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Vajpayee, Advani meet PM, discuss Nepal development

     New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and opposition leader L K Advani on Wednesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and discussed the latest political developments in the neighbouring Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal. During the meeting, both the BJP leaders are understod to have expressed concern over the seizure of power by King Gyanendra after dismissing Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Nepal king names new cabinet

     Kathmandu/ New Delhi: Nepal King Gyanendra named a ten-member cabinet under his leadership today, a day after he sacked the Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba government for failing to hold elections or end the escalating civil war with Maoist rebels. Among those appointed to the cabinet were Dan Bahadur Shahi as Home Minister and Ramesh Nath Pandey as Foreign Minister. Pandey had previously served as information minister, and was a negotiator during unsuccessful peace talks with Maoists in 2003. Meanwhile, life carried on as normal in Kathmandu, but the revolt-racked country remained largely cut off from the rest of the world a day after the political upheaval. King Gyanendra declared a state of emergency and suspended civil liberties, including press freedom. Phone lines from Nepal remained cut. But air links, badly disrupted by the take over, were largely restored on Wednesday.

     The King's move to take power for the next three years drew condemnation from the US, neighbouring India, Britain and the UN, who said the move would play into the Maoists' hands and urged the immediate restoration of democracy. Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is also skipping next week's South Asia summit in Bangladesh because of Gyanendra's move, indicating a hardening of New Delhi's stance against the monarch. Meanwhile, in a reaction to the political storm in Kathmandu, the Kathmandu streets witnessed noisy protests. Holding banners and placards, the Nepali activists shouted anti-King slogans and demanded that democracy be restored in the Himalayan kingdom with immediate effect. "We protest against the King's rule. People of Nepal will bring back democracy in the nation. The earlier government was not efficient but we will bring back democracy through revolution," said Girdhari Lal, an activist. Meanwhile, human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, condemned the King's move, which they said would plunge the country deeper into crisis.

People in Nepal wait for peace, brush aside political crisis (Go To Top)

     Rupandehi (Nepal): Torn by years of violent rebellion, Nepal's people say that they only want peace and care little about the ongoing political crisis sparked after King Gyanendra assumed power after sacking the prime minister for failing to hold elections or end an escalating civil war with Maoist rebels. Though life came to a standstill in the bigger cities and towns in the Himalayan kingdom, life carried on as usual in the streets of small towns like Rupandehi Gyanendra has declared a state of emergency and suspended civil liberties, including press freedom. Indian television said he had also placed many politicians under house arrest. Nepal is locked in a bitter three-way struggle between the king, the rebels and political parties which are themselves bitterly divided. Around 11,000 people have been killed in the uprising, which erupted in 1996. Diplomats worry that the revolt could be spinning out of control and that Nepal could one day become a haven for international terrorist groups or drugs trafficking. The worst sufferers of the conflict are poor villagers, who are bearing the brunt of a crippled economy, massive unemployment and constant killings by the rebels. "People are in a fix as to what will happen, whether there will be peace in the region or not," said Udham Neopari, an advocate, Rupandehi, bordering India. "People are waiting for peace to return. If it returns after this, then it's all right," added Durga Dutt, a shopkeeper. Gyanendra has meanwhile unveiled a 10-member cabinet under his leadership.