Nepal's king promises return to democracy

Nepal’s King Gyanendra today vowed to bring multiparty democracy back to his Himalayan nation, 14 months after he seized control and set off a bloody political crisis that has engulfed the country.

But he fell short of granting a key opposition demand – the creation of a special assembly to write a new constitution – and it appeared unlikely he would mollify his political opponents, who have filled the streets of the kingdom with tens of thousands of protesters for days on end.

“This is incomplete,” Minendra Risal of the Nepali Congress Democratic party, one of the seven main opposition parties that have joined with Maoist insurgents to protest the king’s seizure of power.

“The constitutional assembly is the aspiration of the people.”

Other political leaders were in meetings after the announcement and unavailable for comment, but they have repeatedly demanded a new constitution that would reduce the king to a ceremonial figurehead, or eliminate the monarchy entirely.

King Gyanendra, who said in his speech that his dynasty had an “unflinching commitment toward constitutional monarchy and multiparty democracy,” called on the seven political parties to quickly name a prime minister.

“Executive power ... shall, from this day, be returned to the people,” he said in the announcement, broadcast on state television and radio.

Gyanendra – who has never been an inspiring public speaker – looked particularly uncomfortable during the speech, sitting stiffly in front of a cloth backdrop and barely moving as he stared directly into the camera, apparently reading from a teleprompter.

Demonstrations broke out quickly in a few Kathmandu neighbourhoods after the speech, with some marchers chanting ”Hail democracy! Gyanendra leave the country!”

Most protesters said they were encouraged by the king’s announcement – but remained unsure if he had promised enough, or could be trusted.

“We have won the battle, but we still must win the war,” said protester Grihendra Shrestha.

But in areas on the outskirts of Kathmandu that have the seen the largest - and most violent – demonstrations, protesters said Gyanendra could not be trusted to keep his word, and they would only be satisfied once he was gone.

“It’s not enough for us. We are demanding a new constitution with a presidential system – a republic,” said Prakash Thapa, a 30-year-old primary school teacher. ”This country does not need Gyanendra, the thief.”

He said that any system that left the king in place means Gyanendra “could take power at any time again.”

Hours earlier, more than 100,000 pro-democracy protesters defied a government curfew and filled the streets on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, a reflection of just how unpopular the king has become.

Three separate groups of marchers converged in an area on the western edge of Kathmandu called Kalanki, where police shot and killed three demonstrators yesterday and wounded dozens more.

Independent Kantipur television said there were about 150,000.

They marchers faced security forces that ringed the city and were ordered to shoot-on-sight anyone who tried to enter the area.

As the tension grew, so did the international pressure on Gyanendra.

US Ambassador James Moriarty bluntly warned that Gyanendra could be forced from power within days unless he made major concessions.

“His time is running out,” Moriarty said in an interview with several reporters hours before the king’s speech. ”Ultimately the king will have to leave if he doesn’t compromise. And by ’ultimately’ I mean sooner rather than later.”

But despite the talk of compromise, the crackdown continued. Two senior opposition leaders were arrested today as they tried to return to Kathmandu, said Amrit Bohara of the Communist Party of Nepal.

The two men, Jhala Nath Khanal and Bamdev Gautam, both leaders of the party, have been important conduits in negotiations between the opposition parties and the Maoist insurgents who control much of the countryside.

The Maoists remain the most important unknown in the crisis. Though they have recently allied themselves with the political parties, their history of violence - they only recently were killing politicians – worries even their allies.

Shortly before his arrest, Khanal said he only hesitantly trusted the guerrillas.

“They talk about democracy now, but violence is a part of their philosophy,” he said in an interview in New Delhi.

There was minor unrest at Friday’s demonstrations.

One group of protesters destroyed a police checkpoint – a tin shack covered with barbed wire – tossing the furniture into the street. They then vandalised a government office, throwing out portraits of King Gyanendra before setting the building on fire.

Meanwhile, the death toll from two weeks of often-violent demonstrations against Gyanendra’s seizure of power rose to 14 today, after the death of a protester shot by police yesterday.

Nepal’s crisis has escalated steadily since a general strike began two weeks ago and protesters have filled the streets daily, leaving the Himalayan country paralysed and at its most volatile since the king seized power.

Gyanendra claimed direct control over the government last year, arguing he had to bring order to a corrupt political scene and end a communist insurgency that has killed nearly 13,000 people in the past decade.

While many people initially welcomed the king’s move, hoping he’d bring stability, his popularity waned quickly as the insurgency worsened and the economy faltered.

At Model Hospital, where many of the protesters wounded yesterday were taken, doctors wore black bands to protest the shootings.

Among the 66 wounded people brought there yesterday were a 10-year-old boy with a gunshot wound and 5-year-old beaten by police, said Dr Sarita Pandey.

Kathmandu residents rushed to markets for food and other supplies before the curfew began. Shortages of fresh food and cooking fuel continued due to the general strike.