she had staged a 15-day hunger strike demanding education to women with the then Rana Prime Minister Padma Shamsher.

Pradhan was appointed as Minister of Commerce and Supplies during an interim government in 1990. She also became Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare in 1996 and Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2005.

She is survived by one son and one daughter.