Nepal cut off as king takes reins of power

KING Gyanendra dismissed Nepal’s government and imposed a state of emergency yesterday, cutting off his Himalayan nation from the rest of the world as telephone and internet lines were severed, flights diverted and civil liberties severely curtailed.

Yesterday’s move was the second time in three years that the king has taken control of the tiny South Asian constitutional monarchy, a throwback to the era of absolute power enjoyed by Nepal’s kings before King Birendra, the current king’s elder brother, introduced democracy in 1990.

King Gyanendra denied his takeover was a coup, although soldiers surrounded the houses of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and other politicians.