Nepal, July 21 -- Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has announced that he is returning to Nepal after months abroad for medical treatment, saying the country needs cooperation and national unity rather than the politics of retaliation.

In a two-page message issued on the occasion of the memorial day of BP Koirala, Deuba, the immediate past president of the Nepali Congress (NC), called for national dialogue and cooperation, while accusing the government of pursuing a vindictive agenda and attempting to intimidate the opposition by exerting pressure on democratic institutions.

"What the country needs is not retaliation but cooperation. Therefore, the need for unity of purpose, national dialogue and collective collaboration between...